📌 Quick Summary (TL;DR): The “Wet Cure” Storage Hack
Editor’s Note: This bizarre storage method has gained massive approval across our Russian gardening community. If the hardcore gardening women of Siberia and the Urals swear by it to keep their garlic fresh for a full year, you folks in Minnesota and Wisconsin should probably give it a try!
- 💦 The “Soaking” Hack: Contrary to traditional western advice, many of our top growers swear by soaking freshly dug garlic (with stalks and roots still attached) in a bucket of water before curing. Stand the bulbs roots-down in the water for a few hours. Proponents claim this keeps hardneck garlic rock-solid and prevents sprouting for nearly a full year.
- ❌ A Word of Warning: It’s not foolproof! Some growers reported that their soaked garlic still sprouted when spring weather hit. Success likely depends on your specific garlic variety and how warm your storage area is.
- 🫙 The Glass Jar Method: Another highly successful community hack: Cure your garlic normally until the tops are brittle. Trim the bulbs and place them loosely into large glass jars (no lids). Store the open jars on the highest shelf of your kitchen cabinets. The dry, warm microclimate near the ceiling prevents sprouting perfectly.
Girls, last year I read somewhere that immediately after digging up your garlic, you should soak it in water. They claimed it would store much better. I don’t remember where I read it… and at the time, all my garlic had already been dug up and was drying.
But later, I found a few forgotten garlic bulbs hiding in the strawberry patch. I dug them up and soaked them in water (along with the green stalks) as an experiment. I can’t remember exactly how long I soaked them – either overnight or just a few hours.
Here is the result: It is exactly the same variety of garlic. The rest of my regular harvest has already shriveled, sprouted, and gone bad. BUT the garlic that I soaked and stored in the warm boiler room… well, I decided to check on it yesterday. It is still perfectly firm, rock solid, hasn’t sprouted at all, and only has tiny nubs where roots might form.
So from now on, I am going to soak all my garlic! 🧄💦
Russi (Anna) wrote:
So from now on, I am going to soak all my garlic!
I tried that, and mine sprouted anyway. It lay there doing fine for a while, but as soon as it got warm on my balcony, every single bulb sprouted. Now I have 25 whole heads of sprouted garlic planted outside in the snowy dirt near the greenhouse wall! 😂
This method didn’t help me either. Maybe I did something wrong. 🤷♀️
galka68 (Galina) wrote:
Mine sprouted anyway.
Well, I don’t know what to tell you girls! I posted the photo of my garlic today – specifically the ones that were soaked. The rest of my un-soaked garlic of the exact same variety has already sprouted. Maybe it means my variety naturally stores well if treated this way. I don’t know what to say, but I am definitely going to keep soaking mine.
Russi (Anna) wrote:
Now I am definitely going to keep soaking mine.
I am also going to keep soaking my garlic! It stores so much better for me. I still have some soaked garlic right now that is only *just* starting to sprout (in June!). Back in the seasons when I didn’t soak it, my garlic would barely make it to the end of February before shriveling up.
To be fair, my softneck (spring-planted) garlic from two years ago is still in great condition, and last year’s softneck looks completely fresh. We just don’t have much luck storing hardneck (overwintering) garlic. I planted three times less hardneck this year because it doesn’t keep for us.
Hello everyone! Last year was the very first time I ever washed my garlic before drying it. Girls, how exactly are you soaking it? How long does it sit in the water? Do you soak it with the green tops still attached? And do you dry it the same way as always and cut the tops off later? 🚿
Natushkad (Natalia) wrote:
How exactly are you soaking it?
Dig it up and soak it with the green stalks and roots still attached. I take a bucket of water and stand the garlic up in it, roots facing down into the water. After soaking, you dry/cure it just like normal, and then trim the roots and stalks off. 🪣
My garlic is still in perfect condition, though I’m down to my last large glass jar.
Here is my curing and storage method:
I dig it up, wash it, sort it by size into bundles, and hang the bundles in the shed to cure. They hang there for about three weeks. Once the green tops become very thin and brittle, I cut them off.
I lay the bulbs in crates in 1-2 layers and put them behind my wood stove. When the stove is running, it’s warm back there, but not roasting hot.
Around mid-September, I pack the garlic loosely into nylon stockings, tie them at both ends, and take them to my city apartment. I put these nylon sacks on top of my kitchen cabinets, right up near the ceiling. That is the warmest place in the apartment.
At the end of December, I take them down and transfer the garlic into large 1-gallon (3-liter) glass jars. I do not put lids on the jars. I put the open jars back on the top shelf inside the upper kitchen cabinets (keeping the cabinet doors closed). There is about 3 inches (8 cm) of empty space between the mouth of the jar and the ceiling of the cabinet.
Stored this way, my garlic lasts incredibly well and has never sprouted once! 🫙🧄
