My first garlic harvesting experience

I had my first experience at harvesting garlic with my family this morning. It was very interesting and I learned a lot and have a bunch of fresh garlic now to boot! It's a very long story how this experience came about, but the short of it is, we got to do it for free as a once off. 

I am completely new to garlic harvesting. I even had to google what the term was - I wasn't sure if it was referred to as "garlic digging" or "garlic picking" and only from searching learned that the correct term is "harvesting garlic" or "garlic harvesting". It is done in May mostly and it is important to do it before the garlic starts flowering. If they reach flowering stage, the bulb beneath the soil becomes small and less tasty.

The garlic farmer taught us how to do it to prevent damage to the garlic and the garlic sprouts. Which involves pulling them straight up. We pulled them out and he cut off the really tough roots with a scissors. There is no need to wash them. Instead, much like an onion, you remove the outer layers until you get to a clean bulb. He then tied five together and hung them to dry. They are dried for about a month. 

When garlic is fresh out of the soil, you can eat the garlic sprout - the long green part right in the center of the part that was visible over land - raw. It is really spicy though and I wouldn't recommend it unless you are well used to eating garlic! My husband is the only one in my family who qualifies to eat fresh garlic sprout raw! I didn't try it, but my clothes and my whole house smell of garlic now just from the raw garlic we brought home.

Have you ever harvested garlic before?