garden | harvesting garlic

bye-bye supermarket garlic... 60 heads! Yesterday afternoon, I harvested 60 heads of garlic. My biggest bounty ever. Just seeing it all makes me want to start a garlic festival in my town. The thought of all the meals that will be graced by this most delicious addition makes me feel downright giddy.

I'm thinking that 60 heads should be more than plenty for a family of four for a while, with some leftover to share with friends. Still, I'm tempted to double this fall's planting. Since I harvested a 2-1 ratio of softneck to hardneck, I'll definitely double at least my hardneck planting. I would love to have more scapes.

You can tell how many layers of "paper" a head is covered in by counting the leaves. Each leaf represents one layer of papery covering. When a good 1/3 to 1/2 of the leaves begin to yellow, it is time to harvest. Hold back on watering the garlic for one week prior to harvest. This will help cut down on the bulb rotting. Gently dig out each head. Place in a dry, cool, dark place. The garlic will keep up to nine months, maybe 11 for the softneck.

Curing the garlic helps increase its storage potential. Ours are curing on a handmade screen rack that is in our basement. In around two weeks, the heads should feel much more papery. This is signaling that it's now time to braid the softnecks. For my hardnecks, I simply bunch them together and hang by the root cellar.

Now to dine in delight for the next several months in everything garlic, fresh from my own garden. It really doesn't get any better than that.