Here is a tale of garlic. Once upon a time a girl gardener planted cloves of garlic.
One batch was planted in an area too wet. Another batch was planted in an area too dry. But another batch was planted in an area just right.
The garlic in the wet area were too small. The garlic in the dry area were a little bigger. But the garlic in the ” best” area were the largest (although still not as big as they could be).
Here is how they started out.
Garlic after harvesting.
I must say knowing when to harvest is a tricky wicket. My best advice is to go to this web site www.gourmetgarlicgardens.com and read their wonderful guide. They even have advice for growing garlic in the south, especially Texas. Basicly, what I read is “when the lower leaves have all died and only top 6 leaves are still green, it’s ready”. I also learned that “the upper leaves of the plant determine how many bulb wrappers the harvested bulb will have” . There is a wealth of information about planting, growing, harvesting, curing and storing garlic.
Here is the garlic curing. Curing is basically a drying process. Gourmetgarlicgardens says “The idea is for excess moisture in the roots and leaves to evaporate or withdraw into the bulb. When the roots and necks are completely dry and don’t emit a typical garlic odor when cut, it is time to trim it.”
Garlic ready to be “cleaned up”.
I had hoped to have a picture of all my neatly trimmed and cleaned up garlic, but when I trimmed the top of three of them, they weren’t quite ready for storing. But these will be used this weekend in pesto and salsa.
YUM!!
fromgardentotable 