Garlic

I harvested the first garlic of the season this week. Garlic is easy to grow and very rewarding but there are a few tricks to a successful crop. First, make sure you have loose, well drained soil. Without good drainage, your garlic will rot in the ground. Second, plant garlic in the fall. Take a clove of a garlic you like and push it a few inches deep in the soil with the pointy end up. In early spring, green shoots will emerge. Third, and perhaps most importantly, cut off the garlic scapes when they form in June. The scape is the seed head and if it is not removed, you will get tiny bulbs when you dig up your garlic. I am fanatical about preaching the benefits of garlic scapes as you can see from my posts on the subject in 2008, 2010 and 2011. Garlic scapes make a wonderful pesto and here is an idea for what to do with that pesto.

Garlic, like all plants whose harvest grows underground, can be difficult to figure out when to pick. Most books tell you to wait until the green leaves start to turn brown and die back. I would say that waiting until the all the leaves turn brown might be a little too long to wait. If the whole plant has turned brown you will likely notice that the cloves have started to seperate from eachother. The garlic will be fine, but you will need to use it right away as it is getting old. I would suggest taking your trowell and digging up a clove when the leaves start to turn brown (not just the tips of the leaves, but a good portion). If the clove looks large and tightly formed, then it is ready. Cut off the roots, brush off the dirt and enjoy!