Expert Tips for Harvesting Garlic
When it comes to gardening, growing garlic is one of my favorite crops because you can plant it in the fall and then harvest your own garlic in the summer. When planted in the fall, garlic is ready for harvesting in July, where I live.
Garlic, although hardy and adaptable, differs in harvest times depending on your gardening zone.
Luckily, I have the answer as to how to identify when garlic is ready to harvest. Soon, you’ll have flavorful, robust garlic bulbs ready for however you utilize them.
As you look out for two or three of the dying, protective leaves paired with one or two healthy leaves, you can determine that your garlic is ready for harvest.
The dead leaves signal that the bulb has reached, or is close to reaching, maturity.
Let’s take a look at more specifics of when to harvest, how to harvest, and some other garlic tips that are essential for your garden.
Ready for the best garlic harvest ever? Keep reading to learn more!
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How Do You Know When Garlic is Ready to Pick?
Depending on your gardening zone, your garlic might be ready to harvest either sooner or later than in other gardening zones. Therefore, it’s important not to take general “calendar harvesting” tips.
Here is a brief list of characteristics to determine whether or not your garlic is ready to harvest.
Keep an eye on the garlic scapes (tender stems that look similar to green onions). Once they begin to form a spiral, your garlic is about a month away from being ready to harvest. Harvesting garlic before this point will be pointless.
To harvest the scapes, simply cut at the base to help reserve growing energy for the bulb itself. You can make some delicious recipes from the scapes if you desire!
After about a month, the lower leaves will start to brown and die while other leaves still look green and healthy. When half the protective leaves have died and half still looks okay, then it is time to harvest.
The key is to look for those dead leaves near the base of the plant. For more information and a visual example of when to determine harvest time, check out this video:
What Month is Garlic Harvested?
Usually, garlic is planted between the fall months of September to November.
Harvest time typically occurs during the summer months of June to August.
Remember, this also depends on your gardening zone, but the “plant in fall, harvest in summer” guide remains true.
How to Harvest Garlic: Step by Step
Now that you know what to look out for to know when your garlic is ready, let’s take a look at step-by-step instructions on how to harvest your garlic.
Do Not Pull
We know it may be tempting, but do not pull up your garlic from the stem. Yanking the garlic out of the soil from the stem will damage the roots. Additionally, it might affect the curing process as well.
That being said, if you notice that your bulb is a little separated, the garlic will not have as long of a store period as fully intact bulbs. Make sure to use that bulb first when curing.
Use a Gardening Fork or Small Shovel
When you prepare to harvest, it is best to wait until the soil is on the drier side since garlic is a bit more difficult to harvest than onions.
Once the soil is dry, take a gardening fork or small shovel and gently dig around the bulb, feeling for the roots, and loosening the soil.
After digging around, carefully remove the bulb from the soil. You will hear the roots dislodge from the soil when you lift the bulb.
Brush Off Soil
Instead of washing off the soil from the bulb with water, brush off the soil with your fingers or a soft brush. We will cover how “washing off” garlic can shorten the storing period for the garlic.
How to Tell When Garlic is Ready to Harvest
While keeping in mind that garlic is generally ready to harvest from the beginning of June to August (refer to your gardening zone for specifics), identify when some of the leaves (usually two or three) have died and one or more of the other base leaves still have green.
If the leaves exhibit those characteristics, your garlic is ready to harvest.
When to Stop Watering Your Garlic
When the leaves start browning - about one to two weeks before harvest - that is when you should stop watering your garlic.
If you water too much before harvest, you increase the chance of root rot or other diseases.
How Do You Dry Garlic After Harvesting?
Curing, the process of daring moisture out of the plant for food preservation and/or flavor procurement, is essential to harvesting and storing garlic.
Find the Right Environment
Garlic needs to dry in a cool, dry place out of direct sunlight. You can tie the garlic with the roots and stems still attached to the bulb and hang or set them on racks. Ensure that there is good ventilation wherever you place or hang the garlic.
It will take a few weeks for the garlic to dry. When the outside shell becomes papery and a little shriveled, that is a good indication of your garlic being thoroughly dried.
Once dried, trim the roots to the bulb and use a soft brush to get rid of the extra dirt. Then, you can trim the stems about an inch or two from the bulb and store the garlic.
You can also bake the garlic, but letting the garlic dry in a well-ventilated area will reduce room for error.
Can You Eat Garlic Immediately After Harvesting?
Yes, you can eat garlic immediately after harvesting. However, the garlic won’t store well if you break open the cloves. This is why some farmers prefer to cure the garlic to extend their storing periods.
Should You Wash Garlic After Harvesting?
Do not wash garlic after harvesting. This will affect the curing process and will increase the risk of mold.
If you plan on eating the head of garlic right away, you can rinse off the garlic, but we recommend not washing your garlic.
Storing Garlic
If your garlic head is broken, the garlic will last about 10 days. However, if the garlic head is whole, it will last for about six months under the right conditions.
Here are a few tips to help you store garlic so that it remains fresh.
Garlic is best stored in a cool (60-65 degrees Fahrenheit), dark place within a mesh bag. If you do not have a mesh bag, it is okay to store garlic open and free-standing.
If you want to store peeled garlic cloves, the best way to store them is in a plastic bag and a refrigerator so as to not leave them open to the elements in their surrounding environment.
