Disappearing garlic found

After I wrote the blog about the garlic, I went online to figure out when I'm supposed to harvest it. Oops... the sites I found recommended harvesting when the leaves were still partially green.

The leaves on most of my garlic had not only all turned brown, they'd also separated from the bulbs and were blowing away. It made it difficult to to actually find the garlic, since it was all underground.
I did get one handy tip, however. One site said to dig with a fork rather than a garden shovel - it keeps you from doing as much damage to the bulbs.
So I dug up some of my rapidly disappearing garlic yesterday.
One of the sites said never wash the garlic, which is why these all have clods of dirt still sticking to them. The soil was fairly moist around the bulbs so I'm going to let it dry and then do my best to brush it off.
Now I'm supposed to let it cure in a dry place (but not in the sunshine, because that changes the flavor) and then I should be able to store it in a cool place for four to six months. I don't think it will last that long... we like to keep the vampires at bay.