Many of my fellow bloggers have written about their garlic crops of late, but I am replying to a reader comment from my post titled “Keep The Vampires From Your Door!”
Toria wrote:
Well Toria, firstly I dried them out until the stalks were yellow and dry. This only took a week. As we have had so much rain this year, I had to pull the bulbs when some of the stalks were green, because I didn’t want them to rot in the ground, which you all would have seen in the original post.
Then I tied them up in bunches with some twine, and then strung up a piece of rope in the garage and hung the bunches over the rope. This will let them dry out a little longer, and then I can just cut them off as I need them.
However, I know that it gets really hot under the garage in summer, so in a couple of weeks, I will cut them all down, trim the roots and stalks off, lightly brush off any remaining dirt, and store them in the pantry on the floor in a big wicker basket so that there is plenty of air flow.
I found that using this method last year, the bulbs stored well into Autumn, when they began to sprout again. I knew it was then time to plant the next crop. I will keep the 5 biggest bulbs for next year to plant again, and use all the rest in cooking. There is nothing quite like the taste of fresh garlic. Much better than that imported, tasteless crap that has been through hell and back to get to the supermarket.
Thanks Gavin, much appreciate the follow up post. I’ve just harvested my first garlic crop & wasn’t sure of the best way to store.
Well done Gav, my garlic crop was so pathetic I don’t think storing it will be a problem. The rabbit and the strimmer got the ones that were in the sunny spot and the ones in the shady garden almost require a microscope to be seen.
Thank goodness for Food Connect!
I just wanted to add my two cents on the ‘how to’ store garlic theme: I lay the freshly harvested bulbs on a screen out of the sun and weather until they’ve had a chance to dry. Then, I break off the stems, brush off the dirt, and store them in my kitchen in a net bag (similar to your basket) to allow plenty of air flow. It’s much colder where I live, and during the winter, my kitchen doesn’t get warmer than 70°F. So, it stores well, usually, until I’ve harvested my next crop :).
Thanks for the information, I have just pulled up my first crop of garlic and while the bulbs are quite small, they still taste and smell like garlic should. I will enjoy following your blog
cheers Jan
Hi Jan,
Thanks for dropping by.
Gav
Thanks, will check in on you regularly from here in sunny Nelson, NZ.
Further to your post about storing food, I keep all my oats, bran, lentils, etc in the fridge, or freezer and never have problems with weevils. No help of course if the power goes down, but it also extends the shelf life, and I find I can ignore the useby dates of dry goods if I keep them cold.
cheers Jan
I have just harvested my garlic (mid November) biggest and best crop ever. I hung them out to dry out completely, over a wire around my fence .After about 2 weeks I took them down and left the dry stems on and platted then into about half metre lengths and they are now hanging up in my garage
Great work Peter. Isn’t fresh garlic just amazing?