Replanting Garlic Cloves That You Harvested
Here are a few tips for replanting garlic bulbs so that you can enjoy harvesting garlic for years to come!
Garlic Bulbs
To replant garlic cloves, ensure the whole bulb is still intact one to two days before replanting. Then, you can pull apart the cloves and plant cloves individually. You can save seed cloves for a full season to make planting garlic in the spring more convenient.
In addition, it is best to select the biggest and healthiest bulbs to replant to encourage healthier bulb growth.
You can aslo plant garlic seed instead of using the garlic bulb, but it is much easier to grow garlic from small bulbs than it is from seed.
Location
You can plant the garlic cloves in a raised bed or a garden bed. Growing garlic does not require a ton of maintenance, so choose whichever location is convenient for you.
Prepping the Area
Rake the soil smooth to prepare the soil for the cloves. Additionally, make sure to plan to plant the garlic cloves at least six inches apart and three inches below the surface.
Care
If you need to protect your garlic during the winter months, make sure to mulch the bed to keep the garlic warm. Remember to remove the mulch as the temperatures begin to climb.
As for the soil, garlic needs well-drained soil as this plant does not require a ton of water to survive and flourish. Additionally, they prefer a more acidic soil ranging from 6.0-7.0.
If you are in a rainy season, garlic does not need watering. If the rain is not consistent, water as you observe if the soil is drying. Remember to stop watering one to two weeks before harvest.
Watering is not necessary for the winter but will be necessary for the spring (every three to five days) if it does not rain a lot.
Best Varieties of Garlic to Grow and Harvest
There are a few varieties of garlic you can grow. Each of them has slightly different requirements in terms of the harvest.
Softneck
Softneck garlic varieties are most commonly found in grocery stores. This variety has smaller cloves.
There are two primary types of softneck garlic: silverskin and artichoke. Both types are known for how many cloves they produce which is about 40 or more cloves per bulb. These types also have a more traditional garlic taste that fits well with most recipes.
Warmer climates cultivate a more preferable growing environment for softneck varieties.
Hardneck
Hardneck garlic varieties, in contrast to softneck, have fewer cloves to a bulb (about twelve) but have much more complex and impactful flavors.
Types of hardneck garlic include the following: Rocambole, Asiatic, Turban, Creole, porcelain, and more. These garlic types can have pungent, spicy, or other unique flavors not present in the softneck variety.
If you live in a climate where the winters are harsher, hardneck garlic varieties will be better suited for you.
In all, both varieties can adapt well to their environment. If you are deciding between the two, it comes down to the climate you live in, the productivity of the garlic, and the flavor you want to utilize.
When Do Different Varieties of Garlic Mature?
Hardneck garlic varieties will begin to grow scapes four to six weeks before maturity. After you harvest garlic scapes, the garlic will reach full maturity about a month after.
Softneck varieties will take at least six months to reach full bulb size with softer scapes.
When to Harvest Garlic Scapes
As you keep an eye on the scapes, make sure that they start to spiral before harvesting them. With softneck varieties, there is a lack of structure to the scapes, but they will slightly curl around harvest time.
What Happens if You Harvest Garlic Too Early?
If you harvest garlic too early, it is not the end of the world.
However, the garlic will not store as well as it would have if you stored it on time. Additionally, the cloves will be smaller.
There’s nothing wrong with tiny cloves - unless you’re expecting a massive garlic crop - but they may not be as worth your time.
Should I Let My Garlic Flower?
Although you can, technically, let your garlic flower, we do not recommend it. Leaving your garlic to flower will take energy away from the bulb, affecting its maturity process and the flavor it produces.
We recommend not letting your garlic flower and cutting the scapes as soon as they start to produce flower stems.
Final Thoughts
Garlic is one of the most adaptable, hardy plants out there. Though care differs from different gardening zones, they are low-maintenance plants that produce great flavor.
Make sure to look out for the dying green leaves around the base of the stems to identify when the garlic is ready to be harvested. In addition, when it is time to harvest garlic, make sure to gently remove the bulb from the soil with a shovel or gardening fork.
Yanking the plant from the soil will affect the curing process (should you choose to do so) and will need to be used quickly after harvest.
After you harvest garlic, you can eat the cloves straight out of the ground or cure them for a few weeks (or however long it takes for the protective skin to become papery and shriveled). When curing, feel free to tie them together and hang them or lay them on a rack with good ventilation.
Now, you can research which variety of garlic you want: softneck or hardneck. If you are looking for a more impactful flavor, hardneck is right for you. If you want a more traditional flavor and more cloves, softneck is right for you.
Keep in mind, that hardneck varieties have sturdier garlic scapes. In other words, they will form a more solidified spiral when it comes close to harvest time.
On the other hand, softneck varieties have softer garlic scapes and will only curl slightly when it comes time to harvest garlic.
Whether you are planting garlic for food, medicinal purpose, or for sale, have fun picking out softneck or hardneck varieties of garlic! Research your gardening zone if you would like specifics on when and how to grow the garlic you choose.
There you have it! Everything you need to know about growing garlic and garlic harvests. Take the time to make sure your planted garlic has matured before you harvest it. Whether you grow seed garlic or garlic for your own consumption, these tips should make it easier to figure out the right harvest time and how to maintain your garlic stores.
What tips do you have for the garlic harvest? Let me know in the comments below - and be sure to add planting garlic to your list of gardening tasks this fall.
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