I made a second backyard wreath about a week ago for a friend. This time I used thuja, yew and clematis seed heads to decorate the grapevine, plus a tiny brass ornament (the closure of a Christmas cracker). I am having fun with these.
Category: Decorating
Advent
This morning, I foraged in my own backyard for materials for this year’s Advent wreath and came back upstairs with grapevine, thuja, yew and spent spirea seed heads.
I soaked the grapevine for about an hour in the bathtub to make it pliable and then tied it into a wreath. 
Garlic
Two weeks ago, I harvested most of my garlic. I had planted a ton of softneck garlic last fall, but I realized in the course of the spring and summer, that I had a few hardneck volunteers popping up in clusters all over my garden. Those came from plants that I had forgotten to harvest last year or where the stalk had broken off and I had not dug up the bulbs. They produced several small heads very close to each other as they all came from the same garlic head. 
Garlic right after harvest
For curing, I normally spread the garlic in a single layer in the sun for a couple of hours, just to dry off the dirt. I then gently rub off the dirt, leaving the skin intact and hang the garlic to dry in a ventilated place. A cool place would be ideal, but that is really an illusion for the humid, hot summers here in the Northeast.
Dried and cleaned
I found that our back hallway is a fine place, especially in the cool summer mornings and evenings. The hallway connects the kitchen with the back porch and we usually leave it open, even during the night. I leave the garlic there to dry until the leaves and stalks are very papery, about two to three weeks. Then, for hardnecks, I cut off the stalks and store them in a basket in the pantry. This is my first year growing softnecks and my first attempt at braiding garlic (see above).
Space-saving drying places -1
Space-saving drying places -2