When to harvest the garlic?

[lesa]

I have grown and harvested garlic before- but I am a little puzzled this year. It seems about a month early for harvest- but that garlic looks ready?? The bottom leaves are brown and 5-7 leaves are going brown at the tips. When I dug a few, they are beautiful large heads. So, my question is- is it possible to pull too early or too late- or is garlic forgiving. I used some in dinner and it was delicious. We are scheduled for blistering heat the next few days. Thought I would pull in the morning- let it sit in the sun for the day and lay it on screens in the barn for drying, in the evening. What do you think?

 

[patandchickens]

Me too. It's been quite dry here (although Toronto had a record-wet June, all the storms went *around* us, sigh) and I have not been watering, so my garlic is starting to yellow already (and the rhubarb is dying back badly).

My feeling is that if you want to store the garlic (like, store it dry, not pickled or frozen or whatnot), it is far better to harvest it a little too early than a little too late. Too late and the outer wrappers of the bulb start to split open and it gets prematurely sprouty (or desiccated).

Mine isn't looking *too* bad quite yet, but my intention is to pull a few sample plants this weekend when this &#*@$& heatwave is over, and see how they look. If they are of normal size for their varieties, or if they are already starting to split (although gee I don't *think* they'd be), I will probably harvest everything... if they are still smallish and immature looking I will eat the few I pull but leave the others for another week or three before sampling another few.

Good luck, have fun,

Pat

 

[patandchickens]

Thought I would pull in the morning- let it sit in the sun for the day and lay it on screens in the barn for drying, in the evening. What do you think?

Oh, forgot to comment -- I would not let it dry in the sun for more than a couple hours. It should hang (or lie on airy screens) in an airy dry place *out of* direct sunlight, for a few weeks before storage. Garage is fine as long as it doesn't get too hot, if your garage has rafters you can tie the garlic into bunches by its leaves and hang them from rafters with thge garage door open. No vampires will come anywhere NEAR the garage <g>

Pat

 

[lesa]

Thanks, Pat! I am glad someone else in zone 4, is seeing the same thing! If I don't need to dry it out in the sun- maybe I'll dig it tonight!