Harvesting and storing garlic ... what's your method ?

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[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Harvesting and storing garlic ... what's your method ?

Posted: 7/15/2011 10:34:30 AM EDT

Last fall I planted a bunch of softneck garlic. This year I will plant hardneck in the fall and then try planting some softneck in the spring as I've been told that works well here, but my question is this ...

When it's time to harvest either softneck or hardneck, what is your process?

At this point I've got all of the softneck dug up out of the ground and have had it inside drying / curing for about a week. I'm thinking that now is the time to "finalize" things for storage and am wondering what to do next.

The plants still have all the roots and leaves intact, and there's still a bit of dirt on the bulbs as well.

So what's next? I've been told that it's ok to rinse them off with water to remove the dirt ... is that true ???

Also, regarding the roots and leaves, how / when should those be trimmed?

What sort of time frame is involved?

What's your method

Posted: 7/15/2011 10:46:48 AM EDT

[#1]

Here's a link to my local garlic growing Mentor. It's all 'splained in the links and the videos. Nice guy.

http://www.charliesgourmetgarlic.com/

Posted: 7/15/2011 11:05:56 AM EDT

[#2]

Quoted:

Here's a link to my local garlic growing Mentor. It's all 'splained in the links and the videos. Nice guy.

http://www.charliesgourmetgarlic.com/

That's helpful ...

Thanks very much.

Posted: 7/15/2011 3:24:06 PM EDT

[#3]

Cool! That's a great site. Think I'm going to roast some music tomorrow, and smear it on some crusty bread. We have a Garlic fest up here Aug. 13th. That's usually where we get our new varieties.
We added Chesnok red last year, to our Music, White Armenian, Purple Italian. Love when the garden starts to put out.

Posted: 7/16/2011 4:00:32 AM EDT

[#4]

Finally somebody I can order from that looks like he knows his stuff. Last year I ordered what was supposed to be softneck from Johnny's. After we dug it up it turned out to be hardneck which says alot about why it didn't do good in this heat.

Posted: 7/16/2011 5:00:02 AM EDT

[#5]

Quoted:
Finally somebody I can order from that looks like he knows his stuff. Last year I ordered what was supposed to be softneck from Johnny's. After we dug it up it turned out to be hardneck which says alot about why it didn't do good in this heat.

The garlic in your garden pic thread looked pretty nice to me.

It's pretty easy to tell them apart if you were shipped whole heads. Hard necks will have the cloves around a central core (stem), soft necks won't. The stalk will be more like that of an onion. If you were shipped loose cloves, then..

Posted: 7/16/2011 12:16:12 PM EDT

[#6]

I store some in the bottom drawer of the fridge, but I pickle most of mine. Once you open a jar of it, you can keep it in the fridge and fish out as many cloves as you need at the moment.

Posted: 7/16/2011 12:37:15 PM EDT

[#7]

That's a great site. I never thought about pickling garlic.

This year's garlic harvest was fantastic. Both regular and elephant foot garlic did really well. I probably have enough drying (hung in bunches) for the next year or two.

Posted: 7/16/2011 12:54:23 PM EDT

[#8]

Quoted:
I never thought about pickling garlic.

It's easy schmeasy. Peel, put in half-pint Mason jars, cover with vinegar, process 20 minutes in a water-bath. Done.

Posted: 7/19/2011 5:38:38 PM EDT

[#9]

Well looks like Marge and Charlie sold out of Susanville and Ozark before I could order it. I'll have to keep looking around for other softneck suppliers.

Posted: 7/19/2011 5:43:23 PM EDT

[#10]

Quoted:
Well looks like Marge and Charlie sold out of Susanville and Ozark before I could order it. I'll have to keep looking around for other softneck suppliers.

I'm not sure they even dug it yet. I think the soft necks are the last to come out of the ground here. I'm sure it's not cured and dried yet, but it may be all spoken for already, IDK. I'll try and get over there one day this week and see for sure if I get time.

Posted: 7/20/2011 4:42:51 PM EDT

[#11]

I'm new to Zone 6a/5b; when do I need to plant my garlic?

Posted: 7/20/2011 5:53:55 PM EDT

[#12]

Quoted:
I'm new to Zone 6a/5b; when do I need to plant my garlic?

That covers quite an area. Late fall just about always works if you're in the northern 1/2 of the country. The farther south, the later you can plant it as long as you can give it some chill time in the ground. If you're in the deep, deep south, then toss it in the fridge for a month or so before planting. Humidity is always a factor when doing that though.

