I have pulled my garlic out as all the leaves were turning brown. I have them hanging in the garage. How long do I need to dry them? Thanks
You should let them cure until all green colour is gone, about 2 weeks is what most sources say. In a dry place like a garage it won't hurt to leave them longer. I don't keep track of the duration myself but have been getting good results anyway. My garlic harvested last year is still in good shape now. I think that storage conditions are more important than length of curing period.
I was wondering how you store your garlic. I know that in spring my garlic all became soft. I had bought braided garlic from the market and I had to throw it out as it too became soft.
I just place the cured garlic bulbs in a wooden tray with a screen bottom and store it in my unheated basement. All of my garlic last year was the soft neck variety and was planted in late winter (Feb/Mar). When I bought some hard neck types this year for experimentation, I noticed that my garlic was in better shape than most of what I found at farmer's markets. So its possible that soft neck garlic stores better than hard neck (just checked on the Web; and that seems to be the consensus).
The reason that grocery stores for years only sold soft neck garlic was its better keeping qualities. For me it is inferior to the hardneck. I have grown "Russian Red" for years . It keeps from July through March properly stored.
