TIMING IS EVERYTHING, THEY SAY, AND WITH GARLIC HARVEST that’s especially true. But since the crop is hidden underground, how do you know when this edible Allium is ready—when it’s just the right moment to insure a well-formed head that will also store well through the winter and beyond? Like fortune-telling, it’s all in reading the leaves, apparently.
Don’t let its relatives mislead you. Garlic’s close cousin, the onion (Allium cepa), is more adaptable about its ideal moment to be lifted and cured. You can simply let the tops (leaves) die down right in place, delaying digging a bit to when it’s convenient. Or if you’re in a rush, move things along (assuming the bulbs are well-formed) by knocking over the foliage to urge the plants toward their finale.
With garlic, though, waiting until all the leaves go brown will promote overripe bulbs whose cloves are starting to separate from one another, and the resulting un-tight heads won’t store as long. Each leaf that browns is one fewer potential wrapper to protect the bulb. (Counterpoint: Harvesting too soon can also diminish the bulbs’ shelf life in storage, and may limit the bulbs reaching full size.)
Most “experts” say to harvest when several of the lower leaves go brown, but five or six up top are still green—and depending on the weather, this typically happens here in late July. Those are a few of mine just as they came from the ground yesterday. Early bouts of sustained heat this spring pushed the garlic a little ahead of schedule (as it has so many other plants), so my harvest’s now curing, a process that takes three to eight weeks, before the tops will be cut off, the roots trimmed, and the cured bulbs stored.
In the curing there’s another difference between the most popular Allium cousins garlic and onion: Assuming it’s a dry day when harvest comes, onions can be left out to dry right beside the rows you dug them from. Not so with garlic, which should be moved out of direct sunlight immediately once unearthed. Move it to a garage or porch or shed where the air circulation is good.
Harvesting garlic couldn’t be easier, as long as you remember one thing: Though tempting, do not try pulling the bulbs out by the above-ground stems, or at least without first loosening the soil alongside each row (not too close to the heads!) with a spading fork. Garlic stores best when cured with its leaves on.
Other factors that affect the timing of garlic harvest: the weather, and what kind of garlic you planted.
Softneck garlic (Allium sativum), the most common type of supermarket familiarity, has a row of largish outer cloves and a row or two of inner small ones. It would keep better than what I grow, but I like the bigger (though fewer-per-head) cloves of the hardneck kind…
…because hardneck garlic (Allium sativum var. ophioscorodon) is better-adapted to Northern winters (its long roots, above, hold it in the heave-and-thaw ground especially well), and frankly I just hate all those tiny inner cloves of softneck at peeling time. Nor does comparatively puny softneck make as nice a roasted head of garlic as the bigger-cloved kind.
Hardneck kinds send up a scape—really a woody flower-stalk-to-be—in about June, signaling a month or two remaining before bulb maturity. I cut the scapes off when they started to develop (above), and used them in stir-fries and pasta. I’m not being selfish, harvesting them then (though they are delicious); rather I’m telling the plants to put their energy into bulb production, not sexual reproduction.
Most people agree that is the benefit of removal, though some say leaving it on produces better cloves for replanting as your “seed” stock. I frankly have no idea what’s true (as with so much of gardening, you go on gut); I cut them off.
I make it all sounds like a lot to ponder, but garlic is easy to grow. It took me a mere 15 minutes to harvest my crop of about 75 heads today, and not much work before that, frankly, either.
The backstory on how I got to harvest time:
Garlic is planted in the fall, around October locally, with the biggest and best cloves from the biggest and best heads of last year’s harvest chosen to use as the start of the next crop. (The full how-to on growing is here.)
I’ve also written before about harvest and curing details here (along with the subject of multiplier, or perennial, onions—which I didn’t do so well with in my Northern garden, but that’s another Allium story for another time).
This was a wonderful post, thank you for the details and tips. I am second season new to growing garlic, but I have found the bigger headed ones are much easier to use and taste better. Great stuff, thank you for taking the guess work out of it all.
Your garlic looks wonderful! I tried growing it for the first time last fall myself, and I harvested the first bulbs this past weekend. Mine are not as large as yours! But, man alive, what an easy crop. Question for you: You cure it because you want to store it, correct? Does it have to be cured before you use it? Congratulations!
Thank you, how timely! My garlic has 4 dead leaves on the bottom so I’m going to dig a few up and see how they look. Unfortunately I have a lot of Mountain Garland flowers coming up around the garlic so I guess I’ll be putting together some bouquets too.
Welcome, Moni88. I am always glad to help — and by trying to write it down properly it makes me think carefully about what I know (or think I know!) and also read xtensively to be sure I have it semi-right. :) See you soon, I hope.
How timely! I read this, ran outside in the rain and dug my modest crop up. I echo some of the other comments, my heads are small. I wonder why?