Posted: 7/21/2011 3:29:37 AM EDT

[#13]

We plant after the first frost, then pile on the leaves.

Posted: 7/25/2011 10:24:23 AM EDT

[#14]

We planted a lot of garlic last year. Probably in excess of 300 plants.

Unfortunately, we had a family emergency that kept us from harvesting for about 3 weeks later than we should of. When we got to it, the lack of rain made digging the garlic difficult to say the least––the earth was like concrete. I finally said "screw it" and popped it all out with the skid loader. I can't recommend the method as it wreaks havoc on the soil. Does a nice job with the garlic though. I was surprised how easy it was to pop the garlic out without damage any of the heads.

This year we're hanging the bulbs instead of drying them on screens. I just wrap them up with a zip tie and hang 'em. It'll keep the dog from messing with them I think. In another few weeks I'll trim the stalks and roots. The pic shows about 20% of our yield.

Because we're late on the harvesting, this garlic won't store as well over the next year. I think we'll pickle a bunch of it instead of letting it air dry.

Posted: 7/25/2011 10:34:21 PM EDT

[#15]

Pickled garlic?

That sounds good, do you have a recipe you prefer?

Hopefully I get a chance to plant some this fall.

Posted: 7/26/2011 4:03:16 PM EDT

[#16]

Quoted:
Pickled garlic?

That sounds good, do you have a recipe you prefer?

Hopefully I get a chance to plant some this fall.

I just use the Ball recipe. Has worked OK for us. These make nice presents too.

2 1/2 cups white vinegar
1 cup dry white wine
1 tbsp canning salt
1 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp dried oregano
12 large heads garlic, separated and peeled
5 dried chile pepper, your choice

––Combine ingredients in sauce pain, bring to boil fo one minute. Add garlic, cook one minute. Pack garlic in 8 ounce jars, ladle cooking liquid to cover cloves and give 1/2 inch headspace. Remove air bubbles. Process in water bath canner for 10 minutes.

Posted: 7/26/2011 9:39:27 PM EDT

[#17]

Thanks, I have the book at the house. I plan on planting a bunch this fall so hopefully I can try the recipes out next year.

Posted: 7/28/2011 7:49:40 AM EDT

[#18]

Quoted:

We planted a lot of garlic last year. Probably in excess of 300 plants.

Unfortunately, we had a family emergency that kept us from harvesting for about 3 weeks later than we should of. When we got to it, the lack of rain made digging the garlic difficult to say the least––the earth was like concrete. I finally said "screw it" and popped it all out with the skid loader. I can't recommend the method as it wreaks havoc on the soil. Does a nice job with the garlic though. I was surprised how easy it was to pop the garlic out without damage any of the heads.

This year we're hanging the bulbs instead of drying them on screens. I just wrap them up with a zip tie and hang 'em. It'll keep the dog from messing with them I think. In another few weeks I'll trim the stalks and roots. The pic shows about 20% of our yield.

Because we're late on the harvesting, this garlic won't store as well over the next year. I think we'll pickle a bunch of it instead of letting it air dry.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v40/FredFeral/Garden%202011/IMG_1467.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v40/FredFeral/Garden%202011/IMG_1464.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v40/FredFeral/Garden%202011/IMG_1459.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v40/FredFeral/Garden%202011/IMG_1456.jpg

Maybe I'm missing something, but what's shown in the pictures seems to look really good

Are the bulbs / cloves splitting apart?

What would be the cause of the storage problems that you anticipate?

Posted: 7/28/2011 12:23:50 PM EDT

[#19]

Quoted:
Maybe I'm missing something, but what's shown in the pictures seems to look really good

Are the bulbs / cloves splitting apart?

What would be the cause of the storage problems that you anticipate?

The key with getting good storage with garlic is having a top quality wrapper covering the cloves. Because these heads came out of the ground late the wrappers have already seen some wear. I'd guess it'll take 3 months minimum off their storage life––probably more.

Posted: 8/13/2011 11:10:45 PM EDT

[#20]

We planted 28,000 seeds last year. ;-)

http://www.turtlecreektradingco.com/

I would not rinse with water. We use scissors to cut the roots up close to the bulb and cut the stem off. Just rub the bulb with your palms for a simple method to get dirt and the outer-most layer or so of paper (skin) from the bulb. Much akin to onion skin.
http://www.turtlecreektradingco.com/assets/images/susanvillespotlight/handfulofsusanville.jpg

[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Harvesting and storing garlic ... what's your method ?

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