Aaah, My House Smells Like Garlic!

I harvested my garlic yesterday. All of it. I won't know how many pounds until it's all cured, trimmed and i weight it. Honestly, i should have kept it in the ground another 2-3 weeks, but the leaves were sufficiently browning and the peppers and eggplants waiting for space could wait no longer!

Here's a bit of sillyness while i try and learn how to braid garlic. Tried. Failed. Good enough for me, though. I planted two varieties, and of course picked them all at once without paying attention to my carefully separated plantings. Ah well - i can only plan as well as my inevitably hasty execution. One variety has much harder 'necks' than the other, though i don't recall if i ordered a softneck and a hardneck. The softer ones were wrastled into a 'braid' of sorts, the harder ones had to be tied up.

Braid: Fail.

Note: i trimmed the roots and leaves off of some of the garlic before reading i shouldn't do this. I'll find out if it causes any harm to the garlic - will probably just dry it out more than i'd like if anything.
I love having garlic hanging around the house. So pretty. One day i hope to have a whole field of the stuff so that i can preserve some in oil, dry some for powder and minced garlic, and use the rest fresh with enough leftover to save to plant next season.

Softer 'necks' almost braided properly. 

I think i need someone to show me the process in person.