We go every year. Trying the garlic ice cream is obligatory ONCE. Decide for yourself if you like it enough to repeat the experience. The festival is my favorite source of different varieties of garlic for my garden and local honey. This year we're taking the grandchildren. I'm sure we'll be visiting different booths than in the past--like the one with face painting and balloon animals. Even though it does attract so many visitors, I've never felt crowded as it's spread out on so much land. I heartily recommend the festival as a fun day, usually on a beautiful fall afternoon.

Mark - Malabar spinach is an ornamental for me too, I don't like the slimy texture but for sure it looks pretty! I have to see the u-tube video from Echo, it is a good place to visit at least one time, interesting. Tom - Smarty seeds will follow. About the callaloo, the ones that I originally planted were kind of green and Maxine told me just sprinkle, I didn't think they were going to come up but they did, seeds are very small. Now I have them coming up by themselves where I had them before. I think you can use them fresh(green) or mature and they come, just sprinkle them where you want them to grow, you can probably mix them with fine starter medium or peat moss and just put them on top, press so when you water the seeds don't run. Louie was recovering for over a month and gained weight,I told him welcome to the club,lol. He said too many pringles and not enough vegetables plus he was bored,lol. Silvia

LOL, PM2, I was just thinking about my garlic again! I was outside gathering some acorns for a friend's project, and once again thought about planting my garlic. Too damn cold today! Brrrr! I think it is supposed to warm up by Friday, so I will plant it then. Like nhbabs says, its really a balancing act to decide when to plant! I'm not too worried. An organic farmer down the street from me always plants his garlic in November, near the end of the month. He has more than once told me I plant mine too soon - and I try to tell him that I have an early variety, that is harvested in May and June, and that the place I buy it from says to plant in October. I am rather feeble in my protestations - me telling a farmer who has done this professionally for decades and whose farm is 150 years old that I know better than he does, lol. So, for the other, late-harvested variety I am trying for the first time, I think I still have plenty of time to plant. And for the one that is "supposed to be" planted in October? Well, it was so warm here, and like Persimmons, the last year or two I've had pretty substantial growth in fall with my (early) garlic, so I am not too worried about waiting this long to plant. When I get that growth, Persimmons, I mulch very deeply with leaves. I have lost lots of that growth come spring, but I still manage to get a good harvest. Dee

I love growing garlic! I just started last year -- in early November, so I am not very experienced, but it was very gratifying! I bot my garlic from Johnny's Select Seeds (mail order). I think I started with the extra-hardy German Red, or something like that. They offer several varieties and very good growing information. Garlic likes good drainage, I believe, so mine was in raised beds, amended with lots of good stuff. The cloves but down roots over the winter, then show top growth in the spring/summer. When the scape starts to curl, you remove it. Then, when the leaves start to fade, you harvest. I even needed to move mine in late spring, and it survived just fine. Hope this helps. ML