Garlic

Garlic was the first thing we planted for this season. You plant garlic in the fall for a mid summer harvest the following year. Our garlic sprouted early and has been growing strong. We selected stiff neck garlic for our planting, and it does have a wonderful taste!

Some say no vegetable is easier to grow or harvest.


Planting

Plant the garlic in the fall, in rows spaced 18 inches apart, and set the cloves into the row about 8 inches apart. Cover with one inch of soil and mulch for winter. See our 2013 planting garlic article.


Garlic Scapes

Early June, our garlic started producing seed scapes. These start off straight, and then curl into loops as in the following image. We remove these when they curl, and use them fresh in garlic pesto and other recipes. They are really good, and just as powerful as clove garlic. It is a great to have fresh garlic even before the cloves are ready to harvest.

Note: Garlic scapes are fantastic baked with a little oil and salt. We ate them like finder food. Mmmm good.


Harvest

When the garlic leaves lower (and outer layer covering the bulb) are dead and dry, and the rest of the plant appears dry, the garlic is ready to harvest. Gently remove the bulbs from the ground. You do not want to smash or damage the integrity of the bulb and enclosed cloves. Let the entire plant dry out of the sun for several days. The stem and leaves should become completely brown and dry. The roots under the bulb should be completely dry as well.

At this point, you can cut off the stem leaving a few inches above the bulb. Keep the bulb intact till you plan to use the garlic cloves. Select the largest bulbs / cloves for your seed cloves. These will be planted in the same fall for next years harvest.


Resources

• Planting garlic (web)
• Planting & growing garlic (web)