Tuesday, June 27, 2023

the garlic harvest

 I sat outside on a little cane -seated blue chair at the edge of the patio preparing my cured garlic for storage. It was early enough in the morning not so hot, a gentle breeze whispering and  the sound of the farmer's tractor cutting his hay field could be heard. A cutting board sat on my lap, a pair of scissors in my hand and a rag to wipe off any excess dirt before laying the bulbs in the basket at my feet, some of which will be placed within a mesh bag and hung in the pantry for future use.

Back late last summer I ordered my garlic from Mad River Garlic Growers in Ohio, deciding on the Italian Purple and Doghouse varieties. I'm now dreaming of the next growing season  and am tentatively deciding on growing some other varieties.  This was a good company, they provided helpful growing tips and mailed the garlic bulbs at the correct planting time within your region.

These particular photos were taken about three weeks ago when I harvesting my garlic and hung it in the shed to cure.



"There is no such thing as a little garlic." 

                                                                             ~Arthur Baer


2 comments:

Gretchen Joanna said...

That's what I call a treasure of the garden. How long does the garlic keep, after it's cured? I have a hard time keeping heads of garlic... Lately I've been buying peeled cloves. I keep them in the refrigerator and if I'm not using them fast enough, I roast all the cloves and freeze them that way, and start over by buying another little box of cloves.

I did grow garlic once or twice, a long time ago. If I had a bigger garden I would do it again!

Karen said...

Lovely! I have grown a lot of garlic but never seem to do it properly or harvest at the right time. This year, I am hoping to do better. I should do a little more research!
It is good in so many dishes, it is hard to have too much. When I was a younger woman, we used to go to a restaurant that served bread with a roasted garlic and olive oil dip. Yum!

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