Pacific Northwest Gardening: Growing Garlic, 0 by mauryhillfarm

mauryhillfarm wrote:
Here in the very wet Northwest (extraordinarily wet this year) my garlic frequently has fully formed bulbs when there are still 5 green leaves on the plant. I am harvesting some of my varieties now. The later varieties are not usually ready for harvest until the second week of July, though this can depend somewhat on the time of planting (Fall or Spring) or overall climate conditions. My plants are not drying down normally this year because the weather has refused to let them be dry for any length of time.

For me, the size of the bulb depends on the overall size of the plant, although some varieties are simply smaller to begin with (like Chinese Pink). If the plants have enough room, full sun, good soil and came from a decent sized clove to begin with, they grow to be big plants. I do get carried away and plant some of the smaller cloves, which yield small bulbs (but taste just as good as their bigger brothers and sisters).

Ditto the info about each leaf corresponding to a wrapper layer around the bulb. If you wait to harvest until all the leaves have died back, the bulb wrappers will be pretty well disintegrated or very sparse. This is what causes poor storage, and sometimes the bulb will have split open. Harvesting too early can cause poor storage too, and also mean your bulbs are not fully formed.

If you are already harvesting, it is important to give each plant enough air flow around it so that they can dry and cure. A cool, dry, shaded location is ideal..... without fluctuations in humidity ....Hah, try to find those specifications around here this year.... just too wet. I lay garlic out on newspaper over the living room carpet, turn on the overhead fan and close the blinds, or stand it up against the wall, kind of spread out- if it is a hardneck type, or park them in the kitchen chairs. The house is usually taken over.