Garlic harvest time
Its that time boys and girls! Harvest time!
A lot of the garlic was ready (some not) for picking so we spent most of Saturday morning and some parts of the afternoon digging up the garlic.
We have many varieties (approx 47 this year) so organization and record keeping is essential to keep them positively identified in the processing stages. We dig up one variety at a time, along with its identifying stick, check the planting map from last fall put them all in a single bucket and transport them to the work table for the next bits.
The next bits involved cleaning off by hand any outside dirt, counting up the number of bulbs and checking for any damage
The next is a closeup of leek moth damage and larvae. Pretty grody little worms.
All of the same variety get tied up and hung upside down in a drying rack in a shaded lean to that has some air flow. We’ll keep them there for about a month to dry down and then clean them and put them into the cold room for long term storage.
In late October/ early November we’ll prep the beds and plant about two weeks before the first heavy frost.
We pretty much harvest all of the ones that were ready, but still have another row left along with the bulbil project.