Curing garlic is one of the season’s more pungent chores. I usually place mine outside a window, and every time I pass by, I crave Italian food as the aroma of curing garlic bulbs wafts inside. Curing garlic enhances the bulbs’ storage capabilities, ensuring that some will store long enough to spice up February chili.
To cure garlic, I place bulbs in full sun on plastic nursery trays with perforated bottoms. In warmest parts of the country, you should give the bulbs light shade. The whole process takes up to two weeks. Bulbs are cured when necks are tight and the wrappers around the cloves are dry and papery. Once garlic is cured, I use hand pruners to trim roots and stems, then peel off the outermost, dirty papery skin, and place the bulbs into a cool, dry, dark place for storage. Properly cured garlic stores from five to eight months.
Many vegetables harvested in autumn require curing for long storage. Potatoes, pumpkins, and winter squash all benefit from curing to harden skins for storage. At the Lowe’s Giant Garden, we’re sharing the produce with local soup kitchens, but if we were planning to save our harvest for winter meals, we would cure these vegetables. Learn all about curing vegetables here.
While my garlic is curing, the Oriental lilies usually open, sweetly scenting balmy summer nights. Summer bulbs add reliable, easy-growing color to planting beds. I grow sturdy-stemmed Asiatic lilies, which ignite my June borders with fiery red flowers.
White Casa Blanca Oriental lilies give midsummer nights a faraway feel with their heavy, exotic perfume. Oriental lilies often need staking. I use homemade hoop stakes to keep those heavy-headed bloomers from bowing low. Late summer sparkles with spotted turk’s cap lilies that grow 4-5 feet tall. When growing conditions are right, lilies multiply easily, creating larger clumps through the years. You can plant summer lilies in fall or spring, so plan now to stage next summer’s show.
Other late summer perennials cover planting beds with blankets of color: bright yellow goldenrod, towering joe-pye weed, starry-flowered boltonia, and sweetly scented butterfly bush. Annuals that paint my summer scenery include cleome, sunflower, zinnia, and summer snapdragon. All of these flowers create a buzz among insects, luring butterflies, several species of bees, hoverflies, and beetles with their nectar-laden blossoms. The insects beckon hungry birds that flit among the flowers, chasing a wiggly snack.
The summer garden is alive with activity and beauty. What’s happening in your garden? I’d love to hear about it. Share your stories and photos at https://community.lowescreativeideas.com/photo_galleries.aspx
Julie Martens
writer, editor, & horticulturist
An avid gardener since she was a child, Julie has parlayed her greenthumb into a professional career, having served as a garden editor for Better Homes and Gardens, home garden, Southern Living, and Garden Escape magazines. Currently, her writing frequently appears in various garden magazines—Garden Ideas & Outdoor Living, Country Gardens, and others. She has also authored two books filled with projects and ideas for sprucing up the Great Outdoors: Garden Decorating and Garden Rooms.
