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I harvested my garlic in July, air dried it and then hung it in dark, cool(ish) space. Yesterday I was separating cloves getting ready to plant it and discovered a few cloves were starting to get a little moldy and a few more were getting brown and shrivelled. I did still have plenty left that looked fine.

Should it have kept longer than this?

I think soil, eric, or maybe potatoes mentioned that digging them when soil is dry and curing is key to long term storage. I haven't checked mine which are still hanging from the ceiling in the garage (I never got around to cutting the leaves off, peeling and storing ). I hope they are OK.

I always strip mine out and freeze it in vacum seal bags.

I hope they are ok too.

Here are my well organized, clean and properly stored garlic. NOT!
[img]https://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h300/eric_wa/Double%20Dog%20Farm%20%20%20Vegetables%20and%20%20Fruits/GarlicOct12012002_zps8dd29184.jpg[/img]

Music garlic should store for 6 to 9 months. I've read, some say a year. Not in my experience.

Eric

That is a ton of garlic! What are you planning on doing with it all?

ReptileAddiction wrote:That is a ton of garlic! What are you planning on doing with it all?

Good question. I may have to start a new post and get some ideas.

I'm building a food dehydrator, maybe some garlic powder.

Eric

You could sell to gourmet restaurants? They probably wont pay much though. You could also store it for a while till it is less common then sell it. It might fetch a higher price.

I harvested my garlic in June and it is still good. I did have one bulb start to show signs of mold/rot about a month ago. I think that was due to how it was grown or handled when harvested.

Thanks for the thoughts and tips everyone. These were big bulbs with big fat cloves, so maybe they needed more drying time. I had cut the leaves off, but nothing else. They were about in the condition of Eric's except still with long necks. Would they keep better separated into cloves and peeled? Other than freezing, how would you store all those cloves then? I really don't want to freeze it; it's just not the same as fresh garlic, once frozen.

bundle and hang in the dark was exactly what I did.

Applestar's comment: (I never got around to cutting the leaves off, peeling and storing) sounded like usually she would have peeled them, which I assumed means separating into cloves and peeling the cloves, though maybe I was reading that wrong.

Now that I have planted 2.5 rows of garlic and done some more cooking, I'm down to only one head (bulb?) of my garlic left, so I don't have to worry about keeping it for the rest of the year.

It's always sad when I eat up the last of the garden stuff, the last garlic, the last tomato, etc....

No mine are still sporting the outer paper covered in dried up mud I would normally peel off the outer paper but leave the bulbs intact. I start cutting down the smaller bulbs and ones with small cloves and using them, saving large cloves for planting. (I've been cutting down the dried mud covered bulbs as I need them )

How do other people save the largest cloves for planting? You have to separate the cloves, but as Marlingardener said, they don't store as well separated (I find they tend to dry out faster). Also, the hidden/undiscovered mold and rot inside that rainbowgardener ran into.