Harvesting Garlic, Drying Garlic, How to Plant Garlic

The best tips for harvesting garlic grown in a home vegetable garden. Learn how to plant, harvest, and dry garlic plants when backyard vegetable gardening.

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Garlic plants are used for much more than cooking and easily top the list as astonishing healers in natural medicine.

Used as a spice, garlic is second only to pepper in most popular spices.

The key to a long shelf-life after harvesting garlic is leaving it where it is dry, and air can circulate freely around it.

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Garlic has been grown for thousands of years all around the world.

Native Americans used garlic as a charm to rid young maidens of unwanted suitors.

While you can eat freshly pulled garlic, it is usually the drying and curing process that gives it its full and distinctive taste.

How to Plant Garlic

Harvesting Garlic

Garlic can be harvested at either the bulb or green shoot stage.

Both stages provide the delicate flavor that is so highly prized.

Experts estimate there are between 30 to 300 different varieties of garlic.

Although each one is unique, the same flavor and healthful properties are common to all types.

Drying Garlic From Your Garden

Tips for Using Garlic

When you cook with fresh garlic, use all of each peeled clove or toss the unused portion since it does not keep once it has been exposed to air.

The ideal place for keeping garlic is in cool, dry locations such as garages or basements.

If you only want to use a few fresh cloves, press them between the flat side of a knife and the cutting board to loosen the skin first.

Then place them on a cutting board and press downward with the flat side of a heavy kitchen knife.

For cooking with larger quantities of fresh garlic, drop the cloves into boiling water for a minute and drain. Afterward, they will peel easily.

To remove the fragrance left on your hands after peeling and chopping garlic, rub your fingers with salt and lemon juice afterward, then rinse with cold water.

Techniques used for storing garlic include dehydrating, pureeing, and marinating in vegetable or olive oil.

Garlic Benefits

Planting garlic is said to discourage aphids.

Garlic is among the most effective garden bed companions for many plants.

Besides giving meals its unique flavoring, garlic has proven to possess a stunning array of medical properties including: as an antiseptic, to fight infections, lowering blood pressure, and reducing cholesterol.

With such an impressive list of beneficial uses for this wonder plant, it is no small wonder people are getting busy planting and harvesting garlic!

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Harvesting Garlic to Vegetable Gardening

Harvesting Garlic to Growing Garlic

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