To give you a little bit of my background in gardening, I was born and raised in the capitol city. We never had a garden. The only experience I had was pulling the weeds in my aunt’s garden sometimes during summer.

When my girls were little, I decided to start a small garden where we planted a few vegetables. I wanted them to see and know how their favorite veggies were grown. After moving to our current home my garden grew. Slowly it became more of a hobby for me and my happy place. I love coming to my garden after a busy workday. Even though I work physically in my garden I still rest. A garden has an amazing healing therapy.

Last year I decided to try growing garlic. It was a successful first tryout. After digging out my first harvest I told myself that I will plant more next time. And not only plant more, but to plant the softneck variety and braid it for storage. The softneck variety is easier to braid.

In the fall of last year (2021) I planted my garlic. The beauty of it is that after planting it you don’t have to do anything, just wait.

I live in the Zone 9b. Garlic was ready to harvest in the middle of May. The rule of thumb is that once the leaves get to be one-half to two-thirds brown, you should harvest the garlic regardless of size. My garlic had some brown leaves on top and some on the bottom.

After carefully digging them out (don’t pull your garlic) and cleaning a bit from the soil (don’t wash it, just shake and gently brush off soil), we stored them away from direct sunlight for about a week. This process is called curing. If you are not planning to braid it, let it cure for 3-4 weeks. Once the tops and roots have dried, cut them off and clean the garlic by removing the outer papery skin. Be careful not to expose any of the cloves.

Since I had the softneck variety, I let it cure for a week.

Then I cut the roots off and cleaned the garlic a little bit more.

I sorted them by size. That way my braids would have the same size garlic heads in each braid.

Braiding is my favorite part of this whole process. It looks and sounds more complicated than it is. If you ever made a French braid, then you will be able to braid garlic 🙂 If you have never done it, you can always learn.

I strongly encourage everyone who has a bit of space in their backyard to try growing garlic. It is easy and very rewarding. Just remember that you need to order garlic NOW to plant it later this fall. I am planning to get a new variety, but also use the garlic I saved specifically from this year’s harvest.

Happy planning, happy gardening!

Natasha