Kitchen Garden Forum

The stems fold over and start to become almost raffia like, as they do with onions. Pick them and put them somewhere shaded and cool to dry.
You can string them, again like onions.

Mine had not folded or died back but I pulled them all the same, I will let them dry.
They had been planted last October and it was just as well I did think they were ready as when I got them out the ground some were already sending out new shoots.

Thanks for the advice Pa Snip.

splendid news JB! Should we all expect such a spectacular harvest?

I checked mine today I must say this thread made me relies I'd forgot to keep my eye on it , I've two rows both Marco from whites on the isle of white planted on the 27-10-16 one Row is about a week over due for digging up the other row needs a bit longer as douse my elephant garlic , the row I've dug up I'm very happy with not as big as Johnboys but not far away

Johnboy wrote:?......the one pulled is a fraction short of 3" diameter and that is the best I have grown for several years and I have around 50 to pull. Decidedly a happy bunny!

Sounds like it's all round to johnboy's for a garlic bread and beer supper then.
Proves that you don't necessarily have to buy commercial bulbs to get a good result.

I thought you had to wait until all the leaves went brown.
Mine are mostly lying on their sides due to the recent strong winds, only the outer leaves have gone brown.
They were planted in October, should I harvest now or wait for the other leaves to go brown?
Thanks in advance.

Ron,

I would harvest one or two and see what they look like. Planted Oct should be ready around now. You could do as I suggested earlier, harvest and allow to dry somewhere cool and shaded
Having taken a closer look at the 'Topinky' variety that I have just harvested I notice that quite a few of them split to cloves.

If I feel up to it over the weekend I shall investigate the other varieties that are still in the ground.

Well I must be honest. I needed garlic for a recipe and the cupboard was bare so pulled the garlic slightly early out of desperation and by strict convention it is not quite ready for harvest but will be in about a week.
For your delight Geoff it was sort of spring sown. The Frenchy Rose' garlic is traditionally grown immediately after Christmas until mid January. With the pregermination it was right at the end of that period so twixt Autumn and Spring but not Autumn sown. I feel sure that the pregermination was part of my unexpected success. It took 3 weeks to give a root show and was left for another week before planing out. I was going to do my experiment in the Autumn but I simply didn't have the time. I will repeat my experiment again next January to see I it was sheer luck or pregermination seems to work. As another check I will also plant some direct in January on the same day as I commence the pregermination.

Pa Snip wrote:Ron,

I would harvest one or two and see what they look like. Planted Oct should be ready around now. You could do as I suggested earlier, harvest and allow to dry somewhere cool and shaded
Having taken a closer look at the 'Topinky' variety that I have just harvested I notice that quite a few of them split to cloves.

If I feel up to it over the weekend I shall investigate the other varieties that are still in the ground.

Thanks Pa. As suggested I pulled two and they are both a good size but not completely papery. I think I'll leave the rest until later.

My garlic foliage had died down so I dug them - disappointing indeed! Some were just a single large bulb that had not split & those that did form cloves were quite tiny. Smelt really strong though, so didn't bin them but know I will be cursing trying to peel the little cloves. These will definitely be roasted whole I think.

Just pulled up Tuscanni Wight which shows some rust.

Should I do anything or just leave it to dry out?

doesn't look to bad at all! yes, just leave it to dry, then dispose of the rusty foliage.

They all seem early this year it must be the long dry spell we had. My shallots are nearly ready now.