Help me store my harvest! (garlic etc)

[Uno-Mom]

So, this isn't exactly a thread for the cooking section, since it's more about gardening. Thought about "around the house," but that didn't seem to fit either.

Here's my little dilema:
We harvested our garlic and elephant garlic crop yesterday. Sprog was "helping" me dig it up so my attention was on her, not on DH. When I wasn't looking, DH "helpfully" :) cut the tops off all the bulbs. Now I'm not sure how to store it for drying and keeping. Every other year, we've dried them with the tops on. (Where was DH all those years? Not paying attention to how garlic is supposed to dry, it seems. Sigh.)

The true garlic, I'm not so worried about. But the elephant garlic ... hmm. It's our favorite but it's also the hardest to store. We have LOTS, and I'm talking LOTS now.

[ccather]

We stashed our garlic is little mesh bags. Specifically the ones that feezey pops come in (the long ones in the plastic that you freeze.) I have mine hanging up in our basement.

You could use some bags that onions came in or if you have some extra tule hanging around, you could fashion bags out of that.

[writermama]

Alton Brown recommends storing onions in old (clean) panty-hose, tie a knot between each bulb to separate them and then hang them in a cool, dry place.

[zag95]

I'd do the pantyhose method. Several yrs ago my parents got onions from my relatives in Eastern Oregon- that is the method they suggested for storage- plus you just snip as you go, which is pretty nice!

[squimp]

Oh I'm so glad you posted this! I just put mine in my "root cellar" with the onions, but clearly this is better.

[Uno-Mom]

Hm. I haven't put nylons on my body in at least 7 years - wonder if there are any old pairs lurking in my bottom drawers? :)

Thanks for the tips! I'm going to rummage for old mesh bags and/or stockings. If all else fails, I can always hit up Freecycle.

(Re the onions - I wouldn't store them all together for more than a month. IME, onions always go bad faster. Maybe that's just our local onions, dunno.)

[diamond]

the nylon method siunds great. how long can you store like that? where do you hang them?

[Meatball Mommie]

I just did the pantyhose method with onions I harvested from my garden. I hung them in my basement. I looped them over a bar and then covered them lightly with a sheet - we have windows in our basement because it's a walk-out, so it's not very dark. I hope it works out ok - I will have to keep you posted. I think garlic would def. be good stored this way. FWIW, I had to go and buy pantyhose to do this bc. I don't own any!

eta: Any tips for potato storage? I have to harvest ours but I don't have a root cellar...not sure how I'm going to store them... We've generally just eaten them as new potatoes but this year we have so many!

[Pepper]

I let my garlic "cure" by leaving it on a mesh table, on our front porch )the porch is north-facing). Prolly not the best method but we live on a windy hilltop, which helped it dry out, and the mailman didn't steal any (lol). After a couple of weeks I used my poultry shears to cut off the tops (some hardneck, some softnecks) and trim the roots, and them rubbed the with a washcloth to get the rest of the dirt off.

Then I put them in those plastic containers that berries and salad green come in - big ones if you have them, like the hones you get balckberries in from Costco, but anything with perforations will do (if the dont have perforations, stab the bottom a few times with a paring knife). Garlic is currently resting in the cellar but at the rate i'm using it up, it' won't make it to winter...I have a lot of tomatoes to can :-)

[Pepper]

PS to meatball mommie - just keep your potateos cool and dark. They would last longer at near-freezing but if you can get them to the 60s or even the 50s, you should be able to eat them before they sprout. You can always keep them buried in the garden for a little while (or even all winter - I'm in zone 6, and much to my surprised learned that potatoes can overwinter when a few plants pooped up in last year's potato patch).

[Meatball Mommie]

PS to meatball mommie - just keep your potateos cool and dark. They would last longer at near-freezing but if you can get them to the 60s or even the 50s, you should be able to eat them before they sprout. You can always keep them buried in the garden for a little while (or even all winter - I'm in zone 6, and much to my surprised learned that potatoes can overwinter when a few plants pooped up in last year's potato patch).

Good to know! Thanks! I am in zone 7, so hopefully I can just leave them in the ground. I'm sure we'll use them all by the time we get a hard frost. That's easier than trying to figure out how to store them. I'd love to have a root cellar and our basement is a little too warm, I think...