Chester Aaron
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Chester Aaron lived in Occidental, where he became a garlic farmer. For more than 40 years, he grew over 60 varieties of garlic from 20 different countries.
He is known worldwide for his books on garlic and his efforts in popularizing garlic farming. He was instrumental in expanding what garlic varieties we have access to here in California and the United States.
When he died in 2019, we at the Community Seed Exchange thought it would be wonderful to honor his work with garlic by establishing a stewardship program to maintain his legacy for the community.
If you are a garlic grower, we hope you'll join us.
Community Garlic Project
We're looking for stewards who want to care for a few varieties of garlic Please read Growing Great Garlic
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Pick up garlic on October 30th at the Seed Garden. We are offering 9-12 cloves of a variety.We have 24 varieties to select from. We ask you only take 3 or 4 varieties.
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Plant your garlic in a rich soil that is gopher-proof, and properly care for it over the winter and spring.
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Keep varieties clearly labeled!
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After harvest, save some labeled bulbs to bring back to CSE. Unless your crop had disease, we ask that you bring back at least 3 heads of each variety we gave you.
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Check out the 25 garlic varieties in our Community Seed Exchange Garlic Collection.