harvesting garlic

[nachoqtpie]

So, I planted garlic a couple of months ago. It's got some good growth on it, but how do I know it's time to harvest? Will it be ready to harvest by the time everything else is ready to go in? (That will be around April or so.)

 

[Ridgerunner]

No. It will grow in the spring and make scapes. Then the green leaves will die. When they die is when you harvest it.

I can't remember what month that is for me. I think maybe June.

I'm assuming this is stuff you planted this fall? That's how I do mine.

 

[nachoqtpie]

Yes,we planted it a short while ago.
What are scapes?

 

[Greenthumb18]

What are scapes?

Garlic scapes are the flowering stalks.

 

[Durgan]

Garlic from planting to harvest in Zone 5.

http://www.durgan.org/URL/?HIBIY 31 July 2012 Collecting Garlic Seeds
Seeds collected, washed in water and allowed to dry.

http://www.durgan.org/URL/?DTOIB 14 July 2012. Garlic. Final preparation for storage
Garlic was trimmed in preparation for storage.There are slightly more than 100 bulbs for storage.

http://www.durgan.org/URL/?ILQFH 14 July 2012 Garlic. Scapes allowed to form seeds.
Scapes allowed to grow to form seeds. Now in the flowering stage.

http://www.durgan.org/URL/?TCXKI 1 July 2012 Garlic Harvested.
Garlic was harvested today, about 140 plants were harvested. Sixteen of the largest were set aside for planting for the 2013 year. The soil was loosened with a fork then the plant pulled. Ten plants were slip knot tied into a bundle and hung to dry in partial shade. Later they were hung in the shed for curing. There were about ten rejects due to damage or malformed bulbs, and ten plants with small bulbs were set aside for immediate use.The harvest was almost identical to previous years. My garlic bulbs has six cloves of almost the same size.Ten plants with scapes still on were left to produce seed. Almost all the mulch applied in 2011 has disappeared.The soil was very dry.I pull my garlic when the lower leaves start to die off,usually within the first five days of July.Storage garlic is better pulled early rather than late. It stores longer.

http://www.durgan.org/URL/?SXHNW 5 June 2012 Garlic Scapes Removed
The scapes were removed from the garlic plants. Twelve were not removed so bulbils (the garlic seeds) can be produced, and after three years with successive planting will produce normal size clone bulbs.

http://www.durgan.org/URL/?CFGOS 15 May 2012 Garlic Growth
A new area is selected for garlic each year. This area tends to be rather wet but is well drained. The wetness was of some concern, but it now appears to be beneficial.The garlic plants this year are the most robust seen over the last five years, and there is two months before harvest about the 10 of July 2012.

http://www.durgan.org/URL/?QIVZF 22 March 2012 Garlic Thriving

http://www.durgan.org/URL/?DTNMZ 24 Ocober 2011 Planting Hard Neck Garlic
About 100 cloves of hard neck garlic was planted in a 8 by 8 foot bed. Cloves were planted at six inch spacing with the base firmly pushed into the soil at a depth (base) of about two inches. The bulbs were saved from the 2011 crop, and were large, with from five to seven cloves in each bulb. The bed was mulched with wood chips to limit the effects of the normal winter thawing and freezing cycles, and to limit moisture loss due to evaporation. The vegetation has no difficulty pushing through the mulch in the Spring. The bed wont be touched until the scapes (seed pods) are removed, and then the harvest about the 10 of July 2012. A new bed area is selected each year, which is laced with compost and worked into the underlying soil.

 

[baymule]

Scapes are ball shaped and on a long stalk. The flowers are good in soups and stews. I put them in pot roast and stir fry too. I even froze some to use later.

 

[vfem]

Mid June for us hunny... We'll be harvesting around June 15th. And don't worry, you'll probably watch for me to post I got it up and then you can just copy me! hahaha

The tricky thing is curing it. We're humid here, so it takes patience.

 

[nachoqtpie]

Oh man.... how the heck am I supposed to cured it! I didn't even think about that.

 

[Ridgerunner]

This will probably shock you but different people do it different ways. Yeah, really!!! :bun

It's ready to harvest when the leaves start dying. After it is harvested, some nutrients go from the drying leaves to the bulbs, so leave the leaves attached. The garlic also needs to dry out.

Some people break the garlic tops over when they start to dry out to hasten the process before they harvest it. I don't. Some people get it out of the sun quickly but some leave it to dry in the sun. It needs a place where it has reasonable air circulation.

What I normally do is dig it after the leaves have started dying on their own. I take it to a shed I have that has tremendous air circulation, is dry, and is pretty warm that time of year but not cooking hot. I tie each garlic up individually up on the leaves with twine and hang it so it can dry out, then just leave it there for months, using it as I need it.

In the fall when it is time to plant next years crop, I select the cloves that I want to plant from what is left and plant them. I take the rest to my garage which is attached an unheated. It will never freeze in there. I store it in those net bags onions, potatoes, things like that come in, hanging them up so they get good air circulation.

It will be fun to hear how others do it, but the basic principles are wait until it is ready, let it dry with the leaves still attached, give it good air circulation, keep it out of rain and direct sun after it has cured, and don't let it freeze.

 

[nachoqtpie]

Well, we only planted like 10 bulbs. We just took some of the store bought garlic that was starting to sprout and shoved some in the ground. Lol I'm not to sure how well it will produce, but I thought I would try it. I guess next year I'll give it a separate bed of its own. See how much we use during the year and hopefully by 2014 we're using only homegrown garlic.