Last year, I grew enough garlic to attempt braiding it…. which did not go well. I figured it’s gotta be just like braiding hair right? Wrong! I tried adding multiple heads and finally threw my hands up and just did simple braids with 3 bulbs. Ugh! Horrible! I was never happy with the result. I did write a cute little haiku about the experience but that was about the extent of my talents in the garlic kitchen decor department. Or so I thought.
Fast forward to fall and I find myself planting twice as much garlic as before. Why? I made new friends. Friends that grow a lot of garlic. Suddenly I find myself presented with all these new interesting varieties I’ve never heard of: Kilarney Red, Inchelium Red, Lorz Italian. What’s a garlic lover to do? Grown several of each of course! For more on my little garlic growing operation, check out this post: Go Garlic Grow.
Which brings us to yesterday:
It appears I’m going to have to revisit my epic fail from last year and try to improve upon it…. So I do what any red-blooded American girl would do, I Googled it. Sure enough, the YouTube videos abound. After reviewing a few, I felt that the one presented by Garden Nerd did the best job of demonstrating how to make a beautiful braid. Furthermore, the blog is GREAT and I am looking forward to reading their other posts in the near future. #newfan!
So here I am, ready to attempt the elusive garlic braid one more time with a little help from Christy of gardennerd.com.
Step 1: cut the roots and clean off the dirt. Check!
Step 2: Tying together 3 bulbs. The one in the center is slightly bigger as suggested. Christy ties hers together with twisty ties, but I didn’t have any on hand so I used twine and it worked fine.
Next, carefully follow the video step by step…. so far so good.
Three important tips:
1. Use soft neck garlic.
2. Carefully bend the stems.
3. Keep the braid as tight as you can get it.
OMG I did it!!!
And then I did it again!!
Thank you Christy from Garden Nerd for your excellent instructional video!
Anyone else out there braiding garlic this summer?
The Ramblings of an Aspiring Small Town Girl 
Congrats. Sadly I can’t braid garlic. Mine are all hardnecks. So I get scapes, but not pretty braids. I do braid my onions though.
Oh but you gotta love the scapes right?? So tasty! That’s cool that you braid your onions. That’s gotta take skill!
Congrats!! I’ve been growing garlic for ten years now. In the 365 days in between crops, I manage to forget how to braid. Having that video in front of me helps immensely. Yours look great!
Very cool and pretty! Thanks for linking up at the Weekend Blog Hop at My Flagstaff Home!
Jennifer
This is a really interesting post! Thanks for sharing it today!
I came over on Turn it up Tuesday, and I’m glad to find your site.
Hope you have a blessed day~
Melanie
This is so awesome! I never would have thought to do this!! Thanks for sharing this week at the Living With Style Linky party! Be sure to come back next week! Dianne @ scrutinizinglife.com
I wish we had grow onions I could do this with, so pretty! Thanks for sharing on the (mis)Adventures Monday Blog Hop! Can’t wait to see what you have this week!!
Oh wow! My husband would love it if I made this for him, believe it or not! Now I just need to search for garlic but that should’t be too difficult to find at the markets around here. Thank you so much for sharing this how-to with us at the Inspire Me Mondays Link-Up!
Oh my! This looks so fabulous! Pinned and tweeted. Please join us tonight at 7 pm, and party with us. I can’t wait to see your new masterpieces or amazing classics! Lou Lou Girls
Awesome! Thank you!
Those look great. Mine never look that good, LOL! I’m so glad you shared this on the Homestead Blog Hop. Hope to see you again today 😉
Pinned, Thanks.
The video made it so easy! Seriously, I suck at braiding 😉