Garlic

A while back a lady in our church left a box of garlic plants at my doorstep. She has all kinds of stuff in her garden, and knows I love garlic, so shared some with me. At first I had no idea what they were, or who left them. Over time, I figured it out. My husband and I planted them and then waited...

Now, it looks as if it is time to harvest our garlic, but we have no idea about how to go about it. So, I headed to the internet and youtube and did some thorough investigation. I'm still clueless, but this is what I learned:





First off, I really needed to pop the buds off before they bloomed for bigger garlic bulbs, but I just thought they were so cool, I couldn't do it. I read that if you kept the flowers, you could dry them and they make fun arrangements. For awhile, they looked like pods, but this past week, they have started to pop open and there are a zillion teeny tiny flowers inside. They start out white, and I just noticed today, they are turning purple. I guess I better go out there and pick them.

I also read where you could take the pods and cook them, and they are suppose to be pretty good. I might try that next time. I just like the flowers too much.

When you harvest garlic, you are suppose to let them dry, but not in the sun, because they can burn, and you don't want that. Once they dry, then you can braid the garlic, and hang in your kitchen. I just might try to do that.

I learned on youtube, that they are usually ready to harvest around the 4th of July. Only thing is, the guy lived in the northeast part of the country, and so it is much cooler up there than down here for a longer time. I'm thinking, it is time to harvest now, down here in Louisiana. So, we might just see what they look like this weekend when we are playing around in our yard.