Growing garlic this fall

The lack of decent garlic at the grocery store the other day prompted a moment of weakness: I ordered some gardening catalogs online the other day.

Nevermind that I have no budget or a garden plot for that matter. I'm determined to have some decent garlic and shallots next spring. Which means we need to get going on some kind of planting this fall.

The first catalog arrived Tuesday, and I have to fight the 3 year old over who gets to thumb through it. What's not to be interested in - flowers of every shape and color, purple and yellow beans, the likes of which she'd never seen before, blueberries of varying shapes and sizes (which of course she's begging to have).

Explaining to a little one that it's just not time to plant berries doesn't work well, but we settled for a discussion of the three pages of garlic varieties. In the past, I've tended to favor the early-season types because I'm just not that patient (and I can re-use that space for summertime planting).

However, we have new criteria now. It's not hardneck versus softneck, or early season versus late. Based on our discussion continued this morning around a bowl of Cheerios, I've been tasked to order the red garlic.

For my little green thumb, it's all about the color.