I didn't have much luck in pots, but fabric pots should work. Here I would have to protect the pots in winter, so it's easier to just grow them in the ground. I protect blueberries and stone fruits in pots. No more room left in the garage! Yes, let us know, although we are so far apart, the info will not help me much, but others will benefit.

Hi,I'm growing garli this fall for the first time and I am in the same zone as you. I ordered from Grey Duck, I had never ordered from them before, never even heard of them before, but they sent me all fat cloves for planting (looked good enough to eat!) I ordered a variety pack of 3 different types for a total of 70. They sent German Red, Georgian Crystal and Romanian Red. Anyway, I spoke with a local farmer who grows garlic for a hobby (not to sell) and she said to put a lot of compost and cow manure into the soil. So that's what I did. Did you make it to saugerties for the garlic festival?I live in Albany and wanted to go but couldn't convince my husband, he thought I was crazy. Anyway, good luck! Here is a link that might be useful: Grey Duck Garlic

Hi - I've never had good results w/ garlic, tho I HAVE seen it growing nicely in someone's community garden bed here in St. Pete. I understand variety is very important - as some are better adapted to our high humidity/diseases. I've been told that grocery store bulbs are just not a good starter source & you need to buy bulbs especially for growing.Also - it's a Fall-planted crop. Southern Exposure Seed Exchange (http://www.southernexposure.com/) has some pertinent info about regional varieties - & I'll bet Floridata.com does as well... Here's what SESE sez: **CHARACTERISTICS: Softneck garlics are more domesticated and have evolved from hardneck garlics. They have lost the ability to produce topsets, hence the center of the bulb has a soft braidable neck. Softneck garlics are more productive, more widely adapted, have better storage quality, and are easier to grow than hardneck garlics, but they are slightly less cold hardy in extreme northern areas. Clove count per bulb is much higher but many varieties have small interior cloves. We have had yields (by weight) as high as 16 to 1, but 5 or 8 to 1 is more typical. There are two horticultural groups of softneck garlics: the artichoke type and the silverskin type. Artichoke types are the largest, most widely adapted, and most productive, typically with 3 to 5 layers of cloves that give the bulb a lumpy appearance. Silverskin types have smooth, usually white bulb scales. They produce the most uniform and attractive bulbs, and are therefore popular for braiding. Cloves tend to be held tightly in the bulb and do not separate as easily as those of the artichoke type. Silverskin types are popular in western and southern states, but they also perform well in eastern states. HARDINESS ZONES: Recommended for zones 3 to 9. ** HTH Here is a link that might be useful: more info @ SESE

Well, it doesn't take quality, work ethics or skill to grow garlic, just a pot full of dirt or a piece of soil. Plant it in the fall, let it over-winter. By the next summer you'll have scapes to cut and by July (at least here in Michigan), you dig the stuff. Dry it and it'll store for months. It's by far the easiest, most reliable and least labor intensive stuff I've ever grown. Elery says we should grow a field full of it, if we only had a market for it! I also heard the same kind of "employee" argument from the vice-president of a power company here, they hired a bunch of people from India to run the computer systems because there was "no one qualified" here. Big headlines about how much better customer service would be with all the "improvements" to the computer system. Two years later the computer system was a complete mess, everyone was ticked off, people were getting exorbitant and incorrect bills, it cost $6.95 if you wanted to pay your bill on line (!!) the head of IT was fired and some computer experts from University of Michigan were hired. Six months later the computer system worked, the customers were calming down and getting their own bills, and it cost nothing to pay on line. It's a shame how those computer engineers were "unqualified", which actually meant they wanted more money than the foreign workers did. Annie