I figured it must be time to harvest the garlic when I noticed they had all disappeared into a sea of weeds and grass. Sure enough, upon closer inspection, it was time! I was a bit shocked how successful I was on my first try growing garlic.

Thankfully it had rained the night before, so I could easily lever them out with a tiny spade. (I only nicked 3 heads, which we will hang up in the pantry and start using in our cooking.) They were all covered in mud, so I will admit that I gave the heads a little shower with the hose. I then left them on the covered deck, out of direct sunlight, to dry for 24 hours before braiding them. (I had to watch YouTube to figure out how to braid the garlic! It’s my first time growing garlic.)

This variety is a soft-neck called “California Giant”. I had planted about 40 cloves, which was only 4 heads of garlic. Seems I have more than enough garlic to consume and still have twice as many seed cloves as last time come this November. I like to plant them at the last minute, around Thanksgiving!