Table · field guide
How to Cure Onions and Garlic for Storage
Onions and garlic are two of the best crops for filling the off-season, because cured right they keep for months in a cool closet with no fridge and no freezer. The trick is not growing them, it is curing them: drying the outer layers so the bulb seals itself. Skip the cure and they rot in weeks. Here is the whole process.
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Harvest at the right sign
Do not go by the calendar; go by the plant. Onions run about 110 days to maturity, but the real signal is the tops. When about half the green tops flop over and fall, the bulbs have stopped growing and it is time to pull them.
Garlic is a long crop, about 240 days from a fall planting to a summer harvest. Pull it when the lower 3 to 4 leaves turn brown but the top few are still green. Each green leaf is a wrapper around the bulb, so waiting too long leaves you with bare, split cloves.
Lift them gently and let them dry
Loosen the soil with a fork and lift the bulbs by hand. Do not yank the tops and do not drop them; a bruise turns into a rot spot in storage.
Brush off loose dirt but do not wash them. Water is the enemy of a good cure. Leave the tops and roots on for now.
Cure for 2 to 3 weeks
Curing means drying the necks and outer skins until they are papery. Lay the bulbs in a single layer, or hang them in loose bundles, somewhere dry, airy, and shaded. Out of direct sun, because sun scalds them.
Give it 2 to 3 weeks. It is done when the necks are tight and dry and the outer skins rustle like paper. A fan in a still garage or shed speeds it up and helps prevent mold.
Trim, then store cool and dry
Once cured, trim the tops to about 1 inch and the roots close to the bulb. Toss any bulb that is soft, bruised, or has a thick green neck; those will not keep and can spoil the ones around them.
Store them in a cool, dry, dark spot with airflow: a mesh bag, a slatted basket, or a braid works. The best range is about 32 to 50 F with low humidity. Kept this way, cured onions hold 3 to 6 months and garlic holds 4 to 8 months.
Check the stash and use the weak ones first
Look through the bulbs every couple of weeks and pull any that go soft or sprout. One rotting bulb spreads, so a 2-minute check protects the whole batch.
Use the thick-necked bulbs first, because they never seal fully and will not last. Save the tight, hard, well-wrapped bulbs for deep winter.
Questions, answered straight
When about half the green tops flop over and fall on their own. That means the bulbs have stopped sizing up. Stop watering, then pull them within a few days for curing.
When the lower 3 to 4 leaves have turned brown but the top few are still green. Each green leaf wraps the bulb, so digging too late gives you split, bare cloves that will not store.
About 2 to 3 weeks in a dry, airy, shaded spot. They are cured when the necks are tight and dry and the skins rustle like paper. A fan speeds it up and cuts down on mold.
Stored cool, dry, and dark at about 32 to 50 F, cured onions keep 3 to 6 months and garlic keeps 4 to 8 months. Use thick-necked bulbs first; they never seal fully.