well now Dave, let's think about this for a moment......altho it's true you have an optimum location, you still have to create the optimum enviorment, which requires the same effort as everyone else. I don't think you should withdraw from the competition on those grounds. I do feel however, as last year's hands-down winner, that you should be this year's judge. I'll do it next year.... ( for those of you that don't recognize a gountlet when ones thrown at ya.....) lol

Dave! You are a sissy! You are only backing out of the competition because of the turtle guts laying under your Monster Garlic here in Maryland! Yep, I will Win, but not by defaught!(Spell it anyway you want) So , Yep, You are still in the contest. Sorry about your luck and goody about mine!

I'm waiting on a reply here! Brat!

Am I being challenged? If you two check the contest fine print, you will see a clause that says I can NOT be beaten by my own garlic. So you two are in a bind. Why do you think I gave you some? Turtle guts, baahhh! Give me goatchit any day. Really, it doesn't seem fair for me to enter. Maybe the winner each year should automatically be one of the judges for the following year. Then we don't have repeat winners and there won't be any whining about it.

Going out on a limb, but I bet the Spanish Rosa Hardneck can beat my beloved Dave's Monster! I have it planted next to yours, but I have good records and can tell what is what!

You are not backing out of this! What happened, did the PONY stomp on your crop? Something had to happen!

Okay, here's the whole truth. I entered 3 contests last year with my garlic and tomatoes. I won all 3. I think someone else should get their 15 minutes of fame. I like all of you here and don't want to change that. I race old BMWs for a hobby and know from experience that competitors are not happy campers if the same person wins all the time. Gardening contests are the same IMHO.
I was going to tell you a story about cheating on my wife, getting caught and she pulled all my garlic as punishmnent, besides sleeping alone in my shop. There, happy now?

You won on LAME sites! Not the real thing like here!

I would hardly call winning on those sites a challenge! I read the posts on those forums. Don't impress me much! Yep, you are still in the game. You started this and will finish this, and I will win! Snicker, snicker!

I'm posting to this now to let lisaann know I'm here. I haven't looked at this post because....
I plant my garlic when I pick it. The garlic I have puts out side "blubs" and I replant those when I dig my garlic in June. I have such a large planting of garlic that by the time I replant the side bulbs, I don't need to plant any more. I also have so much garlic out that I can't pick all of the tops and the tops fall down and go to seed. But I have banks that are too hard to mow, but make a great place to landscape with garlic and herbs. As I said in my "Compost" question on the other thread... I have put my leaves back into the yard and gardens so diligently, that there is lots of nice mulch on top of my garlic every fall. My garlic is actually back up from its dormant period and will probably remain up and growing unless we get some sort of sub 15F weather.

Best of show at the fair was not a lame site. It was real world. You are going to do whatever you can think of to get me back in this, huh?

ROFLMAO !!!!!......I think "once" does not mean "winning all the time".....and what more even a playing field than to be using the same seed stock as each other.......lol....

I didn't say I won all the time.I just feel weird about entering, that's all. What if I won again? Would any of you feel bad?

MHG, changing the subject here. What do you think of this way of tying bundles and hanging them? It's from Hood River Garlic, here in Oregon
"The garlic is tied into bundles of 10 to 12 plants, depending on the size. We recycle the bailing twine from Spots' (our horse) hay bales.You want a string that is strong and you can really tie a good knot with. Tying into bundles, it is important not to tie too high or too low. If you tie too low you can't hang them on the rack. If you tie too high, the stalks shrink after drying and the garlic may slip out the bottom. We tie right where the plant turns from green to brown.
Curing Garlic
Now that your organic garlic is tied up in bundles of 10 to 12, it's time to start curing garlic. Eric stretches bailing twine across the barn so we can split the bundle and hand it over the string "

How do you hang yours MHG?

Dave,

We are having fun chitchatting and YES! I brag about you winning at the fair! And, Yep,I will win this year, so, Yep I am sorry for you! Glad you won the first time when the rest of us didn't know and could not participate!

Now your luck shall change! Boo HOO for you! Woo Hoo for me!

I am still entering at the fair. That is one of the reasons to plant the elephant, besides just for the experience of it and liking it for flavor.

YAWN! Just means yawn, not an abbreviation.

Re reread post and thought I should help out all you nitwits! Giggleing here!

.....ok.....enough blather.....the gauntlets have been thrown and the race is on.....if you make it to the finish line, great, ...if ya blow a head gasket, well.... better luck next time.....lmao

Dave - I hang in my shed, pretty much like they were talking about. I have also laid them out on pallets under tarps out in my treeline. There are others that trim the bulbs off right in the field and cure the bulbs on racks. I'm not too crazy about leaving the debri in my field, and I'm of the opinion that seperating the bulb from it's stalk can cause the bulbs to dehydrate too soon as the wrappers haven't shrunk down tight yet. I've also found that when I have to trim some of the bulbs early at harvest due to stalk damage that negates hanging them, they are more susceptable to mold at the cut. If I had a storage shed that let me control the humidity better, all of the above might be a mute point.