Harvesting this Year's Garlic
Here at my Bedford, New York farm, my gardeners are busy picking the season’s garlic.
Determining when garlic is ready to harvest can be tricky. If it’s harvested too soon, the cloves are small and underdeveloped. If harvested too late, the clove heads begin to separate, making them more vulnerable to decay. The real indicator is the plant itself - when the bottom leaves have turned brown, and the top leaves are still green. Garlic is divided into two categories - the supermarket variety, softneck, which produces long-lasting bulbs with many cloves around a soft center stem, and hardneck, which are noted for their stiff central stalk, fewer cloves, relatively short shelf life, and intriguingly complex flavors. All our varieties are from Keene Garlic, a family-owned farm in Wisconsin.
Enjoy these photos.
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- This is a photo of the garlic bed just several weeks ago. This patch is located behind my main greenhouse not far from my berry bushes. Garlic loves a rich fertile loam soil or a silty loam soil. It also grows best in an area that drains well – the cloves can rot if they sit in water or mud.
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- The scapes were cut in late June when the center stalks were completely formed and curled ends were growing above the rest of the plants.
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- Garlic scapes are the flower buds of the garlic plants. They’re ready about a month before the actual garlic bulbs. Scapes are delicious and can be used just like garlic.
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- Once the top of the garlic plant begins to die back, it is ready to pick. We waited for a dry day to harvest – this allows the soil to dry out, helps to prevent rot, and makes it much easier to pull the stalks and bulbs from the ground. The main harvest time is usually late July through mid-August.
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- Garlic bulbs are several inches deep, so Ryan loosens the soil first with a pitchfork. He does this about six inches from each bulb to avoid puncturing it.
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- Ryan, Gavin, and Zoe loosened all the garlic first before pulling them from the ground.
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- Each garlic is pulled out carefully from the base of the leaves so that the head comes out completely. I love to experiment with the different types to see what grows best in my garden.
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- We use individual plastic trays, so the varieties can be kept separate for identification. We planted 28 varieties of garlic last autumn.
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- Blackie watches all the activity from a shady spot under a nearby pawpaw tree.
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- Each garlic plant is pulled out and lined up in neat rows.
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- This is Pehoski Purple-Marbled Purple Stripe – a hardneck that’s hot when eaten raw and more mild and earthy in taste after it is cooked. This is an heirloom garlic variety grown in the Polish community in Wisconsin. It’s also an all-purpose variety that’s great for baking and sautéing.
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- Majestic-Porcelain is easy to grow, hardy and easy to peel with a mild flavor. The middle Northern White-Porcelain garlic is full-flavored, robust, hot and spicy. It also stores well and for long periods of time. And on the right, Romanian Red Porcelain garlic, which is best for medicinal purposes because it is high in allicin. It is known to be very hot with a tanginess that tends to linger.
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- Here is Zoe picking one head of Elephant garlic. Elephant garlic is actually not a true garlic, but a variety of garden leek. It has a tall, solid, flowering stalk and broad, flat leaves much like those of the leek, but forms a bulb consisting of very large, garlic-like cloves. Jumbo-sized Elephant garlic will have about eight to 11 cloves depending on the size.
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- Purple Glazier – Purple Stripe has a strong lasting flavor, but not hot and with no aftertaste. This variety is a great grower for us here in Bedford.
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- Look at this pair. The garlic on the top still has a scape. If the garlic scapes are not pulled from the plant, the garlic’s energy continues to go to the flower.
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- Here is a closer look at the flower bud of the scape.
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- There’s no need to wash garlic – the point is to dry them out; however, they can be cleaned and trimmed.
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- As each garlic head is removed from the soil, Ryan brushes off any debris and dirt from the bulb and the roots.
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- Ryan then cuts off the top of the garlic leaving about a three to four-inch stalk.
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- Trimming the brown stalks makes it easier to store and keeps them neat and uniform.
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- Ryan then trims all the roots at the bottom of the garlic head.
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- Ryan is wearing my garden gloves from my collection on QVC. We all love these Non-Slip gloves – they are so comfortable to wear for all the yard and garden chores.
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- Gavin shows the green leaves that can be left intact during the curing process. The bulb continues to draw energy from the leaves until all the moisture evaporates. And notice the bag underneath – it’s one of my Multi-Purpose Garden Totes. These bags come in handy for everything – also from my collection on QVC.
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- Once it is all picked, the garlic is placed in the back of our Polaris Ranger ready to transport to my carport, where they can cure for a few weeks.
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- My carport has good ventilation and overhead protection from any rain. Once the garlic is cured, Ryan will set aside the most beautiful heads with the biggest cloves to use as garlic seeds next season. Well-cured, well-wrapped garlic bulbs will keep six to eight months or longer. The best storage temperature for garlic is between 60 and 70 degrees Fahrenheit, with low humidity at about 60-percent – and never store garlic in the refrigerator. I will soon have lots of garlic to use and share.
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