Kitchen Garden Forum

Following on from the new potato thread, when exactly are you supposed to harvest garlic? The tips of the leaves on mine are starting to yellow and the base of the stems are lovely and thick but there's still a lot of good green leaf and I don't want to do it too soon. Want the biggest bulbs possible of course, but also don't want to leave it too late.

Hi Jude

I thought it was when the stem had turned completely yellow and died down. Although, i'm not too sure myself.

Someone will know. Of that, i'm completely certain.

I normally leave mine until its all dead and the top looks like a dead stick, then I lift them.

Bet thats wrong though...................

D

lizzie wrote:I thought it was when the stem had turned completely yellow and died down. Although, i'm not too sure myself.

Thats what I also think, let the leaves die down then let the bulbs dry out.

Ooooh, did I get a question right?

Bloody hell, I wasn't expecting that today!

Every time I've waited that long the bulbs have started to rot when I've dug them up. I'm taking mine up when the tops start to yellow and die but I'm not waiting any longer if there's something under the soil.

Don't forget it also depends what kind of garlic you have, the autumn planted thin necked or the spring planted thick necked. If you have both they may not mature at the ame time.

I too have always previously waited for garlic to wilt slightly and show signs of yellowing.

The seed I bought from the Isle of Wight garic farm this year comes with the following suggestion. I've produced it fairly verbatim, but don't vouch that it's any more sensible than other approaches:

The Garlic Farm suggestion
"If you want to maximise the pure weight and volume of garlic that you harvest, then wait until the plants have gone over and the leaves are yellowing. In our experience this is a mistake because we can't guarantee a Mediterranean climate and wet spells in the summer can lead to muddy grey skins, and poor keeping quality.

To produce brilliant white bulbs like those from Continental climates, lift the crop as soon as it goes "weak at the knees" (as soon as 10% have "gone over"). The stems should still be green and the bulbs are less likely to stain if picked at this stage.

Allow to dry in bunches of 6, eg in a conservatory of glasshouse. After a week if the weather is fine, they should be ok. If you want to plait them, do not overdry them or the stems will become too brittle."


You can see from the above that these people value the cosmetic appearance. If you're prepared to sacrifice that, it would appear that you could leave them in the ground for longer.

My own dilema at the moment is that the ground has a very "Continental" (=rock hard) feel to it. It's recommended that you stop watering 3 weeks before harvesting. Trouble is, I should really have watered mine more, but haven't bothered after the weeks of torrential rain we had (in May?)

Yes, know what you mean Garlic Guy, I confess I haven't ever watered mine since they were planted last autumn as they were on the verge of drowning right up until about 3 weeks ago. All in all, I think I'll give them another week or so then just have a little look!

My hard neck garlic (purple) had started to yellow and keel over, so I dug it all up today and have put it to dry in the sunshine. This is about a month earlier than I'd expect. All the heads look nice and plump (three out of 80 gone bad) so I've put it down to growing conditions

The soft neck (white) garlic is still green and proud, so that will wait until the more 'normal' time.

Anyone else harvesting this early?

I've been a bit confused over the state of my garlic because it's so affected by rust (see other thread), it all looks like it may be ready! I had an experimental dig, but the bulb I pulled was quite small, so I've left the rest alone for another few weeks, then I'll check again.

Dear All,
I harvest my softnecks when the stem feels flat between finger and thumb, if it won't deform from round then leave for another week. For the hardnecks generally when the first six leraves from the ground up are yellow.
If they have rust try to keep them away from your next crop of leeks as the spores can transfer.
Regards Sally Wright.