Oh crud! I actually did do a search on squash leaves and so much came up that it was useless, but down below I saw the other thread, so I went out to look for svb. On this particular plant, there is no yellow stuff and no holes that I could see, but on two other plants there were. Does it matter what time of day you do the surgery on the squash vine to get the worm out? I'd like to wait until evening when it's cooler and not as windy if that works. Crud!

If you check out local farmer's markets you might be able to find garlic that's being sold for eating and it is perfectly fine for planting. It's cheap and it also has the advantage of already being adapted to growing in your climate. Once you make the initial "seed" garlic investment you should be set for life as long as nothing catastrophic happens (like your crop getting wiped out by critters or disease) because you save your biggest cloves to replant (bigger cloves equal bigger bulbs). I enjoy growing garlic. It's really easy to grow and it takes up little space so it's worth the minimal effort of growing. All it needs is water, compost, and time. I plant mine in October, cut the scapes off the hardnecks in June, harvest and cure it in July, and then replant in October. uscjusto- Garlic is a perennial but it's not something that you can just plant and forget about. If you leave it in the ground after it dies down in the Summer it will come back in the Fall as a clump and that clump will produce much smaller bulbs and every year the bulbs will continue decreasing in size. I know this because I have some planted in with my perennial flowers (I think it looks interesting). And yes, you harvest the garlic at the same time and you save some to replant. One clove produces one bulb. Rodney

That looks like fusarium mold, which has been a problem for many people in the east this year, probably because of all the rain. There have been several threads about it in the Allium forum. I would not plant those cloves. Clean bulbs from a coop or health food store would be better, regardless of type. I had a lot of suspicious bulbs in my hardnecks, so I dried them before the disease progressed. The softnecks were not as badly affected and are still looking perfect in storage.

I'd replant and then cover the surface with chicken wire fastened to the barrel. The garlic should be able to grow up through the openings, but I think it will be enough to discourage the squirrel.