Drying Garlic

[Jasoncmor]

Hi all.
Does anyone here grow garlic?
Just harvested mine and have just started the drying process.
I don't have anywhere ideal to dry it.
Ideal conditions so i've read is a cool dry well ventilated area, and also avoid sunlight.
So I've currently got it in a cardboard box in the garage with an old computer fan connected to a car battery to help the air flow, which should dry it out. The garage pongs of garlic which aint too bad to be fair

Anyone else have drying garlic or have any other ideas?

 

[Jasoncmor]

Cheers for your replies guys.

There was a number of yellow leaves on the garlic that also died back and I assume got blown off due to the wind, it's quite windy in my area.

Hopefully if I did pull them too early they are going to be alright, good learning curve though as it's the first time I've grown garlic

 

[Jasoncmor]

They should be fine you just need to be careful for a week or 2 until they have dried out more. Did you plant them spring or last winter?
The only reason to leave them in longer is that they are drier when pulled and hence they are easier to keep with far less chance of mould etc.
Unless you have a risk of rain I would get them outside for a few days and get the sun to dry them.

I planted them in spring
Once they have dried out, they aren't going to last long as garlic regularly in our house hold lol.

Cheers

 

[Jasoncmor]

Small update

Think they are ruined!

They have been drying now for nearly 6 weeks, the outer skin is all wrinkly and the inside is all soft and squidgy, should have left them longer!
Oh well, first time growing garlic and it was fun, just will know better for next year.

Cheers

 

[Jasoncmor]

Will be planting some out October time to give them a go.
Yet to pick and dry my onions, the tops are bending and have folded them down so nearly there!
Only seriously got in to growing veg this year with a raised bed and a number of 50L tubs.
The initial expense was relatively high for my yield this year but now apart from a few seeds, the next few years should be almost nil (diy compost and freebie manure from stables down the road.)

This will be the 2nd time I've got into growing veg, first time was when I was living at home I made some raised beds, but after the first year, my job meant I had no time for it anymore, so now I've moved out and got a new job, I am using containers, and have built multiple planters out of wooden pallets, so they has reduced some costs for me, although I've spent a fortune on compost.
It's been a fun season, I've put a lot of effort into growing stuff this year, the first year of getting back into growing my own, and still have onions, potatoes, herbs, chilli's, peppers, and a few other small things growing.
Would love to make my own compost, did it years ago but since moved out so haven't got the space where I currently live, so will probably have to buy a load more next season.

 

[Jasoncmor]

My wife harvested our Garlics whilst i was out of the country (about 5 weeks ago now), she just trimmed them and laid them on an upturned veg tray for ventilation. That seems to have done the trick.

I've recently harvested all our onions (probably about 30 or 40 in total), Plaited them and hung them up in our shed/outbuilding to dry them out.



This is our first time growing our own Veg, A little trick i was told for garlic was to plant them on the Shortest day of the year and harvest on the longest.

Cheers for that, I will have to remember that for next season!