I ordered my garlic from Guerneys for some reason that I can not recall. They sent me a card that it would not be shipped until the fall.
They kept me updated with several cards during the summer, giving the date of arrival. About a week before I was supposed to receive them, I got a card that said out of stock -refund coming.
I have a few bulbs leftover from the supermarket, so I guess I’ll try those. sigh
At least they notified you. I ordered my garlic last May from Siskiyou Seeds in Oregon, to be shipped in August. With August quickly passing and the credit card they were given about to expire—I had already received the new one— I tried to contact them twice each both by email & phone. No replies; no charges to the card before it expired; no explanation or apology.
I scrambled, and finally found somebody —Keene Organics— that wasn’t out of stock of the variety I wanted, and I was able to order & get it in September. Had a very nice conversation with them on the phone.
They still have some varieties in stock, and are taking & shipping orders up to & including today, Monday, 10/15 http://keeneorganics.com/purchase_2012_organic_garlic
Many suppliers had bad or no crops this year due to the drought & other weather problems, so seed garlic was in short supply for many varieties.
We got a nice rain over the weekend here in CoMO. I finished tilling the garden Saturday morning just as the rain was starting. My collards and brussels sprouts are going great guns now that the weather has cooled. There are enough carrots in the ground to keep Bugs Bunny happy for a month.
On the garlic thing - I bought three heads of locally grown organic at the local hippie food store and planted it in my new garden spring of 2008. The first crop was puny due to the spring planting, but I kept back the best and replanted in the fall, and have been doing the same thing since. The crop has improved every year and this year’s harvest was simply amazing. The best heads are nearly the size of a baseball. I’ve heard that garlic acclimates to the local growing conditions and based on my experience I’d have to say there’s something to that.
I got most of my Garlic seed from this supplier many many years ago and it has now been acclimatized to the Humboldt Bay area http://www.filareefarm.com/