I harvested my garlic a month ago, and since then it’s been dangling from strings wherever I could find space in the basement.

It’s time to consolidate.

I hung the whole plants, bulbs down, in three bundles spaced loosely enough to allow good airflow. Since the plants are good and dry now, I can cut the bulbs away. I just snipped through the stalks with a pair of scissors about an inch above the bulbs.

I also trimmed off the excess roots, mostly for aesthetics and to keep the bulbs from tangling with each other.

Here they are nicely shorn.

Last summer I harvested about half a dozen bubs. If I keep expanding at this rate I can go into production soon.

I’m not going into production yet. (I’m not even sharing with my housemates!) But I do want my garlic looking its best. I gently peeled off the outer, dirty layer of papery skin.

And that’s it! I tucked them an old mesh onion bag and hung them from a nail in a dark alcove of the cellar. Last year’s garlic lasted all winter like that, so I have high hopes. Around Halloween I’ll break up one or two and plant the cloves – I’m excited to get a multi-generational crop and finally become garlic self-sufficient.

I’m using “self-sufficient” very loosely. There’s no way this is lasting a year.