That stand is beautiful! Thanks for sharing.
I did go to our local organic/natural foods store, and buy some soft neck specifically for planting, as a back-up plan.
It will still go in, even though the German is finally sprouting; but the idea was that if the hard-neck/porcelain failed, at least we would have some garlic. We want a full-flavor, semi-hot garlic, and Gilroy just doesn’t do it: too mild.
I suspect “Gilroy Garlic” is now coming from China as it did a couple of years ago. There is not a lot of garlic grown near Gilroy any longer due to disease in the soil so they have it farmed in the Central Valley for years. We still have 3 bags of last years crop in the freezer which seems to improve the flavor.