Isn’t this pretty? Chesnok Red Garlic spread out to dry, or cure before trimming stalks.
Garlic bulbs just lifted from the garden.
The garlic bulbs are dug up, but there is much more to do to preserve the harvest. Handle freshly dug garlic gently. Bulbs can easily bruise.
Cure Garlic
Spread out bulbs away from direct sun with good air circulation. Allow the roots and entire stalk to dry, turning brown. The bulbs are ready to clean up and store.
After a week, braid bulbs while stalks are still flexible. Braid garlic before the stems are too dry and brittle.
Cut the stalks about an inch above the garlic bulb. Clip off the roots. Carefully wipe off the dirt with a soft brush or cloth. Try not to remove many layers of skin.
This year I grew two kinds of garlic, Chesnok Red Garlic and California Early Garlic.
With long, warm fall at planting time, I could have waited until November, instead of planting cloves in October.
The long, cold rainy spring is also part of the reason I had a smaller harvest of garlic.
-
Herb bouquet with garlic scapes.
Learn more about growing organic garlic, onions and shallots.
-
Summer harvest of onions and garlic.
Herb Bouquets include garlic scapes.
Try these garlic varieties
Chesnok Red Garlic
The purple-striped hardneck has large and easy-to-peel cloves. I’m growing it because Chesnok Red is a good baking and a good storing garlic. (4 – 6 weeks.)
Garlic scape pesto.
The garlic scapes of the hardneck garlic makes for a secondary harvest. Use scapes for vinegar, stir fry, pesto. Expect about 15 garlic bulbs per pound and approximately 9 or 10 cloves per bulb.
These garlic bulbs grew smaller than the California Early Garlic. Chesnok wins awards as an excellent baker. I’ll be using those smaller bulbs to make creamy roasted garlic.
Cut these artful garlic scapes to grow bigger garlic bulbs.
California Early Garlic
California garlic is one of the earliest to harvest in my region 6, Southeast Missouri garden.
The California Early Garlic was harvested two weeks earlier. The bulbs are big and white. For the past three years, I have success growing this popular American garlic.
These California Early Garlic bulbs are mild enough to be used raw in recipes or fresh pickles. This is not a hot garlic. It’s a good choice for mild garlic flavor, not heat.
Known as a long keeper, California Early Garlic is a softneck garlic, good for braiding. I like the mild flavor and large cloves. There are about 12 garlic bulbs per pound and 10-16 cloves per bulb.
Bake whole garlic bulbs wrapped in foil with a few drop of olive oil.
