I guess I don't understand why you would want to. It stores well at a cool temperature, so I store my entire harvest in a bowl in my kitchen which is about 60 degrees. A dry cellar would work also. Since it's easy to store without freezing most folks don't do it which is why there aren't directions. However, if you normally freeze garlic, I don't know any reason that storing homegrown garlic would be different.

Freezing completely changes the nature of the garlic, and I would never do it. I grow enough garlic for year-round use - haven't bought it for years (and we eat a lot). After allowing it to cure and dry well after harvest, I keep it in cardboard boxes (keeps it darker), loose fitting lid so air flows, in my cool, dry, basement, with the garlic packed only loosely, not too deep. I have a smaller box I keep in the kitchen pantry to keep some close at hand - and also keep some onions there.

The garlic I'm keeping for replanting I place in sort of paper sacks made with sections from my newspaper. I take a single section in its normal folded in half state, fold over maybe an inch on two open edges and put a few stapes. Then I can put in a single layer of garlic neatly and staple the open edge. I use a marker to identify the variety on the outside. The garlic stays dry, secure, and easy to handle when I take it out in October to plant it. Year after year I have done this without rot or damage or any other issues. I've even had times when I failed to get all I set aside planted, and there was still some not completely dried out a year later for planting the following fall - though I wouldn't recommend doing that - just didn't have the garden space or time to get it out in the middle of a move to a new home.

Thank you for the feedback. I think I'm gun shy because I've had store bought garlic mold in the refrigerator before - maybe I just got a bad batch.

In terms of storage, my options are limited. Anything in the house will be at least 70 degrees. I can put it in my garage, but I live in south Georgia, so even then not guaranteed to get much cooler some days.

Thanks for the feedback so far - any other ideas/suggestions are most certainly welcome!

if you already freeze garlic...

and you are happy with it...

i just dont see what difference it makes.. if you grow it yourself?????

am i missing something here ...

the only variable would be that you are actually growing the same garlic ....

store garlic.. would not grow for me in MI [overwinter i mean] ... i dont know if what they sell in the market will grow locally for you ...

how did i get in this forum.. lol ...

ken

Hi - I don't think I was clear in my last message! It is garlic that is already out of its outer layer that I had mold. I've never tried to do garlic that is still in its protective layer and maybe that's what made the difference for me. Either way, I'm anxious to try this fall!

In the past, I've frozen peeled garlic cloves in zip lock freezer bags. They keep well in the short term, but lose much of their flavor. Also, when cooked, the frozen garlic turns to mush.

Dehydration preserves more of the flavor... and once dehydrated, the garlic can be stored at room temperature for a long time. That is a good solution for those in warmer climates, or without a cool storage area. I just used up the last dehydrated garlic from two years ago - ground into powder, it was still potent.

Before dehydrating, I peel the cloves & slice all but the largest in half lengthwise... the widest cloves get cut into 3-4 slices. When dry, these become garlic "chips" that can be added to cooked dishes, or ground into fresh powder as needed. The chips keep their shape when cooked.

Garlic is usually Fall planted, and freezes over the winter, so you would think that it would be possible to freeze it indoors for planting in the Spring. For Fall planted garlic, the soil & snow cover moderate the temperature around cloves... the unmoderated temperatures in a deep freezer will kill them. Not sure if temps just below freezing might keep cloves alive until Spring, that might be a good experiment.

Ken, you should have no trouble growing garlic in Michigan, it does pretty well here in Wisconsin, and in the even colder winters of Minnesota. Hardneck garlics survive even in much of lower Canada.

Even at 70 degrees in the house it is far better than putting it in the refrigerator. My house stays at about 70 degrees. I keep my garlic in cardboard boxes with loose lids or in sacks made from newspapers. I know absolutely that I will not be keeping it longer than a year, because I'll be harvesting again by that time. Some varieties will dry out faster than others - I tend to use those first. My elephant garlic lasts a very long time, often looking almost as good as when I put it in the box a year later. There is never a problem for any of it to make it from harvest to fall planting. And all of it holds up very well through about January. The biggest problem is that normal AC systems want to dry the place out completely. When I get to it, I'm going to build a kind of root cellar in a part of my garage, insulated, where I can run AC to it if I choose, but when temps drop in winter I can shut off the drying forced-air heat.

I don't know what kind of luck you would have planting garlic you had kept in the refrigerator, and I would give about no hope to garlic you had in the freezer.

i dont grow garlic ...

i just seem to recall ... that some of the foo foo giant garlics are more warm zone ... maybe its just the length of season.. to get them that big .... ????

my bro grows some version in ann arbor ... its surely not the pretty giant ones i see in the stores ...

i know its heresey to many of you . ... my body just doesnt like garlic.. if you get my drift ... i use about one head a year.. just to flavor the oil/butter .... or the soup .. and then remove it before it goes to serving ...

ken