Oh, I just found Jay's post about his garlic harvest this year, so I think I'll be adding Inchelium Red to my list!

Deciding garlic varieties is a lot like selecting tomato varieties. You have to decide what the most important factors are. Taste, bulb size, clove size and then what will grow well in your climate.

I take it you are looking for larger bulbs and maybe clove size. Although larger bulbs doesn't always mean larger clove. Clove count per bulb has a lot to do with clove size. You can have a bulb over 3 inches in diameter with 15-18 cloves and they won't be as big as at 2 inch bulb with 4-5 cloves. So that is one thing to remember when searching for garlic.

Estonian Red is one hardneck variety I highly recommend. Nice large bulbs and cloves. Most of mine are at least 3 1/2" diameter. After all of mine is dried and trimmed up and I make an inventory it is possible I'll have a few extra bulbs.

I grew Susanville this year. Got the bulbs late and planted it in mid Jan. I was surprised at the bulb size. I think most bulbs will be over 2 inches and many will be close to if not over 2 1/2 inches. I haven't tasted it. So can't comment on taste other than what you see described on the internet. I will grow it again for sure. I have several bulbs of it and sure there will be extra of it also.

After I get mine all trimmed up and inventoried I will know more about size of each variety and number I have of each. Kettle River Giant is one that I remember having nice bulbs. It is an Artichoke type if I remember right.

The only Creole I grew this year was Burgandy. Smaller bulbs.

I know there are many more with nice bulbs. The underneath of my carport smells like a garlic room this morning. Since I got it all hung up last night to dry. I had laid some on grates so air could circulate till I got it all hung. I could of left it there. Main thing is air circulation. I will either post more or send you an email after I get mine all inventoried and notes wrote down so I can judge them all better. Jay

Thanks Jay!

I don't mind the smaller cloves and bulbs for myself, but thought I should probably try to grow some larger ones for the market. My Early Italian Reds were a good size, so I'll probably replant a lot of those. I could send you a couple of bulbs if you'd like to try it (provided I get the curing thing right!). They are hanging in the garage right now.

Charlie's Gourmet Garlic has a really good price on Susanville in bulk, so I'm thinking I might order that and then trial a bunch of other varieties to see what else we like. I also just got my first Seed Saver's Exchange Yearbook today and there are 5-6 types of garlic from Oklahoma members that I'm going to see about ordering. There's a lot of variety out there! I'd love to hear what you think of them all once you've gotten them inventoried and tasted. I definitely think we'll try to grow some Inchelium Red and Estonian Red.

I'm excited to grow more next year. It was just an experiment this year, but we had so much fun growing it that I can't imagine why everyone doesn't give it a try! I saw Bob Anderson on Texas Country Reporter a few years ago and thought it was really neat, but it never occurred to me to try it myself. I wish we had started years ago.