It’s garlic time!

Last fall I bought a whole pile of garlic from the farmer’s market. I stuck the cloves in the ground in November and hoped for the best.

Sure enough, almost all of them sprouted and grew. They stayed a little smaller than my neighbors’ – probably because I got carried away and planted them too close together.

When I pulled them out, the heads were a little on the small side, too. In spite of that, they were all fully formed and healthy looking.

I got about 20 heads in all. I brought them up to the house and gently brushed them clean with a paper towel.

I bundled them together into three bunches that ought to give them ample air circulation.

And I hung them in the basement from whatever spare nails I could find. It’s starting to look like a colonial storehouse down there. I’ll leave them to dry for a few weeks before I cut off the stalks and roots, brush off the excess dirt, and settle in for the long winter.