The start of the 2010 season is officially underway today with the ordering of garlic bulbs for planting! I selected a red russian garlic from Wood Prairie Farm, an organic farm in Maine that also offers a wonderful selection of seed potatoes. I got my potatoes from them last spring and had great results. The Red Russian is a Rocambole garlic, a hard neck variety and suited to cold winters, so should do well here. Unlike most hard necks, it is supposed to be a good keeper with large cloves. Most of the garlic you'll find in grocery stores is the soft neck variety, usually grown in California. In researching garlic, it's my understanding that soft necks generally keep better and have a mild flavor, while the hard necks have a stronger, more complex flavor. And while it will be interesting to compare flavors, really my selection of a hard neck boils down to what will grow well here in Southeastern Pennsylvania.
And so, with the simple act of ordering some garlic cloves, my new venture has officially begun. I am excited and nervous. Time seems to be both screaming by and yet crawling along. Winter will be here before I'm ready, I'm sure, and spring seems so far off.
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As for what grows well for me here in Gettysburg, I've had good luck with: Applegate, Siberian, and Transylvanian (no vampires here!). This year was so-so, but 4 years ago I grew two heads of Siberian that were bigger around than my ankle!
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