Preserving Floyd: Curing Garlic

If you planted garlic last fall then your crop is most likely ready to harvest or will be soon.  Yesterday was perfect weather for harvesting and beginning the curing process.  I gently lifted the garlic loose of the soil with a spading fork, gently shook what dirt off I could and then spread it in a single layer on a tarp to dry.  Then before the sun went down I gathered it up and put it in the garage before any dew could dampen it.

Gardening Floyd: Garlic & Shallots

Back in mid-April I posted this photo of the allium bed:

That's garlic in the back, shallots in the center, and leeks in the front.

Michael harvested the garlic and shallots over the weekend and they're curing downstairs:

The garlic and shallots are covering two thirds of the floor in that room and it's probably still not enough to see us all the way through until the next harvest but we're getting closer.

Foraging Floyd: Dandelion Greens and Sunchokes

The herbs aren't the only green things unfurling in the perennial beds.  The weeds are sprouting too.  I was attempting to get a jump on them the other day and realized part of what I was tossing was good greens.  Dandelions!  The lettuce tub has been knocked off the indoor shelf by other seedling tubs and the lettuce in the garden isn't big enough to cut yet so we're in between for greens.  I started throwing the dandelion rosettes in a pile to be cleaned for supper.

You want to gather dandelion greens before they flower and become tough and too bitter to eat.  Young dandelion greens are bitter anyway but in my opinion not nearly as bitter as say, arugula.  If you like arugula and other domestic bitter greens you'll like dandelion.