Harvesting Garlic

[Grainbelt]

I planted garlic cloves for the first time last year. I let them go till this year. They now have flower bulbs. When is the right time to dig them up?

[fishwater]

I'm holding off on the majority of mine, but usually years past I'm harvesting this week. The rule of thumb is that you need 4-5 green leaves for the bulb to have a decent paper when cured. That means you usually pull them with 3-4 brown/dead leaves from the bottom of the plant. Pull some out and see if the cloves are formed and have paper formed around them. If the cloves have non-white/translucent paper you're pretty much good to go, with it being so dry there really isn't a chance they will pop their wrappers unless you over water. I have 9 types that I grow, one is harvestable right now IMO.

Also, the flowers or scapes should be snapped off. You get better bulb size. If you leave the scapes on during the curing process research has shown that it will store longer. So if you leave them on, you have that going for you.