HOW TO HARVEST AND STORE GARLIC

Garden and garlic! I went a little overboard last fall and planted two 4X8’ garden beds with garlic. Which means I won’t be needing any for quite some time.  I have no idea what varieties I even have I didn’t mark my rows I just planted, and planted and planted until it wall all in the ground. 

I guess I don’t care so much what kind it is all I know is I use a lot of garlic for cooking and medicinal purposes.  I also have enough to share with friends and family this year. 

Our temperatures here in Michigan were unbearable with high heat and high humidity for several weeks. That sure doesn’t make for the most ideal climate for digging in the garden but it has to be done, so garlic here I come.

I let the chickens out at 6am every morning and normally head straight to the garden before it gets to hot. First I harvested all the garlic scapes, dehydrated them, ran them through my food processor and powdered them to keep as garlic powder and then I moved on to digging the garlic bulbs.

I use a pitchfork to dig under the garlic then shake off any excess dirt, as much possible, before I added it my crate. Here’s a tip: dig garlic when it’s dry. Definitely not right after a rain, it takes it longer to cure if it’s damp.

Once I had it all out of the ground I placed it on my home made rack for curing. I had a large wooden frame that I added chicken wire to to make myself a drying rack. I placed it between two chairs on the covered porch and loaded it will garlic. 

I made sure it was kept out of the rain or dew and let the garlic get good and dry (about 10 days) before I brush off the dirt, cut off the tops and roots. Here’s a tip: you’ll know when it’s dry, the green tops will turn brown. I then added it to my thrifted basket to store in the basement. It can also be kept in any cool dry area that stays around 55 degrees. 

Any garlic I happened to stick with the pitchfork I kept off to the side and out of the storage basket. It went directly into the kitchen to be used first. 

I wont be needing to plant garlic this fall thats for sure. I will keep an eye out on what’s in storage and make sure none of it goes bad. I have a gadget that minced garlic quite quickly so If I get board this winter I may mince a big portion of my stockpile and add it to a jar filled with avocado oil that I’ll keep in the fridge. It seems easier to use that way. 

How is everyone else’s garden doing this year? I’m so glad our heat wave has passed and I can open up the windows again. I’m not an air conditioning person. I enjoy the fresh air so it’s been nice to open up the cabin again.  

By the way I’ve switched companies that sends the email to you all when I have a new post. Please let me know if you notice you’re not getting them. I’m still trying to figure out the new service and I’m not sure I have it all working correctly yet.