Removing the flower head allows energy to enlarge the bulb rather then growing the flower bulbils so just clip off the scape above the leaves.
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But I donāt suggest to cut it open, just pull the scapes out. Last year, I cut some open and they did not look pretty when all the leaves were not supported and on the ground. So I found the new way to pull it out on the web.
I know. I tried to pull it out with a small cut at lower end, but it still break right at or below the last leaf. I want the whole tender stock so I have cut it open.
If you let them go to seed its a nightmare the following year. Iāve had little garlics sprouting everywhere all spring after i let a few go to seed last summer. I removed a couple dozen bigger bulbs this afternoon. Probably a little early but some were very good sized (these were from cloves i planted last fall).
I noticed the tips of the hardneck leaves are turning brown, getting there. On an unrelated note, my potatoes have flowers, all is progressing along nicely. Itās raining now, so tomorrow I will spray my tomatoes with a fungicide. So far this year they are super clean, no infections, very unusual here. Often septoria is on some by now, good news, bigger harvest!
On your unrelated noteā¦my potatoes have/had flowers and now have small tomato-like fruit which I pulled off. Donāt recall them getting to that point before. Maybe Iām late on harvesting (?)
I donāt know that much about potatoes, but usually I harvest after the plant begins to die. They do seem close though! @BobVance always grows potatoes, so letās see what he says?
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Drewļ¼the garlic you gave to me grows so wellļ¼It is 2 and half feet tall and thick stemćnever had garlic grown so wellćthanks again for the bulbćwhen you pull yoursļ¼let me know so I can follow your harvest schedule ć
Do you think iām early??? some of the bulbs were very big. I had some browning of the leaves. I really just wanted them out of my flower bed (yes.i grow them in my flower beds!)>
This might be about 50%ā¦ i have a bed dedicated to just garlic, but this was all roaming my flower beds (and there is still more)
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Drew, thatās usually what I do as well. Though I will sometimes sneak a few potatoes out a bit early if I want them for dinner. Itās also great fun for the kids (digging for buried potato/treasure).
I read through a few of the earlier posts and though I donāt grow garlic (only spice/seasoning I like is saltā¦ 
), I think I may be able to apply the idea of removing most of the fruit to encourage bigger roots. Though Iāll probably leave a few fruit, as I actually want some to plant for next year.
Hereās a couple new potato beds I dug this past winter/spring. One I just finished and planted a few days ago, so the potatoes arenāt even breaking the surface yet. Anneās are way ahead of mine! Right around when I planted one, I mulched the other one with straw.
Along the left hand side is a new row of Euro plums (Anna Spath, Gras Romanesc, Ersinger, and Late Muscatelle) and a very overgrown playground.
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Whoa Bob. I really like the way you used those those logs to line your beds. I need to have some VERY tall pines removed and maybe will be able to get some thick branches suitable for lining some of the perennial beds. I have to grow root crops in large landscape pots or in protected beds (using hardware cloth) because of the mole/vole population.
Anne, one thing to keep in mind is that they will eventually get mushy and need replacement (maybe 5 years). But, in the meantime it works reasonably well. One thing I like to do is wack the grass to the dirt for a few inches from the logs when I first set it up. It will eventually come back, but it is always more work to trim along beds, so if I can keep the grass away from the edge for a while Iām happy.
I remembered one other thing about timing the harvest. While waiting for the plant to die back usually works, it didnāt do very well for one of the red varieties I grew last year (Mountain Rose or Adirondak Red, Iām not sure which). Most of them rotted by the time I dug them up. Iām not sure how much earlier I would have had to harvest for them to be OK. But, this was the exception, as I donāt remember it happening with any others last year or before.
Re potatoes:
In shorter growing season areas (like mine), flowers on the potatoes is usually the signal that you can start stealing an early potato or two from the plants, but not that they are done producing by a long shot. I usually wait until the tops get killed by frost and then dig a week or two later, as weather permits.
Sure, but Iām not that positive if I will get it right! Last year I harvested on July 21st. I think it was slightly late? I assume I sent you the Wisconsin heirloom? And some misc. cloves too. I had a lot of these heirloom bulbs sent to me. Iām not really sure when this one matures? First time for me too. I wish I knew what type of hardneck as maturity times vary by group.
Once the tops of the plants start to die back, I stop watering.This is happening now I noticed it Monday the 13th. When the leaves start to decline, hold off on water. When the lower leaves start to brown, it usually is time to harvest. I dig one or two up and look at them.[quote=āwarmwxrules, post:69, topic:1050ā]
Do you think iām early???
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It looks a little early as the lower leaves look ok, but the tops are brown, so not that early! As long as the bulb chamber is full of clove, youāre good! Man you have a lot of garlic there! I donāt have room for that many! Maybe I should put them in the flower garden! I bet I eat that much or more a year. Nice haul!
Last year I grew in containers. I dumped the soil in a raised bed. This spring while landscaping the bed for planting of onions, I found a small potato that I missed. I stored it inside till plant out and planted it and it grew. You could put onions in really early so it was early in the spring when I found the potato. So I would think the rot is something not normal.That potato I found was outside all winter, maybe a few inches under the soil. I was thinking that may be the way to store potatoes for seed.
Red Sun, Trustme, you donāt want to go there!
Actually, I often have potatoes come up on their own. So the small potatoes overwinter just fine under the ground. The rot was a bit unusual, but maybe something to watch for if you are growing something susceptible.
I switched a large bed from potatoes to tomatoes this year, as my wife wasnāt happy with last yearās scant tomato production (I donāt like them, so I wasnāt bothered ). I couldnāt resist letting the volunteer potatoes come back. So when I added the straw for the tomatoes, I just mulched it around the potatoes too, which are almost as numerous as the tomatoesā¦
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Thanks Bob for your thoughts. I wanted to add The fruit from potatoes I think is not good and should not be eaten as the plant is in the nightshade family. I heard they can fruit, but never seen it.
Nice thread.
I also grow Music, plant in late Oct after the 1st good frost, mulch well and forget about them until mid May when scapes appear. I tried the āpullingā of the scapes (it makes a nice popping sound) but found no advantage for me above just pruning them out. They are great in stir frys. Then 4 weeks after scapes appear I look for any browning of the leaves and then harvest in the next harvest āsignā. There is no advantage to waiting as the crop is finished and going to reproduce itself which means the bulbs will split - not good for storage. Iāve scaled back from prior years after learning how much we use in a year (plus enough for next years āseedā).
Potatoes, on the other hand, are not clear about when they are ādoneā. I grow Bintje. When the vines look tired, I look for the next harvest sign and then see a bunch of new growth in the axils and decide to wait. Each year we learn more and do it better. I just used our last jar of canned potatoes from last year for dinner last night. So good.
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I have too much. I plan on giving away what i can. We really donāt consume that much garlic. I like growing it though.
Its nice the flower beds, because it gives green very early in the season. Iāll try to keep some of the bigger bulbs to plant for fall.
Everything seems early this yearā¦or so it seems.