We have at least one source on the retail shelves here in Minneapolis, the two locations of Mother Earth Gardens. They have their bulb stock of seed garlic right along with that of their tulip bulbs. Good looking bulbs, too, at least they were a couple of weeks back. Most nurseries around here do not stock fall seed garlic, though. I also suggest some Googling. There seem to be more on-line suppliers who have not completely sold out at this point than in prior years. What I ordered was placed quite some time ago and the last is now being shipped; so I ordered early and keep most of my own stock anyway, but I still enjoy shopping. It seems to me that I am seeing fewer out of stocks this fall than in previous years. BTW I have had pretty good luck with seed garlic from the Pacific NW even though I garden in Minnesota. My original Music stock came from Red Gate in Montana and has been good from the beginning. Those who live in Wisconsin might want to stop in the Jung's garden centers. I got my VietNamese Red replacement from them online this fall. My yellow multiplier onions also originally came from them. One might also search on line, in farmer's markets or in grocery stores for organic culinary garlic. Those will normally be a bit smaller but can also be seeded. Those are not always or even often labeled as to variety however.

My experience is that containers work well as long as they are deep enough. I make large (3'diameter) bins out of 2X4 wire fencing lined with landscaping fabric. Nary a speck of dirt goes into those, rather a cocoa based potting soil amended with fertilizer (of course) and composted wood products. I plant in about 16" to 18" of soil, plant very closely (4"-6" triangulated) and get between 36 and 50 cloves per bed. I get huge garlic this way. Still working on getting some good size to the Korean Red, but porcelains and my Early Italian Purple get huge with little effort. I plant potatoes that way, too, and my yields are far beyond the basic expectations (13-15lb per pound of sets.) The gopher population here makes it impossible to plant in the soil.

This is update from the same person: "The seeds were gathered from the pod that formed on the stem (around 3 1/2 feet off the ground). They are purplish in color and all that I planted have grown into garlic heads." Since they are purple, I figure they are the bulbidls, not true seeds.

As I newbie I have no success stories but I can share what I have learned thus far.. 1. Newspaper is the best quick fix for a bed overgrown with weeds that is so far from the house that the notion of planting anything there is so far off the too do list that typing it onto my to do list hasn't reached the end of my fingers - not to mention the fact that is was an area I thought, for two years, was my neighbor's neglected mess! Much to my mortification it was really my mess - newspaper, mulch, forcythia and stella dora - beautiful, weedless, in a morning. And it still looks good nearly a year later! 2. I love sprouts! Period! They are growing!! I hope they live but right now I have my instant gratification. I seed green in those jugs! 3. A nice glass of wine, viewing my potential plants, is a lovely thing on a warm spring day. I know I look silly sitting with my feet up admiring a bunch of milk jugs but hey... I am over 30... well over 40.. who do I need to impress but myself! 4. I am so ready for planting! I bought 6 flats of flowers last weekend - I thought I wouldn't be buying any more 5. My design skills improve when I "pretend" to read a book while drinking a glass of wine and observing my gardens! With every glass of wine I have better and better plans! :) What I wish I'd learned.. 1. Why do I keep buying, buying, buying plants and seeds?! Why do they call my anem?? "Christy, Christy, Christy, we need you... you need us.... buy, buy , buy forget your husband... he loves you and doesn't really care if you keep buying!" Well... I am not so sure about that - at least my house isn't full of zip lock mini green houses... 2. When will my husband quit rearranging / adding to my gardens? I love gardens but last fall I split and replanted a bunch of border plants to edge a garden perfectly... they are now in the middle of the new and improved garden - which melded my perfect red and white garden with my emerging purple and yellow garden - what to do with that? (I net a pond in the production so I will quit whining!) 3. When will I figure out how to keep track of what I have planted, what it looks like, how tall it is, is it perennial....???? I plant, go and forget... I hate that I do this but cannot quit! buy, plant, buy, plant, buy, plant it is an addiction! Christy