Or — ‘scape from the humidity, depending on how you feel. After what feels like weeks of rain ( was it only days?) the sun has come out today and it’s heating up. Time to pull the garlic!
Garlic is planted around Halloween, winters over under a warm blanket of mulch, and is pulled out and cured in the very early summer sun
These are the largest garlics I’ve ever grown. Missing is a photo of me flat on my keester after trying to pull out one that didn’t wanna let go of the nice moist soil. Why are they so gorgeous this time? Dunno! – some combination of the soil, (this plot has been resting?) or extra rain? or perhaps the particular garlic cloves that I planted back in the fall? I am not picky, I use whatever the organic grocery store has to offer that week, and that means I never know exactly what I’m planting.
These gorgeous curling structures are called scapes and I’ve never had so many on my garlic before. I suspect it means that the garlic should have been harvested sooner, and some of the garlicky essence is ‘scaping…. Ah well, just eat ’em. What can you do? Last week I was traveling, since then it’s been raining.
Once you’ve pulled the garlic out, and knocked off the extra soil, you peel off a couple leaves to reveal the clean under-surface. Then the garlic has to cure in the hot sunshine for 2 weeks. So get ready to run out and tarp it over whenever it rains — and then whip the tarp off again! Once cured, it will last a pretty long time… If you don’t eat it up first!
Save some of the biggest cloves to plant in the fall again. I’ve been told if you keep the seeds from the best of your produce, and plant it, again and again, you will create a line of produce that prefers your microclimate! ♥️
Suburban Growing 