Garlic Harvest 2010

If you haven't harvested your garlic yet, now would be the time.

   

Let your garlic dry and cure in a warmish, dry place until the roots are brittle and any dirt on the garlic is dusty and easy to remove with a light touch.  Then you can snip the roots, and, if the stalks are soft-necked and dry, braid up your harvest for a stylish storage life.  Hard-necked varieties will do well if you cut off the stalk about two inches from the head.  They can be strung together, or just stored in a mesh bag (like what oranges come in) and hung from a rafter or stored in your kitchen.

 If you don't grow garlic, you should learn this year.  It's one of the easiest things to grow--if you know how.  The biggest mistake most people make is planting it in spring.  Garlic should be planted in the autumn here in Michigan, as late as October or even in November.  The garlic shown here was planted on a day with a light dusting of snow last November, and harvested on a sunny day last week.