Justaguy, I am sure that they will emerge, even if you planted them deeper than 4-5 ". But we are talking about optimum level. Bulbs, rizmus in general do not like to be burried too deep. If they need moisture/food their roots will go down and find it. I have just planted some garlics and shallots. Their tip ends were barely covered. The are 8 to 12 inches now. Actually I overlooked and left some of them just laying there naked and they were growing roots. Last year I planted my onion sets too deep, maybe tops were about 2" under. Then I learned that it was not the best way. I experimented with some onions and removed the soil from around the bulbs. Those onios were much bigger than the rest. Cyrus

generator: Thanks for the link to the article. I found it interesting, as I am really interested in growing as many perennials as possible for all the reasons mentioned in the article. Two quick things: "elephant garlic" is not garlic, but a segmented leek. So info pertaining to elephant garlic may not be relevant. Second thing: I got the impression the reporter didn't know much about growing garlic. Also The 80 year old guy spent years developing this technique. I don't know about you, but I don't have multiple years to play with new techniques poorly described by uninformed journalists. A visit with the old guy would probably clear up a lot of the confusion. Maybe. When we've left garlic bulbs in the ground (by mistake) they do grow the following year. But the cloves are tiny as each clove tries to produce a new bulb. If you don't care how big your cloves are, no problem. We grow for market, and people love BIG things. Really LOVE BIG THINGS. So I think we'll probably continue to grow garlic as an annual.

Michelle, it came from a place in WI. Very nice to deal with. Before I ordered they made sure everything I chose would do well here. Nice garlic, too. I ordered these hardnecks: Russian Red, German Red, Spanish Roja, Chesnock Red, Brown Tempest, Romanian Red, Siberian and two softnecks, Silver White and One they recommended, Simonetti. Ohiomom, it's that simple....I just toss whole peeled cloves and a little olive oil with my hands and roast them until they're light brown. Then I load them onto plastic wrapped cookie sheets, freeze and then dump them into freezer bags. I'm using the last of mine from a year ago and they're fine. Having them on pizza tonight. Terri, my biggest problem with the PC press is how far it shoots the garlic sometimes, lol. Here is a link that might be useful: http://wegrowgarlic.com/

For cooking, I buy a brand of mashed garlic in a jar. No peeling, no having to wash hands. Not diced garlic in oil, but just garlic mashed and a little water. I use it for my tomato gravy for pasta, in scampi, and it's great for garlic bread. The brand is LAXII . Sold in supermarkets on the shelf with Indian foods- but made in USA. (only needs refrigeration after it's been opened). This post was edited by monica_pa on Thu, Apr 17, 14 at 17:37