The Garlic Is Harvested!

I had harvested some of the garlic earlier, because I was unsure if the "doesn't like heat" overrode the "stop watering two weeks before harvest," so yesterday it was time to harvest the remainder. I assume that one stops watering the garlic so it will die back naturally--like not being able to cut off the scraggly, dead foliage from the tulips no matter how bad it looks in the flowerbed--and that might make it store better, so in case that is true, I decided to mark which garlic heads we might want to use first with little bits of yarn which are much easier to see in person than they are herebut you get the idea. Sometimes it pays to have a really, really big yarn stash.

Garlic is supposed to bruise really easily, so you hang it to "cure." That seems awfully fussy to me for a plant that originated in Siberia. I mean, if Russian peasants--who had a pretty dismal life anyway--were afraid to be sent there, Siberia is a tough place to survive. Seems to me that if a plant is going to originate there, it should be able to withstand sitting on a counter, but everybody says to hang it, so.....

By about the 20th head, I realize this would have been a good time to learn how to braid garlic, but after all the activity of getting ready for the party the night before--and getting ready for Andy's birthday on Thursday, I thought I would take it easy yesterday, which for me means not doing things that are bound to tick me off. I can knit, I can sew, I can sort of crochet, but I haven't been able to learn how to French braid my own hair, and braiding vegetables didn't seem likely to be easier. So, after running out of room hereI used some of the extra yarn--I felt a sport-weight acrylic would be most appropriate for this--strung a line of garlic on the legs of a table in the back roomand of course my helper was on-handthen running out of room and any better ideas, I strung the rest in the laundry room. and there it will remain for the next month.

I might just have to learn to braid by next year......