Thank you Margaret, gardening is certainly a wriggly, fuzzy kind of deal, and it really helps to read what you wrote, to get it clear. It worked, so carry on! Love keeping up with your updates, they are wonderful.
I planted a garlic “sampler” last October and have already harvested the softneck bulbs which were drying and keeling over. The hardneck guys are getting there now but we’ve had so much rain that I’m waiting for a dry day before digging.
Did you read the article about garlic in this month’s Organic Gardening? It’s the second place I’ve read that garlic is super adaptable and will evolve quickly to suit your particular garden if you save and replant. I find that a peculiarly satisfying idea.
Thank you! I’ve always wondered what the right time to harvest was…have even done a little googling on the subject…today I just scrambled out to the garden and dug up a few heads for a little cooking I was doing.
Now…what to do with allll that garlic!
Welcome, Shelly. You are so right: What to do with all of it. Once it cures, in September-ish, I will move it to the cooler cellar and cross my fingers. An early harvest means an earlier date for the end of my garlic supply, which usually lasts through February (but may perish earlier with the early harvest date, oh dear). I may try freezing some…researching it. More to come…
I planted both softneck and hardneck garlic for the first time last fall. Like you, Margaret, I cut off (most) my scapes (grilled them with a little olive oil and they were wonderful) early but I read somewhere that you should leave some scapes on to indicate when it’s best to harvest (when the scapes shoot straight back up). It looks as though it will be this weekend for my hardnecks. I harvested my softnecks last week. So far so good.
Shelly and Margaret, mine freezes really well, cut into small pieces, used in cooking. I also keep some cut up in oil, and this is my favourite, and it keeps well in a quality oil, and can be used to add to salads and such. You probably already know these ideas, but I just thought I would write them just in case. I love having garlic on hand all the time, and this way I can do it.
Hi Margaret, great post! I haven’t grown any garlic in a couple years but I’m looking forward to planting some this fall. FYI – Filaree Farms (filareefarm.com) has some great organic varieties.
I, too, am on my second year of a garlic harvest. But somewhere between year one and two, I switched around the planting instructions (in my mind) and put the seed cloves in upside down! My heads are modest in size, due, I suspect, to their (unsuccessful) striving to turn a somersault in the ground–poor things! They are quite dear to look at: nice, straight stalks with bulbs at an angle that reminds one of nothing so much as an old-fashioned golf putter! I used some yesterday in mushroom risotto–it was wonderful–so no ill-effects from all those underground calisthenics!
Welcome, Allison. Hilarious. Pointy side up, right? At least they tried to cooperate and you got some results. See you soon again, I hope.
Welcome, CJ. Interesting idea! There are so many tactics for getting it just right with garlic, it’s fascinating, right? Hope to see you soon again, and that your harvest is great and keeps well.
Thank you! Even though I just did my first “garlic harvest” last summer (it turned out successful, though that could have just been beginner’s luck), I’m starting to wonder how to do it all this time around. I think I made the mistake of waiting til the stems got brown last year…. and also, I just learned that you can eat the “stalk” part this year! Ever since learning about this, I see it all over the place! Thanks for the garlic tips! (By the way – have you ever heard of Bavarian Purple Garlic? And if so, do you have any suggestions of where somebody from the Pacific NW could find it?) :)
Margaret,
Thank you for this great posting; due to my work situation (out of state, away from home) I haven’t had a garlic harvest for several years now. That will change this year; just need to order stock early before all the good stuff gets sold out and prep the spot where it will go. Do you have any recomnedations? I have always planted hardneck, with Music being one of my favorites.
Susan
@Susan: I am in a cold zone, so I like the hardneck called ‘German Extra-Hardy’ from places like Johnny’s or Ronniger’s (which has many interesting varieties to choose from). Have a look.
Great report, Margaret! I’m so glad you got a good harvest given how horribly dry it’s been.
On the scape front: one experiment isn’t exactly scientific, but for what it’s worth we did try cutting scapes vs. leaving them. Full report is on the blog. Short version (for a pair of rows with 30 cloves planted in each):
The cut row yielded: 15 jumbo heads, 14 medium, 1 small, with 9 of them cracked and 1 half-rotted.
The uncut row yielded 12 jumbo, 16 medium and 2 small, with 3 that were cracked and 1 that was half-cracked.
So, very close to a tie except for one thing: we got 5 pounds out of the cut row, 6.5 pounds out of the one we left alone.
Wow, it is garlic time! Organic gardening featured them on their cover and here you have them along with your podcast. Very tempting to order them, just don’t know if I will have my bed ready this year. But I really would like to have the scapes to snip from the hardneck ones.
I collected wild garlic growing along the roadsides recently….hopefully at the right time… the flowerheads were intact, though several bottom leaves were dead. I’ve put them in the summer kitchen to dry for now, but plan to plant some of the cloves this fall in my garden. What are your thoughts about that? I figure if it’s wild around here, I should not have to do anything special to get it started in my garden.
