Is My Garlic Ready to Harvest?

Too Early

What happens if you harvest too early? Too far in advance, of course, the bulb will not even be well-developed. But harvested even a few days too early the bulb may not have reached full potential size. With garlic being in the ground an amazing 7-8 months before it is harvested, one would think it would have had plenty of time to size up without those few weeks or days making a difference! But garlic likes to put most of its growing time into leaves and roots. Only right at the end is it putting all its efforts into growing the bulb, so it is important to give garlic its full time in the ground before harvest.

Too Late

What if you harvest too late? Too late for garlic, among other things, means that the bulb will not have enough wrappers to hold it together for the curing process. A garlic bulb is essentially a packet of cloves held together by a few layers of paper-thin wrappers. We want enough wrappers to hold it together for its storage life, which hopefully will be several months. If the wrappers disintegrate before the bulb is fully cured, the cloves "fall out", giving the bulb an exploded look, and the shelf life--not to mention marketability--has just gone to compost.

**When to Harvest**

So what is harvest-ready garlic? Garlic that is "just right" has been left in the ground until it has the right amount of wrapper layers to hold the bulb together through its storage life-- and no more. To determine the number of wrapper layers on a bulb pre-harvest, simply count the leaves. Each leaf is actually an extension of the bulb wrapper. The leaf extends down the length of the stalk and wraps around the bulb, protecting it in the soil. When a leaf has died back the wrapper will be disintegrating as well. Leaves start to die back beginning at the bottom on the stalk and working up. So we count from the top down to see how many viable leaves are remaining. The standard advice for a harvest-ready bulb is 5-6 viable leaves remaining on the stalk. This number allows 1 wrapper lost at harvest time when the bulb is cleaned, 1-2 layers lost during the curing or storage process, and 2-3 layers remaining to hold the cloves together. For a small crop, bulbs can be harvested individually as they are ready. For larger crops, watch for about half of the crop to reach this stage before harvesting.
What time of year is this? For us in Zone 7, we harvest the end of May in dry years, or mid June in wet years. Growers in the deeper south harvest in late May, while far north growers may not harvest until mid July.

**A Note:**

Yellowing leaves do NOT equal dead leaves. Yellowing is a natural part of the garlic growing process. It could be the nutrient deficiencies that can result from being in the ground such a long period of time, or just the nature of the variety itself. We can definitely see a difference in discoloring between the various kinds of garlic we grow here. Yellowing begins weeks before harvest time approaches. True dying back is when the leaf is becoming definitively brown and brittle.

I hope this answers your questions! Grow your own beautiful garlic with our top-performing seed garlic! Garlic is a nutritious and delicious addition to every garden and kitchen. Free Shipping on Every Order!