Garlic Harvest!!

[BarriedaleNick]

I know it's early but my garlic was very rusty and other plotholders had already succumbed to the dreaded root rot so I took em up yesterday.
Only two were rotted at the root and overall I am pretty happy with the result

[BarriedaleNick]

[tonybloke]

Well done Nick!!

[Kingfisher]

Well they look pretty good to me, I am not sure when to pick mine but they seem ok at the moment good look with storing them

[1066]

nice one! Think I will leave mine in a bit longer as no signs of rust, and praying no white rot .....

Anyway - hope they taste as good as they look  ;D

[Sparkly]

Looks great! Garlic is one thing we have managed to be self-sufficient in. This years looks strong and healthy. 1 type is starting to die-back, but the others are still going strong. No rust yet!

[manicscousers]

no rust here, yet but we're eating lots of scapes  ;D

[BarriedaleNick]

To be honest I thought they were going to be a disaster - the rust is pretty bad and they looked very sad and wilted - I would normally leave them for a couple more weeks.  The rot seems to be emdemic on our site and a mate who took his up lost 1/3 to 1/2 his crop to it.  There are a few undersized ones but much better than I hoped.
I am going to try a plait this year - well th OH is  ;D

[Sparkly]

roast the undersized ones on the bbq and then squeeze into crusty bread!

[tim]

Ours won't be ready for another month or more.

"August, pull up one bulb and see how many  thin papery layers  you can peel off the bulb - if there are only three, harvest the bulbs, if there are four or more, wait another two weeks or until most of the leaves have turned brown."

[goodlife]

We've got few more weeks to go too...I pulled one up for a little taster today..yum..although it was a good size bulb it hasn't started to divide into cloves yet..
My garlic crop is a couple of weeks late this year..it doesn't matter..all good things comes to those who wait.. ;)
In mean while I'll stick to scapes and garlic greens that I grow from bulbils... ;D

[Glen]

Hi all,

May seem like a daft question - but how do you know when your garlic is ready to harvest? (1st year I have grown it). Also what is rust and what does it look like please?

Many thanks for any advice.

[BarriedaleNick]

Glen - rust is a fungal disease which results in a rusty colour dust on the foliage - if you have it you will know!!!

How do you know when garlic is ready - well like most alliums it will use the leaf growth to feed the bulbs so you will notice a die back as it nears ripeness.
Most people I know will perhaps have a look at one or two bulbs about now to see how they are going - even if they have not formed distinct cloves you can still use it now (it wont keep well).

Also see Tim's sage advice above,,,

[Glen]

Thanks BarriedaleNick.

I don't think I have rust then. The foliage is starting to look a little yellow so I may take a look at a couple of bulbs as you suggested and use Tim's suggested test.

Thanks for the advice.

[Glen]

Hi guys.

I have pulled a bulb up tonight. It looks just like the ones in the picture above.

It does not seem to have any papery white covering on the outside to pull off - the flesh still looks young and fresh? (so i don't know how to use Tim's method) When I feel it, it feels like there are seperate cloves inside.

What should I do now? open it to have a look? or try to dry it out? Should I harvest the rest of the 20 bulbs or leave them a while?

Sorry for all the questions.  :)

[tim]

Glen - have 30% of the leaves turned brown? When did you plant?

For me, we're still 2 months too early.

[Glen]

Hi Tim.

By heck you are an early bird!  ;D

I think I planted around October/November 2009 and over wintered. I don't know about 30% of the leaves being brown but some are definitely starting to die down. In your opinion should I leave the rest for a while?

The bulb I pulled smelled delicious - should I dry it out before using it?

[Digeroo]

I thought that you harvested garlic on the longest day.  It has been very dry and most of my bulbs are still very small indeed.  This is also my first year on the garlic growing front.   

I had been given growing tips by Eristic but he has stopped posting due to the adverse reactions to his rather idiocyncratic methods.  Though I have found several of them very effective.  He encouraged me to try growing some supermarket garlic and it is doing much better than the expensive stuff. 

[shirlton]

Our leaves are starting to go brown but the cloves are not all that big so have left them in. Hope that this rain will swell em up a bit. I remember last year when we went to Saddads open day.Deb p had got hers up and drying and they looked really good. Praps the weekend will prove to be garlic harvest time. Hope tehy are as good as yours Barry

[goodlife]

Don't rush to harvest it yet..we had late winter and that's why garlic is late this year..
Normally I would be looking to harvest soon..but after other day's tester bulb..I shall leave them well alone for few weeks.
Yes I would expect this rain to work miracles..they will swell up but they need to mature after that too..it is when they will produce those few papery layers to protect the cloves...

[BarriedaleNick]

Digeroo - I always try to go around third week in July for picking so I guess the longest day is about right (it is for me in the SE)

Glen - basically if they look mostly green I would leave em for a bit - the bulbs have time to swell yet - I only took mine due to rust and rot.  
You dont have to dry the odd one out to eat but if you want to store them then they will need to be dried out somewhere dry and not to hot..

shirlton - I wish I could have left them for another week or two to get a bit bigger but it still should keep me in garlic all year  ;D