Garlic

[Big-Al]

About another month to go for mine.

[Grainbelt]

What signs do you look for to know they are ready?

[Big-Al]

The scapes or flower stalks have not appeared on mine yet. (not all varieties have them) I wait until the scapes curl and then cut them near the base. These are tremendous for sauteing and used for any number of dishes. After these appear and and are cut the bulbs really seem to start to develop. I will also look the bottom 2 or 3 pairs of leaves to die back. Once that happens I will sample a couple of bulbs to see if they have filled out completely. By this time I will be using some of the new bulbs anyway so I will have a good idea of the maturity.

One piece of advice is to dig and not pull garlic. The roots need to stay attached in order for it to cure properly. If you pull it you will lose a lot of the root system.

Do a search on "growing garlic in Minnesota". The U of M extension service has a great paper on the subject of growing garlic. The following is a excerpt on harvesting.

Quote:

Harvesting and Curing

Knowing when to harvest has always been a tricky. In general, garlic harvest in Minnesota usually extends from the second week of July through the first week in August in the northern half of the state and late June through mid July in the southern half. Different varieties will mature at different times. In general, garlic varieties mature in the following order from early to late: Tuban, Asiatic, Artichoke, Rocambole, Creole, Glazed Purple Stripe, Purple Stripe, Marbled Purple Stripe, Porcelain, and Silverskin. A span of three to four weeks can take place from the earliest to latest harvest. Harvesting too early will result in small bulbs that do not store well. Harvesting too late will force the cloves to pop out of the skins, making them susceptible to disease and resulting in unmarketable bulbs. There are a couple of procedures that can be used to determine when to harvest: 1) by late June to mid July the lower leaves will start to brown and harvest is usually optimum when half or slightly more than half of the leaves remain green, 2) pull a few bulbs and cut them in half; if the cloves fill the skins, then the bulbs are ready to harvest.

To harvest, the bulbs should be dug with the shoots and roots still attached. At this point there is some controversy about whether the bulbs should be washed. If the soil is not wet at harvest or if the garlic is grown on sandy soils, it is generally not necessary to wash the bulbs. However for finer textured soils that are wet, some growers have found it is easiest to wash the bulbs the day of harvest and then allow them to cure for a few weeks. There is some concern that washing the bulbs may lead to more storage diseases, but this has not been observed in Minnesota. For bulbs that are not washed after harvest, the procedure is to let the plants cure for three to four weeks and then brush the soil off after curing. This latter approach is less time-consuming in the short run, but more time-consuming in the long run if there is a lot of soil adhering to the bulbs.

Whether bulbs are washed or unwashed, the plants should be tied in bundles of 10 to 15 and allowed to dry in a well-ventilated room. After about three to four weeks of curing, the shoots and roots should have dried down. The tops should then be cut about one-half to one inch above the main bulb and roots should be trimmed close to the base of the bulb. Clean bulbs by removing the outermost skins, being careful not to expose any cloves. Any remaining soil should be brushed away. Bulbs can be graded into the following diameter sizes: <2 inches, 2 to 2.5 inches, 2.5 to 3 inches, and >3 inches. Premium bulbs are those 2.5 inches and larger.

[Grainbelt]

Thanks Big-Al. The scapes have not appeared on my plants yet either.

[SkunkedAgain]

My scapes are definitely in and just noticed that the bottom leaves are browning. Harvest time can't be too far away.

[Big-Al]

I removed most of my scapes today. I also have quite a few plants with the lower leaves dieing back. Other plants have all the leaves green and healthy. I pulled a few to take a look and several had root maggots and/or root rot. Not a huge surprise with the cold wet spring that we had. I am just hoping that it doesn't get any worse.

[SkunkedAgain]

Since this is my first garlic crop, I'm going to cut off a few of the scapes but not all. I used half of a scape in my scrambled eggs yesterday morning. Good flavor but they were a little hard. I then used the other scape and a half in my pizza sauce for dinner last night. Outstanding!

[SkunkedAgain]

My babies are blooming!

[Steve Foss]

BTW, we did not harvest any of the scapes when they were young and forming, but just now opened one up. They are harder, and about the size of a golf ball. Each tiny seed within the head is redolent with garlic flavor, so we are sauteing the seeds from one plant in butter to add to tonight's wild rice/venison/mushroom casserole.

[Big-Al]

I have harvested a few bulbs here and there since I just could not resist. I still have some that are perfectly good from last year. Last year by this time I had harvested the full crop, but am letting these go a little longer. I am thinking I will dig next week or the week after. They are looking (and tasting) wonderful.

