With the Minnesota Monsoon we have had this autumn, it has been too wet to work up my fall planting beds so far. So I am running behind this year.

Finally got my garlics planted last Wednesday and Thursday. Immediately got squirrels digging in the beds; so I laid down chicken wire which seems to keep them from digging up the various spots and mixing the types of cloves. I added a couple of very tall types of tulips this year, hoping to get the blooms above whatever clips the flowers off the Appeldoorns just when they color up nicely.

Finally got my garlic planted today. I've been cultivating shallowly to speed up drying, and covered the plot with plastic during the last rainy spell to keep it from getting wet again... it was finally dry enough to work today. After all the trouble we've had in recent years with waterlogged garlic, DW & I hilled up the row for better drainage.

Varieties planted:

35 Bogatyr (MPS)
40 Carpati (artichoke)
30 Choparsky (MPS)
13 Dubna Standard (MPS)
13 Estonian Red (MPS)
40 Georgian Fire (porcelain)
10 German Extra Hardy (porcelain)
11 German White (porcelain)
30 Mchadidzhvari (artichoke)
10 Music (porcelain)
15 Old Homestead (rocambole)
14 Purple Cauldron (artichoke)
16 P-VT (artichoke)
19 Ron's Single Center (artichoke)
40 Sicilian Gold (artichoke)
17 Special Idaho (rocambole)
13 Vic's (rocambole)
22 White Seedless (artichoke)

After several bad years - and heavy losses - this is the third time I've had to rebuild the garlic collection, and the last time I will spend the far-from-insignificant amount that it costs to replace garlic stock. Nearly all of the new stock is very high quality, so anything which doesn't perform well this time (or pass taste testing) will get cut.

This thread has really been quiet, compared to years past. There used to be at least a dozen large growers posting their garlic plantings, most of whom appear to have stopped posting here. :-(

This sure did quiet down this summer.

I posted this in a different thread this week but thought I would add it here. I just finished with all planting today too. Close to 300 Kostyn’s Red Russian, 135 of Music, 30 of Chesnok Red, 45 of Metechi, 33 of Spanish Roja, 50 of Siberian and 3 of Phillips. All 8” spaced apart. I did not want to plant so much but have so much more to eat. Hopefully they all make it. Will cover with straw this weekend. I have some bulbils left to plant; Killarney Red, French Rocambole, Russian Red and an unknown Rocambole.

Today we have one of our cold November rains going. Sometimes it stays rain, sometimes it turns to snow, sometimes it is a combination. Miserable. Good thing I get to work inside today.

Mary, that's a lot of garlic! Do you sell some, or is that all for consumption?

I've been curious about Phillips for a couple years, but have yet to try it. Supposedly a Maine heirloom. I gather from the quantity that this is your first year growing it?

Zeedman - I have not tried selling garlic yet but maybe this coming year. I just like garlic and planting them. I have posted a thread giving away bulbils. I mainly give garlic away to others to plant/eat and use a lot in cooking. Phillips was given to me this year to try out.