Attention All Vampires

I don't know if it's good luck, bad luck, or what (wait!...I don't believe in 'luck') but I harvested the garlic tonight in the almost darkness. Don't worry, I didn't sing any moon songs or anything.

Garlic, variety unknown.

These came from heirloom seeds brought from Mexico, cultivated and shared from gardener to gardener till they finally reached my co-worker, who passed them on to me. We gardeners are like hippies or drug smugglers, 'ooohhhh, you got the good stuff? Can I have some? Sure thing man! You gotta try this! We gather seeds, plant, watch, drool, wait, harvest, consume, save more seed, pass some on, and plant what is left. I get as excited about renegade garlic shoots from Mexico as some girls do about Gucci handbags. Uh, wait, does Gucci even make handbags?

You get my drift.

I am very excited about this garlic.

Never having grown it before, I researched, and apparently you have to let garlic cure after pulling it from the ground. So that means no washing it off - just let it sit for a few days or weeks. Actually I found  a lot of differing opinions on the proper way to cure and store garlic when I researched it. My eyes tend to glaze over when it comes to too many details or processes to follow, so I am winging it. Although certianly not an original concept, I am pulling the garlic from the ground, leaving it unwashed, and hanging it in a dry place where it will not recieve direct sunlight. I'll probably leave it there for a week or two. Longer if I forget about it or get lazy. Probably about the time my tomatoes are ripe enough to make homemade spagetti sauce is when I'll pull the garlic down and crack into it.

I like the experimentation and risk involved in gardening. Yeah, that's right. Your idea of enjoyable risk might involve stocks, bonds, swimming with sharks, or skydiving into open flames. Mine involves garlic.