harvesting garlic

another first for me this year was to grow my own garlic.  last fall, i planted the purple glazer variety.  purple glazer is a hardneck garlic, with very beautiful purple stripes.  it is said to have a strong spicy flavor without the heat, making it perfect for baking.  the storage time on the dried garlic is 4-6 months.

while the garlic was growing, i admired the green stalks which are very similar to onions.  since purple glazer is a hardneck variety of garlic, it produced scapes.  i harvested the scapes, since they can be used in a variety of recipes.

garlic requires about six hours of sun per day and will grow in cold, cool or warm temperatures.  these plants were very hardy for me, growing throughout the fall, winter, spring and summer. i would classify them as very easy to grow.

when the stalks began to yellow, i pulled the garlic and allowed it to dry on newspaper for a couple of days, before hanging to dry in my garage.

the outer layers of the garlic began to take on the characteristic papery texture after just a couple of days out of the ground.  i cleaned the garlic bulbs just a bit and used twine to hold them to a drying rack.  i have them hanging in my garage and am thrilled to have garlic to use this fall.  I plan to make a classic roasted garlic appetizer spread, for use on crusty bread or crackers for one of my college football viewing parties.