Garlic Harvest Timing

Excellent. I’m surprised they haven’t shriveled up. Mine start rotting in May/June when storage room temperatures in 70s. The ones that didn’t rot where shriveled and dry. I did plant a few of them in June and they grew.

I find they dry down more thoroughly and keep much better if you leave the leaves on. Quality is also a bit higher, as the leaves have time to finish transferring their nutrients to the bulbs. With my shallots and onions, I tend to get more rot if I get impatient and trim the tops before they’re 100% dry. As for hosing down, I don’t think it’s a problem if you have dry air and excellent air circulation from the start. However, I find that to be more work than brushing off the soil once the garlic is cured. An old toothbrush makes short work of the soil and the outermost skins.

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My wife is the garlic grower of the family, but I help. She was just chased inside with two trays of silver skin varieties of garlic by a close crack of lightning.

She started harvesting early varieties (Turbans and Asiatics) about a month ago. We’ve been selling new garlics at our farmers market for three weeks.


They’ve been selling well, and the boxes haven’t been replenished yet.

Musics arrived at market last week. It is not my wife’s favorite variety, but we made several people very happy.

We never start planting garlic until farmer market is over, so our planting season is from November through December. Many years, fortunately not this past one, we are still planting into February.

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I would say by May, about 30% of the cloves are not ideal. The don’t get rotten, just shrivel up a little. Maybe the old timers knew what they were doing by leaving the leaves on and letting them dry more slowly.

ok.

I guess these universities are doing them wrong also?

Univ of Maine cuts them off just like i did.

Stems may be cut before or after curing.

The Old Farmers Almanac says to not trim the roots, nor wash the bulbs nor cut the tops.

So I find that there is clearly two ways to do it… with the caveat being ‘quality’…which i have no idea how that would be measured.

My way is the novice way and its pretty easy. I feel confident my quality will be good enough for me. So far the quality is far far better than grocery store chinese garlic.

mine are about ready. i leave them dirty with the leaves on and dry them like that. once dry i cut the tops / roots off and peel a layer to remove dirt. i store them in onion bags in my spare room and i always still have enough left to replant in the spring. love homemade garlic powder. my favorite variety is Georgia fire.

Garlic isn’t all the same. For some early varieties we grow 3-5 months is their limit. Some of our best storage varieties last beyond 12 months in good enough condition to sell (for half price).

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I agree Lodidian, as hardneck doesn’t last as long although far superior in flavor. Some will only last a few months. Others around 9 months. Anything that lasts longer than that is probably a soft neck. I’m also in southeastern Michigan. I harvested two weeks ago. Perfect timing they were ready.
I also like to weave my garlic. I wish I could weave the hardnecks but it seems impossible

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We had a great garlic harvest this year. My wife also made scape butter earlier in the season :yum:

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my father used to braid his hardneck by wrapping twine over the leaves. looks a little different but same idea. i just put mine in bunches of 5 just tied around the stem at the same length. they still dry just fine.

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that’s how I do- big needle sticking up with twine hanging down. I thread through the neck, alternating, then end by wrapping the twine around itself to the bottom and back up and making a loop.

I dry them with about 6 inches of leaves left on to get the twine through.

I let the tallest ones make full scapes and flower and plant those bulbils. then those heads I harvest last, they are splitting usually. I keep those cold and dry until October and replant them. they’re usually the biggest ones if they’re the tallest when the scapes show up.

I don’t grow soft neck so can’t be sure about that. but this way I get full heads on year 2, single clove year one, in a cycle. (I leave the first-years garlic from the scapes, in the ground for 2 winters)

the chosen scapes this year. this was last week or so, I finished pulling it all this morning.

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That’s cool I may try that. Cut off scapes left alone sometimes just keep growing. I could use them for seed.

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I often have scapes that shatter and self seed - I end up with volunteer garlics popping up here and there.

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Hey, you do you. I’m just reporting what works for me. I also know that my evaluation of “better quality” is highly subjective and almost certainly biased.

Have you tried any of the artichoke softnecks? Some of them, such as Kettle River Giant, Inchellium Red, and Lorz Italian are the equal of the best rocambole hardnecks, at least as grown by me in Kansas and New England. They only keep a little longer, though. The silverskins are the best keepers by far, but those aren’t as flavorful.

We have an abandoned garden bed with a sea of volunteer garlics.

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i got to start clipping the flowers off my chives. they have spread everywhere…

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We braid our hard necks. They aren’t as elegant as the soft necks, but it works well. Need strong hands to bend them and keep them tight. These are all hard neck:

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I will have to try it sometime. Do you wet them or anything else to help them conform to the weave?

@jcguarneri I have not tried artichoke types. If I remember correctly they didn’t sound like a good fit for my area. I may have to try them anyway.
I do grow silver skins as they can get almost as big as hardnecks here. Flavor not as good but it’s still garlic and very decent. Great shelf life for sure.

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that’s my system. they’re seed for the crop, year after next. they only make one large clove the first year from the bulbil.

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