Garlic Update

Some of you may have noticed in my harvest post that I have picked some garlic!  It was from the softneck garlic that was in my home garden bed.  About a month ago we had a real serious hot spell and I noticed that all my garlic had fallen over.  I watered it and hoped for the best.  The hardneck garlic popped back up a bit, but the softneck garlic took on a distinctly dead appearance.  I finally decided to check what was under the soil, and was pleasantly surprised to find nice little garlic bulbs!  I think I may have waited too long, because several of the bulbs I pulled up were losing cohesion, their "papers" having disintegrated.  Ideally garlic should be harvested before the papers break down - it is supposed to keep longer this way.  We've given away several that didn't look like they were going to keep, and we've happily been eating the rest.  Unfortunately the leaves got cut off so I wasn't able to braid the "keepers", but I put them in the foot of a pair of pantyhose to hang and hopefully I will be able to keep a couple of the best bulbs until October, when I can plant again.  They have a nice, mild taste; I wouldn't say it tastes different from grocery store garlic, but it's more fun to eat!