A couple of weeks ago, we harvested garlic that we had planted last fall. We dried it under cover until Emily’s grandfather got sick of finding the dried out dirt from the roots on the hood of his truck. We knew it was ready based on his blood pressure.
I took down all of the garlic from where it was hanging and loaded it up in the man-van and headed for home. You see, I treat the man-van very much like most folks would treat a pickup truck. Emily, on the other hand, sees it more as a family vehichle. Of course, this causes some contention between us, but I always figure (as someone wisely said) that it’s easier to ask for forgiveness than permission. Anyhow, I loaded all of the garlic into the van and brought with it a bunch of dried dirt. Emily’s blood pressure headed north as well so I knew the garlic was done.
People process and store garlic in all sorts of different ways, but I like to cut the stalk off leaving only about 1-2 inches still attached to the bulb. I knock off all of the dirt from the roots and then trim them down to 1/4 inch or so in length. I peel a few layers of the outer “paper” from the garlic and that’s it. One should not wash garlic to remove the dirt. Of course, part of the point of drying the garlic was to remove excess moisture that would cause rot. Garlic cleans up very nicely without water so I figure, there is no sense in taking a chance.
So, I did an actual count of the garlic we harvested and we have 116 heads hanging in onion sacks in our basement ready for use. Some we’ll save for seed to plant this October but the rest we’ll use. If we estimate 6 cloves per head, that means we have 696 cloves of garlic for use this year.
The really cool thing is that garlic is its own best medicine. It seems to raise the blood pressure of folks in my family, but it also, apparently, is a good way to lower blood pressure as well. Garlic is almost like a blood pressure perpetual motion device!
“Man Van” LOL! Around here, we call them Mommy Mobiles.
Beautiful garlic harvest. Congrats. I heart garlic a great deal.
.-= Ceecee´s last blog ..Where Did the Summer Go? =-.
Love those garlic! Glad that you had a great harvest. I didn’t plant quite enough, I already know it.
.-= YDavis´s last blog ..Garden Update =-.
Hubby and I are the opposite, he hates that I haul messy things in the van, I figure that is what its for. He should be glad I don’t use his corvette to haul hay, with the top off I bettcha I could at least 4 or 5 bales in there!
Great job on the garlic, I actually forgot to plant it last year, yep I’m a dork! Kim
.-= the inadvertent farmer´s last blog ..Summer Rain Dance part 1 =-.
Very pretty! Nice work! I’m very happy with my garlic haul this year, but I haven’t counted total heads yet. Once I start counting, the next natural step for me is to start weighing and I just don’t have time to go down that nerdy path right now. 🙂
What kind of garlic did you grow?
.-= Farmgirl_dk´s last blog ..Beach, Beethoven, Birthday =-.
Oooh! These are beautiful! Looks like you got a great harvest. Mine was sort of piddly this year- I’m thinking because of the cold, wet, long spring? Dunno, but I’m impressed with yours!
.-= Taylor´s last blog ..Victory! =-.
Excellent.
Looks great! No worries about vampires at your house.
.-= Chiot’s Run´s last blog ..Blanket Flower ‘Oranges & Lemons’ =-.
I love garlic!! Nice.
.-= suchlovelyfreckles´s last blog ..I’m just no good… =-.
Looks like a great harvest.
Now Warren – be honest – the garlic is not ALL hanging in the basement. I found some in a china bowl in the dining room and another in the middle of the coffee table!!! No worries about Edward Cullen stealing you away though 🙂
Looks great guys!! I love garlic.
Dora Renee’ Wilkerson
.-= Dora Renee’ Wilkerson´s last blog .. =-.
Being the pollock that I am, I really love garlic. Good harvest!
.-= Deb´s last blog ..U.P. north =-.
That is quite a haul, but probably not enough to last Honey for a year. Him being a Day-Go and all.
Man van! LOL! Ab-Cat calls hers The Loser Cruiser!
How often do you have to shave your nice shiny head?
.-= Capri Kel´s last blog ..Way Back When-sday-Happy Birthday, Mouse-a-Lina! =-.
I think we may have gone overboard on the garlic this year but time will tell. We love to eat it on everything. Many of our recipes require a good bit too. It’s a wonder people will hang out with us.
Capri Kel – I shave it every day. Beauty like this takes work you know…
Have you ever tried planting the seeds from the top of the garlic stem? I see you had tons of them.
Gary – that’s my experiment for this year…I decided to keep them and see what happens…I figure they’ll grow just fine, but who knows?!