garlic cloves

I keep a rotating baby jar of garlic cloves in the fridge. Found I use them more often if they're ready when I'm cooking. So one at a time I cut a garlic head off the string hanging in the kitchen, separate and peel the cloves, and stick them in the fridge in this tiny jar. When it's empty, do it again.

I've been finding lately, when I open the garlic heads, that some of them didn't keep well. Some are dry and brown, shriveled. Others are moldy. But also the time for harvesting garden garlic is near (if they are ready same time as last year), and I still have plenty of last year's hanging. So I don't mind that out of every head I separate, a third to half of them are bad. Nor do I mind that outside I don't have nearly as much garlic growing this year as last (they didn't all come up). But to keep most of what I grew this year, I'll have to do better with my curing. I think I cured too much in the sun (which cooked some brown and shriveled) and didn't get them dry enough before storing (thus the mold). So things to note, for garlic: cure in a shady spot, and for at least an entire week, if not more.