spring garlic?

Hello-

Folks in my area (slightly inland coastal Oregon) have realized that spring-planted garlic works out a whole lot better than the traditional fall planting.  Unfortunately, the bulb companies don't agree with this and don't ship until fall.  Is anyone aware of a source for garlic starts right about this time of year?

Thanks!

either fellow gardeners or the grocery store

In what way is spring planted Garlic better than fall Garlic?
Here i plant Garlic in November a couple of weeks before the first snow, Spring for us doesnt begin till around mid May!
Just interested on what the difference could be!

Ah I should have mentioned that we live in Finland!
suomi

The stuff planted in fall tends to rot during our extremely rainy winters.  The garlic planted in spring turns out a little smaller, but has a much higher chance of success. 

FWIW I live 10 miles from the coast.  Far enough to have radically warmer summers and colder winters, but squarely in the Pacific Northwest with its torrential rains all autumn and winter.  At the same time, the belt of warm protection the coast offers is only about 3 miles wide in this area, so I am inland enough that its a lot harsher.  The advice about spring planting comes from a few different farmers who live 1 - 2 miles from me.

I'm looking for a mailorder supplier because I want more than a fellow gardener will provide.

thanks!

Ah lucky us then cos once the snow is here, well it just stays,and stays, nice dry,cold air and a blanket of snow.
Spring... well it just melts and our springs dont tend to be too wet,and then we are into summer...yippeeeee
Good luck with your Garlic!

I just noticed this week that Lowe's has garlic starts. 

I usually plant garlic in the spring.  Mostly because I don't have my act together to plant much of anything in the fall.  Fall is mostly about harvesting honey and what not.

BTW spring must be around the corner because my bees are finding pollen in the warm afternoons.  But heck if I can find anything blooming or green around...

I've bought organic garlic from the store (food coop) for starts, having heard unsubstantiated rumor that inorganic is sprayed with compounds designed to reduce sprouting to increase shelf life.  No evidence or testing here.

I haven't bought garlic starts for around 4 years, just saving around 12-15 cloves each year for next years seed. 

I grow in PNW fall-planted in raised beds in a silt loam with winter saturation at about 12" below path depth and have had near 100% survival more or less.

Ok I guess we will hold off this spring and try it in fall as 99% of the internet suggests.  I was kicking myself for missing the planting season last fall, until a neighbor convinced me to do it in the spring.  Nothing ventured, nothing gained, but I do get fatigued by these experiments where one false move sets you back a whole year.

I've realized I really love the softneck varieties.  The scapes are so delicious and I like how 1 clove is plenty for a meal (instead of peeling and chopping a bunch of tiny ones).  I realize it doesn't store as well, so I will grow both. 

Thanks for the input everyone!

Ardilla wrote: my bees are finding pollen in the warm afternoons.  But heck if I can find anything blooming or green around...

I've read that alder often fills that role. But those catkins are green, so maybe you would've seen them.

Joel hollingsworth, your bit about catkins fits in with the photos i have just taken of the female flower of the haze,l someone was talking about them last year. I took the photo  on wednesday more or less of the week before last if enyone is interested in what time of year you can see these flowers. THe flowers are much smaller htan they are in the foto you aare not likely to notice them unless you look carefully.

mantid, someone has said here and you seemed to have missed it, try buying a head or to of garlic and planting the cloves if you can't find anything more proffesional.
On the other hand I have just bought a packet of seed in the health food shop meant for you to treat like bean sprouts, so maybe you can find seed in a health food shop and use it to grow garlic, i am trying it.

  The female flower of the hazel is a tiny spray of deep red on the end of a bud of hazel. agri rose macaskie.

On a whim a few weeks back I purchased three extra bulbs of garlic while doing my shopping.  I split up the cloves and planted them out in the garden. The majority of them have already sprouted up. I figure there are at least 24-30 out there. If they are spraying the traditional garlic at the supermarket to keep it from sprouting it doesn't seem to be very effective.

I would give it a shot. Even if it doesn't go as well as a fall planting, at least you'll have grown something. Plus garlic bulbs are like 50 cents or less, so it isn't like you are breaking the bank by experimenting.

I will try and remember to post the results when they finally harvest.

       I have remember another thing i was going to say and forgot. I planted some leeks I bought in the green grocers last autumn, the truth is  I saw some flowering ¡in the botanic gardens here in madrid which is full of things like strawberries and vegetables insteaqd of exotic plants and it also has examples of native trees varieteis of olives and other things you don't normally see which is nice. The design of the gardens is old fashioned and formal and nice lots of small box hedges. The leeks in flower made tall bit of floral decoration so i wanted them as decorative plants, I have also sown some leek seeds as vegetables as i have started tryign to grow vegetablesa too.
       The first lot of leeks i planted survived this winter and the second lot got done by frost maybe it was because i had the first lot in my house in pots for longer before planting them out but it maybe because the first lot had time to aclimatise, so if you plant out the bulbs ealier in the autumn maybe they will work.
       I once dug up wild flower bulbs they had developed at a greater depth than I expected about a foot down. Maybe planting them deep would be an answer in a cold climate. agri rose macaskie.

I'm tempted to begin the practice of planting any garlic clove that begins to sprout in the pantry, whenever it does so, in addition to any planned planting. They're all clones anyhow, so it's not like I'd be breeding them to sprout at inopportune times.

They don't take up much space for their food value, they're incredibly easy to care for, and as previously mentioned, they don't cost much. Even grown off-season, they can at least make some progress. So, the more the merrier, I say.