[Snoop]

Over here you can get two types of garlic - white and purplish. There are no named varieties - just bags containing half a dozen heads or a full dozen.  I have grown the local purple-tinged garlic in the past and found it satisfactory. The heads I grew had scapes, so I take it they were hard and not soft neck. Plus, the locals don't distinguish between garlic suitable for sowing in autumn and spring, as it's all the same stuff.

A friend has now offered to bring some garlic over from the UK for me to grow. So I've been looking at websites and to be honest, sometimes too much choice is not a good thing, as I'm totally flummoxed!

First off, what is the real difference between hard and soft neck garlic? As far as I can see, hard neck grow scapes and soft necks don't. But is there anything else? Is one type hardier than the other? Is there a difference in their long-term storage?

Plus, can anyone give me any recommendations? Over here I buy the purple-tinged garlic and would prefer largish cloves rather than lots of tiddly ones, though I suspect that's more to do with how they're grown. I don't tie garlic up in a plait but rather liked Swing-Swang's arrangement of storing them by running a length of wire through the necks. If possible, I'd also want to keep some of the one year's harvest to plant the next.

All help and advice gratefully received.

[mumofstig]

Softnecks are supposed to store for longer without spoiling.

[Snoop]

Thanks MoS. That's well worth knowing. I somehow assumed from the name 'hardneck' that they would last longer!

[BabbyAnn]

Sometimes it is worth having a look at the origins of the garlic variety in the description which can help when selecting which ones to choose - something that comes from Siberia might be unsuitable to say one that orignated from the Mediterranean (a lot depends on your local climate)  My other piece of advice is to grow a few different varieties rather than rely on just one - that way if one does better than the others, it will give you a better idea of what to look out for that does best in your region and you won't be without any garlic if some fail.  Personally I might consider an early maturing variety like Iberian Wight or Albigensian, maybe include Provence and/or Thermidrome.

On another note, I found softneck to have lots of small cloves whereas hardneck tend to have a ring of plump cloves round the central stem (which would be the scape)

[Snoop]

Thanks BabbyAnn. That was really useful info. It's very hot here in the summer but extremely cold in the winter. This year might be a bit different, as it's an El Niño year apparently, so we could have a wet autumn, meaning it could be milder. Mind you, that probably means snow later on. I'll bear your comments in mind when I go back and have another look at what's around.