Yes, thats true. Regular garlic leaves are edible, but are shaped differently compared to garlic chives. My garlic chives have no big bulbs in the soil and last throughout the summer months. The leaves a thick, and flat, but have a slightly raised middle the whole length of the leaf. Regular garlic leaves usually die out about now, and send up a stiff round stalk (a scape) if its the hard neck variety. These scapes should be removed as they take strength from the clove clusters in the soil. Once the regular garlic leaves die out, its ready to dig up. You never dig up a garlic chive, and because it has these small white flowers, you can collect the black seeds and plant it in new locations where it will form more clumps in future years. Garlic (soft neck types) can be planted in late summer and grow through winter. Garlic chives simply send up new greens every year in late spring. I believe the garlic chives will grow in heat and garlic should also grow, but hard neck varieties of garlic are meant for northern cooler climates, so choose the soft neck varieties, or even try elephant garlic with huge cloves.

To the OP - the reason you never found the sharpening steel very effective is because a steel does not sharpen, it hones; there's a difference, and its simple and important to remember. Basically, the edge of a knife is very very thin. German knives, in particular, use *relatively* soft metal in their blades (compared to modern Japanese knives, especially). Just in normal use, the edge deforms on a microscopic level, interfering with cutting ability...when you hone using a steel, you are essentially bending the edge back into shape. You are not, however, removing any metal at all. You should hone often. Doing it everytime you start a job is not too often. If you do this, you will maintain your initial sharpness much much longer. Note that on many of the manual pull-through systems, and some electric, the "final" sharpening level is actually a honing level, so you can use that instead. Note also that "diamond steels" are a different beast entirely; they are much more abrasive, and are best treated as true sharpeners. Regardless of how often and religiously you hone, however, at a certain point the edge will still get dull...and at that point, you need to sharpen by actually removing some metal to reshape and sharpen the edge. To do this, you need something more abrasive than a steel - a diamond rod, ceramic rods, stones, a mechanical sharpener, etc. Practically speaking, this is something you probably only *have* to do once or maybe twice a year. Learning to use sharpening stones is relatively easy, and they can be relatively affordable, but it does take some commitment and a bit of practice to be able to hold the correct angle. The systems like the the EdgePro and Wicked Edge get you the same results consistently without requiring as much user skill/commitment, but they are a bit expensive initially. For a cheaper option that still requires less commitment/skill than flat stones, and is very well reviewed, you might look at the Spyderco Tri-Angle Sharpmaker. Note, however, that all of these methods take a while to use - they aren't a quick 5 minute task. The electric sharpeners are quicker and have almost no learning curve. The downside is they are harder on your knives (removing more metal more quickly), and the edges they produce are serviceable but not at the same level a skilled manual sharpener can achieve. For many people, the tradeoff is worth it. Do you live close to a Williams Sonoma? I believe they are currently offering to sharpen one knife free, with an electric sharpener (Chef's Choice, I think) on Saturdays. I would recommend you take one in to them and get a hand's on demonstration, and then you will have an actual edge on your own knife to test with. If possible, I would also take another of your knives to a good professional hand sharpener (will probably cost between $1 an $2 per inch). Then, I would see whether the difference is worth it, to you. I'd also second the recommendation for the "An Edge in the Kitchen" book. There is also a book you can get a Sur la Table called "Knives Cooks Love" which is a good overview and is currently on sale for $4.99.

Jim, if you don't have arthritis, I respect that you wouldn't understand how it could be aggravated by mincing garlic. Oh boy. It's simple questions that sometimes become the most difficult. By way of explanation (again): My Grunt Guy uses the garlic mincer/press for me, which takes a lot of hand strength. I have minced garlic with my chef's (or uli) knife, but to get it fine enough requires a fair amount of knife work, especially when I do a lot of it. None of my microplanes provide me with minced garlic. When I smash garlic, I lean into it and SMASH. That motion requires the heel of my hand, which is not and never will be a problem for me....whereas mincing it requires fingers, and/or finger strength, which in my case are arthritic. I write pages every day with a calligraphy pen, just to keep my fingers exercised, without straining them, which is helping. Sadly, it doesn't solve the problem. Thank you for all your responses.

ci_lantro - that is very good information about Voltaren and Volfenac. thank you. Shows you how much my doctor knows about meds, I apologize for believing him, and appreciate you correcting my ignorance. I have always had the idea that if physicians diagnose and pharmacists prescribe we'd be so much better off. Don't you? Also, I believe that pharmacists should be able to dispense supplements, herbal, alternative, and non-traditional medications based on diagnoses, and follow you as your sole pharmacist no matter where you live in the US. They have years of intensive training where I think physicians prescribe what the last pharmaceutical rep were touting. Probably callous or snide, sorry. Reading the anecdotes here it looks like y'all have been personally drilling down to what aggravates and what alleviates for you without meds. I will start looking at my diet and keep a diary of what foods help or hurt though I've never felt there was a difference. Right now the only thing I've identified is that a drop in barometric pressure makes my arthritis flare up, like the coming of a storm or a drastic drop in temperature, but not a change into dry warm weather. I also know that the more active I am the less likely that my arthritis will flare. I follow the Mayo Clinic Hand Exercises for Arthritis that totally works for me and do it pretty much mindlessly while I am reading or being bored in front of the TV, or being a passenger. After a few months of this (and continued from 5 years ago) I could really see that the progression of arthritis in my hands had lessened and years later, I think, has kept the worsening of it at bay. But, now I have it in my neck/spine bones from several head-on collisions years ago that even though chiropractic has helped, there is no exercise for those bones. Y'all have given me much to consider.