[Steve Foss]

I've got only one or two leaves/spears withering near the base of each plant, so I'm a little farther out, but surely will be harvesting within a couple weeks.

[goblueM]

just fyi for those with scapes still... try making garlic scape pesto. it is AMAZING.

tons of recipes on the internet

[Big-Al]

Yes, we (or I best give credit to my better half) have made a few batches of pesto. WOW, if you like garlic it is fabulous. And I mean you MUST LIKE garlic, not just a casual user.

[SkunkedAgain]

I know that you said there are a ton out there, but anyone want to post one of their scape-pesto recipes? I'll make it this weekend.

[Down Deep]

I've got only one or two leaves/spears withering near the base of each plant, so I'm a little farther out, but surely will be harvesting within a couple weeks.

Foss, I'm just getting into the gardening thing. Live in the Duluth area on top of the hill so it is a bit warmer then by the big lake. I like strong garlic flavor. What's a good one for us up north.

[Steve Foss]

I'm on my first season with German extra hardy, which is what the local greenhouse had on hand last fall. It's growing great, but until I harvest and use some, I won't be able to give a worthwhile report.

While I've been gardening for a gazillion years, it's the first garlic I've ever grown. So far so good!

[Big-Al]

Well, with the forecast for 2-3 inches of rain tonight I decided to go ahead and harvest my German Red. I did not have quite the number of cured leaves that I would like to see but I still think it is ready. I am 10 days beyond last year and that really kept well. I still have garlic from last year that is perfectly good. I got a good solid 3" average on the size. There were very few culls. A very nice crop indeed.

I can't seem to locate the pesto recipe that that wife used. She just pulled it off the internet.

[SkunkedAgain]

I couldn't wait so I found a few and made my own:

- I cut to scapes with flowers, chopped them, and put in the food processor

- I cut up a few cloves of store-bought garlic as well and pulsed everything

- I grabbed a stalk of basil and put all of the leaves in there

- I dumped in a bunch of olive oil, some salt, and a lot of Parmesan cheese

I pureed everything and then added some more olive oil to make it a little saucier. The result was excellent. My wife got a garlic hangover but I'm used to that amount of garlic overload. Next time I'll have to let it mellow for her, or just use less (gasp!) garlic.

[SkunkedAgain]

I dug out a row of garlic last night and they were pretty small....about 1/2 to 3/4 the size that I expected. See the pic below compared to a store-bought elephant garlic:

Below is a shot of how the remaining garlic plants look. My question is whether these are as big as they'll get or do I need to let them grow longer?

[mainbutter]

We dug up our garlic, but it didn't do anywhere near as well as last year. One of our varieties did all right, but the four others all were kinda shrimpy in size.

[Big-Al]

SkunkedAgain-

Sitting aside a store bought elephant garlic may not be a very good comparison especially when it isn't really garlic. I believe it is more closely related to a leek if I am not mistaken. What variety is in the picture? Some are just inherently smaller bulbs. My German Red averaged a bit over 3 inches. How big is that one shown?

My plants were about two feet tall or so with lots of leaves. Your plants look a bit spindly but maybe it is just because they have died back. I do think I have had smaller bulbs when I haven't cut the scapes so I just cut all of them now.

[Steve Foss]

SA, one thing I see in your second pic is an awful lot of grass/weeds competing with the garlic for nutrients and moisture.

I'm no garlic expert, but with other plants I've spent decades growing, if you cut off the flowers, you put more growth energy into roots/leaves. Makes sense in that context to cut the shoots before they develop into scapes. Any garlic experts have input on that?

[SkunkedAgain]

Yeah, admittedly I'm no gardener. I went out about 4 weeks ago and hand-pulled every weed and blade of grass around the garlic but probably should have done a better job!

I'm not sure what the garlic variety was, so I'll have to take better notes this fall. The only thing that I remember is that the garlic was purple and it was bigger than the bulbs that I got.

I'll have to improve a few things for next year. I might as well pull up the rest of my garlic this weekend.

[Big-Al]

Quote:

Maybe we'll all have to trade garlic out on Vermilion later this summer!

Hey SkunkedAgain-

I'm not sure a meet on Vermilion is going to work out but I would still like to do a swap if you want to. Shoot me an email at bigal at arrowheadtel dot net and let's see if we can work something out. Anyone else want to do a trade for some German Red?

[SkunkedAgain]

Honestly, I'm a bit ashamed of my garlic. It really lake flavor and is mostly about the size of a golf ball. I'll have to work on weeding my garden next year!