Garlic Harvest 2015

It was a bumper crop year for the garlic.  Last year I planted 70 cloves and ended up with 50 mature bulbs.  There were some that didn't germinate and some that took a Takoda stomping.  It lasted me until about February and I only had a couple bulbs left for seed.  This year, I wanted to ensure enough to get me through the entire winter and spring (hoping it stays viable that long) and to have enough for my entire seed stock.  So I planted 140 cloves - mostly to account for the aforementioned non-germination and Takoda stomping.  I ended up with 140 mature bulbs.  Every single clove germinated.  No Takoda stomping.

This was toward the end of May, in all it's lush green glory.

July 6, right before harvest.  Bottom 3-5 leaves brown, exactly what we want.

About a third of the harvest.

Another third!

The beginning of the inside curing process.  It stayed laid out on the floor in the garage for a little more than a week.

Then I tied and hung it in bunches on one of my old cucumber trellises from last year.  It dried like this for about a month until the roots became stiff and bristle-like and the tops were completely brown and brittle.

Today I cleaned it up.  Snipped off the roots to 1/4" and rubbed out any remaining dirt.  Slid off the dirty, outermost couple layers of wrappers.  Finally, trimmed the leaves off, leaving about an inch of neck.

Not only did I end up with a great quantity, but the quality was outstanding.  I had about a dozen really nice bulbs that were pushing baseball size.  I set those aside to use as seed for next year.  Everything else was a very respectable size as well.  No weenies in the lot.

You can see the difference in the two varieties - Spanish Roja up top and Duganski on the bottom.  Scrumdiddlyumptious!