@Ranchwife: I don’t know the exact plant that you are referring to — fascinating. Do you know what it is botanically?
I pulled my garlic a couple of weeks ago and tragically discovered it was infested with what I discovered to be garlic “maggots”. Disgusting little creatures who ruin the garlic – very disappointing. Any ideas for next round?
Going to plant garlic next season for sure, hopefully at the bottom of a small hill which drains well and gets full sun. But I am going to have to really improve the soil deep down. I just threw up my hands when I saw the garlic in Grand Central Market was from Argentina! We have a garlic festival in central massachusetts with all local! Are nuts or what…….So glad to have found your website. I am read to make the leap….or I am getting there. Looking forward to the book…….and all the rest to come.
Carole
Welcome, Carole. Did you find this more recent article with lots of sources, etc? Might be helpful, too. Hope to see you again soon.
Early last November, we planted 20 cloves of garlic in a raised bed for the first time. All 20 have long green tops shooting up and we’re really looking forward to harvesting, although it’ll be hard to make my husband leave them alone until some leaves turn brown! Maybe trimming off some of the green tops to use in cooking will be enough to satisfy him until harvest time!
I like the idea from Moni88 about freezing the garlic or keeping cloves in oil. I was wondering what I was going to do with all this garlic and how to keep it. My friends will benefit, I guess!
Thanks for the good info on garlic. Growing garlic is fairly new to us. I’ve grown it in the past in my own personal garden with a hit and miss success.
I’ll have to try scapes with our CSA customers. They sound delicious to me. In fact I better get out there and cut some! Bye.
Diane
Welcome, Diane. The key for maximum success for me has been selecting my own strain over the years – saving (not eating) the biggest cloves from the biggest heads each year to use as my “seed” the next fall. More on garlic’s in this old article. See you soon!
Although i have grown garlic for a number of years harvesting has always been a bit hit and miss – last year i left them too long and they had blown a bit.
It was good to read your article and clear a few things up, i harvested mine last week(about 4 weeks earlier than average) just because they looked ready !
Here in the south of England we have had a really mixed up spring with April being among the hottest/driest on record, no rain for nearly 3 months and dull days and wind for most of the end of May/early June.The downside has been loads of watering, the upside is we are into our 4th week of cucumbers and 2nd of tomatoes.
Thanks again
Louise
Thanks, Louise, for the weather and garlic report from “over there.” :) I just had jacket potato and baked beans for lunch, so I am feeling all English pub-ish at the moment (one of my favorite meals, actually…or baked beans on toast!).
Beyond that digression away from the topic, though, I feel all mixed up, too, at the moment, though no cukes yet, nor any tomatoes. It has actually seemed a bit cool in general, with a few bouts of heat only, and extra rain (not horrible flooding like so many areas, but more than “normal” — whatever that means any longer). I am keeping a close eye on the garlic, which I worry about because the soil hasn’t dried in quite some time…always something, right?
OK, I’ll play food police this time and remind everyone that raw garlic in oil is the #1 source of botulism poisoning.
My preferred way of keeping garlic longterm is dehydrating.
Mam o man, I’m mad late! I’m gonna dig my garlic up right now, wish me luck, wish I’d seen your website before
The only thing is that is stores less well if “overripe” so to speak, but it will still taste great. Sometimes I freeze half the harvest if I think it won’t store well, bu peeling the cloves first and putting them whole into freezer bags with a little bit of olive oil — just enough to barely coat them, like a spoon a bagful or even less.
love your comments Margaret, but wonder about garlic that was planted in June? i know that it was late, but the wet spring held up our first garden prep….the leaves dried up and disappeared in July during a drought and are now sprouting back up as i harvest the carrots. should i just leave them be, or dig them up and plant more? we are in indiana.
cheers!
Not sure where you are located, Merry, but garlic needs several seasons in the ground (here, it’s October through the next July-ish). No point in digging them; see if they do their thing for next July harvest.
Thanks for this great post, it is always challenging to find information about harvesting edibles. I finished my first year of growing hardneck garlic this year and none of my plants sent up a scape. The variety was spanish roja. Other than that the heads were large and otherwise I considered it a success and have started 2 varieties this year.
Hi, Galen. I had to experiment with various varieties until I found the one that really matched my location, and now we are happy ever after together. :) It’s fun exploring the range of possibilities and I know you will happen on the right one for you. See you soon!
This will be my first year of trying to grow garlic so I was especially pleased to find this information. Recently I read a tip in a gardening magazine about planting garlic that I thought I might share.
I will be planting my garlic in raised beds 4 foot by 24 feet. We use a huge amount of garlic.
The tip I am referring to was to purchase a piece of lattice work (4′ x 8′) and place it over top of your prepared garlic bed. Insert one head of garlic for every opening and then cover with mulch as necessary. Everything moves along quicly. Gets spaced evenly and if you hang up the lattice work to stay dry and undamaged it can be used over for several future seasons.