Garlic Harvest Time!

Mid-June and it's time to harvest my garlic!  I'd planted this soft neck garlic from seed bulbs back in October (see that post here), and they're finally ready to harvest.  

How do I know?

Two Ways To Check If Your Garlic Is Ready

Test #1:   When about half the leaves on the plant have turned brown and died off.  

As you can see in this photo, the garlic is well grown, but the leaves are mostly still green and lush.  There are a few leaves at the base that have browned and shriveled, but the plants are mostly still green.  These are NOT ready to pull.

Compare to this photo where the plants have died back by about half way.  They aren't fully brown, not fully green.  They are at about the 50% mark.

Test #2:  Pull a bulb and see how it looks.  

If you dig up one bulb and it looks more like a big green onion, it's not ready.  You should see defined cloves and a bulb that resembles a bulb you would buy in the store.

As you can see in the above photos, the "ready" bulbs have defined cloves.  The one marked "not ready" is more round and onion looking.

Take it from experience, pull out only one bulb and check it before deciding to pull your whole harvest.  If it doesn't look ready, come back in another week or so and check another.

Side note:  The bulb(s) you pulled are still perfectly good to cook with!  It just won't cure and store.  It's what gardeners refer to as "spring garlic", so you'll want to refrigerate it and use it soon.

It's Ready, Now What?

For your garlic to last you all year (and seriously, my garlic will last an entire year!), you need to properly dry and cure it.  I start by cleaning the bulbs and stalks.

Now, most gardeners will tell you not to wash your bulbs.  And that is good advice!  For successful long-term storage, mold is your enemy, so pouring water all over your beautiful bounty is not the best move.  Instead, gardeners will tell you to let the bulbs dry for a few days then gently brush the dirt off. 

That's great so long as you're not growing in soil that has a lot of clay.  Anyone experienced with clay soil will tell you there's no "brushing away" clay before or after it's dried.  I tried that one year and ended up with bulbs encased in near-solid rock.  (Remember, people make houses out of adobe!)  So I throw caution to the wind and wash my bulbs as best I can.  I'm not working for perfection.  Just looking to get most of the clumps off the plants.

That also means drying is very important.  Property drying and curing is the way to keep garlic for long-term storage.  When done right, I'm still enjoying last year's harvest all the way through this year, meaning I never have to buy garlic in the store.

Once rinsed, I tie the stalks in bundles of 2 or 3 then hang to dry:

Today I've got these on my clothes line because the weather is mild and the sun isn't out yet.  But after a couple hours I'll be moving them to a shady-breezy spot.  The goal is to dry, not to cook!

My favorite place for drying garlic is to hang them from my patio umbrellas.  It's the only spot in my yard where I know they won't get any sun at all, and they'll get a good daily breeze and plenty of air circulation.

I've also got a pergola where I can hang a few bundles on the side that is always shady.  You just want to make sure they aren't where pests like spiders or moths will want to set up house, because these stalks will need to stay outside and cure for at least 2-3 weeks.

In the past, I've braided and brought my garlic indoors when the stalks are almost all fully brown and there's very little green left.  I'm learning that's a mistake, as I've found mold in some of my bulbs.  That means they weren't fully dried when I brought them in.  This year, I plan to leave them outside in their breezy, shady spots until I don't see any signs of green at all.  That should be the ticket.

I'll come back in a few weeks and show you that process once I'm there.  But for now, it's just a waiting game.  If you are out of garlic and want to steal a bulb, it's absolutely ready to eat now!  The drying/curing process is only if your goal is to cure the bulbs so they'll last you through the year.