The first garlic Matt and I ever planted came from Granny’s Aunt Susie. I still have some of it growing out in the yard in a couple of places. I think of it as my emergency garlic. I haven’t harvested any of it in many years. It grows all summer, dies back over the winter, and reemerges to go through the process again.

We enjoyed growing garlic and started buying bulbs to plant every fall for a larger harvest.

We pull up the garlic and allow it to dry on the front porch out of the sun. The drying bulbs need adequate airflow around them to keep them from molding or rotting. Some folks have racks they hang their garlic on others who grow soft neck garlic braid them into long strips for hanging.

I love the look of the braids but we grow hard neck garlic that doesn’t work well for braiding. We lay our’s out in garden plant trays and have had great success with just allowing the summer heat to dry them sufficiently for storing.

Once the garlic is dried and cold winter is upon us I move the heads to a basket in a more sheltered area of the porch and cover lightly with a board, towel, or another basket—just whatever is handy. The garlic stays good until it’s all used up.

Last year for the first time I tried a different method of preserving some of our garlic.

I peeled the cloves and minced them in my food processor. Then using a cookie scoop I put out little dollops on a cookie sheet. I placed them in the freezer until they were frozen through and then put them in a ziplock bag.

We use a lot of garlic in our cooking. It was so handy to have the garlic already chopped. We add frozen dollops of garlic directly to whatever we are cooking.

Some folks add a bit of oil to the minced garlic before freezing.

We’ve already harvested most of our garlic and I’ve made dollops for the freezer, but need to make a few more.

Last night’s video: Trying to Push Back the Jungle.

Tipper

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