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Gardening - Garlic
Mar. 25th, 2022 07:48 pmGarlic is SO easy. And the optimum time to plant is Fall. You need to know your locale's average temperatures from September thru November because they need 30 to 45 days of above 40° F (air temps, not ground), in order to start their roots growing (below ground, planted at about 4" deep), before any lower, Wintertime colds begin.
Then, once the roots are started, they continue growing underground through the Winter, and (again, depending on your location), the bulbs begin forming, and when the bottom 3 or 4 leaves start drying and turning brown, they're nearing time to dig up.
In the median climate of Zone 6 let's say (ABQ is zone 7), the cloves are fully formed by late May, into June.
Mine were a 'test run' last Fall. I'm planning on planting more next Fall. This is EASY! (And I may plant a few just for the trimmings of the tops, "garlic chives", and see what happens.
Harvesting Garlic 🌿👩🌾// Garden Answer
Yes, hang them high and dry, as the saying goes. They recommend to not water for the last week prior to harvest, so that the bulbs are easier to dust off. NO washing allowed.
https://www.gardenbetty.com/the-trick-of-knowing-when-to.../
So what’s the trick of knowing when to harvest garlic?
Look at how many leaves are left on the plant.
Each leaf above ground indicates a layer of protective paper wrapped around the bulb. A garlic plant with 10 green leaves, for example, will have 10 layers of bulb wrappers.
While there’s no standard number of leaves that garlic should have, a reliable harvest indicator is when half the leaves have died off, and half are still green. The leaves start to die off from the bottom up.
Just don’t wait until all the leaves have died back before you start to harvest. Without the bulb wrappers protecting the garlic head, the cloves may separate and the garlic won’t store well.
Here’s another trick for timing the harvest of your garlic: If you grow hardneck garlic, your crop will form garlic scapes about four to six weeks before the bulb is mature. Once you harvest the scapes, wait a month or so, then start checking the size of the bulbs.
When should you stop watering your garlic?
Continue to water your garlic as usual in spring, even as the leaves start to die off.
When at least 50 to 75 percent of your crop has reached the telltale stage of maturity—half the leaves are brown and half are green—stop watering your garlic for one week.
This allows the soil to dry out a bit to prevent rot, and makes harvesting easier if the soil is loose and crumbly instead of wet and compressed.
Then, once the roots are started, they continue growing underground through the Winter, and (again, depending on your location), the bulbs begin forming, and when the bottom 3 or 4 leaves start drying and turning brown, they're nearing time to dig up.
In the median climate of Zone 6 let's say (ABQ is zone 7), the cloves are fully formed by late May, into June.
Mine were a 'test run' last Fall. I'm planning on planting more next Fall. This is EASY! (And I may plant a few just for the trimmings of the tops, "garlic chives", and see what happens.
Harvesting Garlic 🌿👩🌾// Garden Answer
Yes, hang them high and dry, as the saying goes. They recommend to not water for the last week prior to harvest, so that the bulbs are easier to dust off. NO washing allowed.
https://www.gardenbetty.com/the-trick-of-knowing-when-to.../
So what’s the trick of knowing when to harvest garlic?
Look at how many leaves are left on the plant.
Each leaf above ground indicates a layer of protective paper wrapped around the bulb. A garlic plant with 10 green leaves, for example, will have 10 layers of bulb wrappers.
While there’s no standard number of leaves that garlic should have, a reliable harvest indicator is when half the leaves have died off, and half are still green. The leaves start to die off from the bottom up.
Just don’t wait until all the leaves have died back before you start to harvest. Without the bulb wrappers protecting the garlic head, the cloves may separate and the garlic won’t store well.
Here’s another trick for timing the harvest of your garlic: If you grow hardneck garlic, your crop will form garlic scapes about four to six weeks before the bulb is mature. Once you harvest the scapes, wait a month or so, then start checking the size of the bulbs.
When should you stop watering your garlic?
Continue to water your garlic as usual in spring, even as the leaves start to die off.
When at least 50 to 75 percent of your crop has reached the telltale stage of maturity—half the leaves are brown and half are green—stop watering your garlic for one week.
This allows the soil to dry out a bit to prevent rot, and makes harvesting easier if the soil is loose and crumbly instead of wet and compressed.
