Harvesting

Dry Garlic Harvest for Storage

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After harvesting the garlic plants from the garden, what’s next? Drying, of course, and prepping for storage.

The garlic plants were moved into the garage late in the day they were harvested to protect them from rain and the morning dew. We’re trying to dry out the plants so any moisture isn’t good at this stage.

Garlic plants were dug up and laid out on a sheet to dry in the shade for part of the day. By having the plants on a sheet it made it easy to transport them easily into the garage. The ends of the sheet were gathered into a big bundle for carrying and just as easily unfurled on the work bench in the garage. Sheets helped to contain the dirt and loose leaves, too.

The garlic was laid out in mostly a single layer to dry some more. The plants were adjusted here and there for a couple of weeks so that all plants would dry out.

After about two weeks time the outer leaves were stripped away and the tops cut back to 6-8 inches long. The plants were left to dry again.

About a week later another set of outer leaves were stripped from the bulbs so that a white outer layer remained and the dirt removed. Roots were trimmed with scissors and the tops or hard necks were trimmed down to 2-3 inches long. The bulbs were laid on planting trays for continued curing.

Do you think we have enough garlic to share? You bet!
Do you think we have enough garlic to share? You bet!

Any of the cloves that were exposed to the air were either taken into the kitchen to be used soon or poked into the garlic patch in the garden.

An improvement we could make for next year would be to selectively pull some of the small garlic plants that come up so that other bulbs would be able to grow larger. A more uniform harvest would be possible if each garlic plant had a little more room to grow. Any of the pulled sprouts could be cooked to our delight. Anyone for tasty broiled garlic sprouts?

We did harvest a few big bulbs of garlic, but most of the harvested garlic bulbs ranged in size from small to big.
We did harvest a few big bulbs of garlic, but most of the harvested garlic bulbs ranged in size from small to big.

Now, we’re looking forward to cooking with all that garlic!

Harvest Garlic in the Heat of Summer

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Garlic and onions in fried potatoes served with a few slices of garden fresh tomatoes makes a breakfast fit for a queen. It makes the whole house smell good, too. Potatoes and rice always seem better with a little garlic thrown in there.

We’re not talking about powdered garlic or dehydrated flakes of garlic. Only real garlic cloves will give the strong flavor and aroma that we seek.

If you like garlic as much as we do, then you really should be growing your own. It doesn’t take much effort to grow garlic and once it’s established you’ll likely have it forever.

Once the heat of summer is upon the garden garlic bulbs start maturing. They may send up a strong central stalk with a flowering head that will produce several baby garlic bulblets. The bulblets can be planted as can the cloves from the underground bulbs.

Cut off the flowering stalk before the flowers develop so that the plant’s energy will go into producing bigger garlic bulbs in the ground instead of tiny bulblets in the air.

The trick in growing garlic that will store well is to harvest it at the right time. Garlic bulbs have to mature in their second year, at least at our northern Pennsylvania location, so it’s a long-growing crop. If you do it right though, there should be no problem having garlic year round.

Watch the lower leaves of the plants as they dry and turn brown. Some plants will mature sooner than others and they may have to be pulled out first. When two or three sets of leaves have turned brown or died back, it’s time to harvest the garlic. Use a pitchfork or similar tool to pry up the garlic bulbs. Shovels tend to bruise or cut the bulbs and you don’t want that. Pulling up the plant with your hands may not work either as that often breaks off the bulb in the ground.

The garlic plant on the left was harvested at the proper time and its bulb remains intact. The plant on the right was harvested too late. Note that its leaves are all brown and dry.
The garlic plant on the left was harvested at the proper time and its bulb remains intact. The plant on the right was harvested too late. Note that its leaves are all brown and dry.

The garlic bulb on the left was harvested at the proper time for good storage while the bulb on the right was harvested too late.
The garlic bulb on the left was harvested at the proper time for good storage while the bulb on the right was harvested too late. Note that the individual cloves exposed to the air will not keep well.

Once the garlic is out of the ground knock off clumps of dirt with your hands and lay the plants in a single layer on a sheet in the shade. Don’t dry the garlic in the sun as that will be too hot and take away some of the essence of the pungent plant that we’re trying to harvest.

Garlic harvest drying in the shade.
Garlic harvest drying in the shade.

If left in the garden too long or when conditions are too wet, the outer leaves, and therefore the outer membrane-like layers that cover the garlic bulbs will disappear. For the best storing garlic we want to retain as many layers as we can for covering the garlic bulbs.

In 2012 the harvest date for our Pennsylvania garlic was the 10th of July. It’s been a very hot summer and not very wet, so that may be an early harvest date when compared to other years.