A couple of weeks ago, we harvested garlic that we had planted last fall. Â 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. Â 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. Â You see, I treat the man-van very much like most folks would treat a pickup truck. Â Emily, on the other hand, sees it more as a family vehichle. Â 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. Â Anyhow, I loaded all of the garlic into the van and brought with it a bunch of dried dirt. Â 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. Â I knock off all of the dirt from the roots and then trim them down to 1/4 inch or so in length. Â I peel a few layers of the outer “paper” from the garlic and that’s it. Â One should not wash garlic to remove the dirt. Â Of course, part of the point of drying the garlic was to remove excess moisture that would cause rot. Â 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. Â Some we’ll save for seed to plant this October but the rest we’ll use. Â 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. Â 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. Â 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?!