Last week I was already making dinner when I realized my garlic had gone bad. (That’s what happens when you never cook.) Before I could bolt to the grocery store, Doug reminded me that we had garlic in the garden that should probably come out anyway.
Here’s how we found it.
There was no time for researching whether the garlic was ready to dig up. The weather, the sunshine, the happiness of summer – it’s all gone. More importantly – dinner was on the line. So we dug first and researched later.
Post-research, I now know that the leaves will brown and dry up when garlic is mature. Clearly, our little garlic cloves were not ready for harvest. But here’s how they looked:
I also learned that garlic is meant to be planted in the fall and harvested in the late spring. I just informed Doug and he said “oh really?”
Apparently we plant first and think later.
Eager to make my meal, I washed the garlic and set it out to dry. This was also a mistake, as the bulbs should be hung up in a cool, dry place for about a week before they’re washed. (Luckily I left them out to dry for several days post-wash. We’ll see what happens.)
My dinner was quite tasty but I don’t know what role the garlic actually played. Doug’s new goal is to get some in the ground asap as it is, ahem, fall.
Any garlic growers out there?
