Garlic Harvest

Remember when we planted our first crop garlic crop last November?  Well it happened.  A precious baby was born and garlic was pulled from the ground.  It's a meager crop, I'll admit.  It didn't get the care it should have while I was in the (tired) late stage of pregnancy and the (even more tired) first months with a newborn.  But we got some just the same.

Braiding and hanging garlic in my kitchen has been one of those curious dreams of mine for years.  I've always loved the look of it and the idea of having dozens of cloves ready to be plucked from the wall and used in a dish at a moment's notice.  Needless to say, I get quite gleeful when I look at this little corner of my kitchen and the scraggly-braided garlic bulbs.

The bulbs aren't big, so I braided them six bulbs to a braid (two for each section), and made one big braid with all the little braids, three strands at a time.  It was kind of like French braiding where you add a new strand after you bring one to the middle.

Will I do it again?  Yes, I think I will.  Garlic's taste and the aesthetic charm it brings to my kitchen makes me happy.  Some things learned along the way:

• Hotter climates with warmer winters are suitable for growing soft-neck garlic.
• You can only braid soft-neck garlic anyway, so it's a perfect match for me.
• If you decide to cure your garlic (let it dry) in your house, be prepared for a very garlicy-smelling home for a day or two.

This fall I think I'd like to plant elephant garlic.  Doesn't it sound like fun?

I'm sharing this at Simple Lives Thursday.