We open up the webstore in Spring for seed pre-orders. We only list a limited amount of inventory at that time and will update the store after the harvest season, so check back in July and August if the variety you want is currently "Out of Stock". We recommend ordering by July 1st to have the best selection and the largest bulbs. Seed garlic is limited, and many varieties sell out even before shipping season begins; order early to ensure you get the seed you want.

All of our garlic is Certified Organic by the WSDA.

Generally you can plan for a 1: 4-7 return. So if you plant 1 pound in the Fall, you should harvest 4-7 pounds in the following Summer. Keep in mind that bulbs that have fewer cloves, will produce fewer bulbs. 1 clove grows into 1 bulb. When planning your planting space, give at least 6" in all directions between bulbs. We like to plant in rows, with approximate 6" between the bulbs and 10-12" between rows. Remember when ordering your garlic that bigger bulbs going into the ground usually gives you bigger bulbs coming out of the ground (if you care for them properly). Order early to ensure you get our best bulbs. Big bulbs go out first, to our customers who ordered first.

We start shipping in September to our Alaska friends who need to plant early. The rest of the orders go out beginning in October. Orders are fulfilled in the order they are recieved, so the biggest bulbs go to our customers who order earliest.

We strive to send you the best product available but if you are unhappy with your garlic, please reach out within 2 weeks of receiving your order to let us know of your problem.

Growers in warm areas, without prolonged cold temperatures during the winter, will need to vernalize their garlic before planting. Place it in a paper bag, into the fridge away from other fruits and veggies. Give 6-12 weeks of cold temperatures before planting.

We plant 3-4 weeks after our 1st frost, but any time before the ground freezes will be fine. If you are in a cold climate such as our 5b consider topping with a heavy mulch. We currently use the thickest grade row cover and anchor it with sandbags. Depending on your scale and location other good mulch options include grass clippings, dried leaves, weed free straw, 2nd or 3rd cutting alfalfa (to avoid weeds), or even using no mulch but planting your garlic deeper (3-4").

This is such a complicated question, and I am working on a blog post addressing pre-planting garlic soaks. I will post a link here when I get that completed To answer in short here: - There is nothing you can do for white rot other than making sure to buy clean seed and using a minimum 4 year garlic rotation. - Mites are the biggest pest we deal with so we do a pre-planting soak of castile soap and Cinnerate (an organic cinnamon oil based miticide). There are a lot of misinformed suggestions online but soap (actual soap, not surfactant) is one of the only reliable methods to kill mites. It works by disrupting their cell membranes and dissolving their outer wax layer leading to water loss and death. The cinnerate (or other oil based insecticide) works by smothering them in oil leading to suffocation. Bleach or vodka will not kill mites. The hot water treatment can be effective, but it has to be done in a very precise manner or it's either ineffective if too cold or you risk cooking your garlic if too hot. The difference is only a few degrees. -We also do a pre-planting soak in Oxidate 2.0 (another alternative is a 10% bleach solution). This is to kill off any fusarium or other surface dwelling fungi or bacterium. Alcohol (rubbing or drinking) can be used but it must be 65-75% in order to be effective. Anything else risks spreading problems from 1 variety to another. Typical vodka is only 40% and cannot be an effective sanitizer. -Lastly, we soak in T-22 and micronized Mycorrhizal fungi to inoculate our garlic with lots of good stuff after the first two soaks. It's like taking a pro-biotic after taking an anti-biotic. I'm working on a more in-depth explanation of all we've done in the past and why we do what we do now. There is a LOT of poor information out there that is not based in research. I think you're better off doing nothing other than watering at planting time than some of the routines I see others promoting (especially if you bought clean seed).

We are a certified organic farm, focusing on regenerative agriculture. Our first line of fertility is to grow successive cover crops to build our soil and increase its nutrient value. We then use composted chicken and cow manure as a top dressing right before planting in the Fall. We will often spray liquid fish and/or worm tea in the Spring to promote biological activity. I recommend getting a soil test and following their recommendations. We like Western Labs for testing, but your local university extension is a great resource too.

For more information on growing great garlic, check out our Growing Information page at: www.mountainvalleygarlic.com/growing-information

After your scapes have been picked your garlic will bulb and mature rapidly. Count the number of leaves on your garlic and havest when approximately 60% of the leaves have turned brown. For example if you count 10 leaves on your garlic plant, harvest when about 6 have turned brown. This is part of the art of growing great garlic. Too long in the ground and your bulb wrappers will split and your garlic will not store for as long. Harvesting to soon and your bulbs will not reach their maximum potential for size. Your day to day weather conditions and the reality of life will dictate much of when you harvest. Going to rain tomorrow? If your garlic is close you will want to harvest before the rain. Going on vacation next week? Don't leave your garlic in the ground if it is close.

After you harvest your garlic there is another important step before your garlic is ready for storage. You must first allow it to cure, out of direct sunlight in a place with lots of air flow such as an air porch, a cool garage, or an open barn or shed with a fan to encourage air flow. Keep garlic out of direct sunlight. This curing process generally takes 2-4 weeks depending on temperature and humidity levels. When the garlic has fully cured, the top and roots should be trimmed, and the dirty outer layers of bulb wrappers should be gently rubbed off.

Yes, to both! Our seed potatoes are Certified Organic and Certified Seed. Certified Seed potatoes come from plants that have been inspected by a 3rd party for signs of disease and pests. The certifies that you are getting high quality, disease-free potatoes for planting which leads to higher yields of high-quality potatoes.

Seed potato orders will begin shipping about April 10th and continue until we run out. We're sorry, we cannot accommodate requests to ship potatoes early. Late March and early April are often still quite cold here and we cannot risk seed potatoes freezing during the shipping process.

A garlic scape is the immature flower stalk of the garlic plant. It looks like a long birds beak on the end of a curly asparagus spear. It will emerge from the top of the plant, after the plant has produce all of it's leaves. 1 scape per plant. Remove the scape from the plant to direct more energy into the bulb. Scapes make a delicious pesto, pickle, or stir fry. Enjoy them any way you would enjoy a green bean or asparagus.

We plant about 35,000 bulbs. This equates to 4-5000 pounds of garlic, depending on the year. We grow this on about 3/4 of an acre, maybe a smidge more, but this is part of a larger rotation where we spend 2-3 years growing cover crops and building our soil before we plant garlic and then 1-2 years of other vegetable and herb crops grown after the garlic.

We don't give tours but really try to bring the farm to you through our FB page and blog posts.