July 22, 2016

Harvesting Garlic

It’s the perfect time to harvest my garlic...

Determining when garlic is ready to harvest can be tricky. If it’s harvested too soon, the cloves are small and underdeveloped. Harvested too late, and the clove heads begin to separate, making them more vulnerable to decay.

Garlic is divided into two categories. The supermarket variety, called softneck, produces long-lasting bulbs with many cloves around a soft center stem. Softneck garlic produces no flower stalk. Hardneck garlics are noted for their stiff central stalk, fewer cloves, relatively short shelf life, and their intriguingly complex flavors.

This week, my head gardener, Ryan McCallister, harvested our crop of harneck garlic. The varieties include: American Porcelain, Music Porcelain, Chesnok Red-Purple, Majestic Porcelain, Italian Red Porcelain, German Extra Hardy Porcelain, Turbans, Russian Giant Marble-Purple Stripe, Asian Tempest Asiatic, Georgian Crystal Porcelain, Romanian Red Porcelain, Amish-Rocambole, and Georgian Fire. Enjoy the photos.

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