Garlic harvest

[marlingardener]

I harvested our garlic yesterday and hung it in the barn to dry. There is about 6' of double hung garlic (I tie two or three together, then do the same with other end of the string and hang it over the rope). Between the hens and our garlic, we have a fragrant barn!

 

[alp]

I think this year I will have some elephant garlic! Wonder how to pickle them? Nice harvest, mg!

 

[marlingardener]

Alp, elephant garlic is milder than regular garlic, although bigger! I have no idea how to pickle garlic--we eat it roasted or raw. I roast garlic, mash it, and incorporate it into unsalted butter and freeze in tablespoon amounts. It's great on vegetables, pork, or beef. It isn't all that bad on a toasted baguette, either!

 

[alp]

I think I might do it the way you do: Crush them and mixed them with a bit of rosemary and butter. They sell fish with butter and garlic / butter and other herbs inside fish or beef! Very good idea and this adds a bit of silky texture to the sauce! Good idea, @marlingardener ! Mine's not ready for harvesting yet!

 

[zigs]

Blimey that's early

Mine won't be ready till July.

 

[marlingardener]

Zigs, it is early for us, too. We usually harvest garlic in the first half of June, but our weather has been so strange this year the garlic ripened earlier than usual.
Alp, if you are making garlic butter, be sure to roast the garlic. Otherwise, you end up with crunchy bits in the butter.

 

[zigs]

I'd better check mine, our weather has been all over the shop too

Don't really want to dig them yet as the skin will be wrinkled by show time in August.

 

[Durgan]

This is how I now harvest my garlic. Completely different from the conventional. I still have about ten bulbs left from the 2017 harvest in good condition, after 8 months. It is stored in an open container in a bit of a cold root cellar.

http://durgan.org/2017/August 2017/3 August 2017 Garlic Harvest/HTML/3 August 2017 Garlic Harvest
Garlic was harvested about 80 bulbs were obtained. The main crop was grown from Rounds. A row of conventional planted cloves was grown to compare. The conventional grown garlic is perceptually larger but probably not enough to justify using the main conventional crop for the following year’s crop. The scapes were left on and now removed. I don’t use the scapes and suspect leaving them on until harvest makes for slightly larger bulbs. Four seed scapes were left in the round to grow further to insure maturity. These will be used for producing rounds for next year. The rounds planted last year were trimmed and will be used for the main 2017/2018 crop. These were previously harvested. The crop was all healthy and no damage or disease was seen. The harvest could probably been delayed longer since the outer skin of the bulbs had not started to split. Delaying makes for larger bulbs depending upon weather and it has been found splitting of the skin to not effect storage time.

 

[Silentrunning]

Last fall was my first time planting garlic. It came through the winter perfect and is now over knee high. So how do I tell when I should dig it up? Should I let a couple of the biggest ones go to seed for this fall? Based on past usage I have enough garlic to last about 3 lifetimes.

 

[marlingardener]

Silent, when most of the leaves of your garlic turn yellow or brown, it's time to harvest. Save two heads to replant this fall, but dig it all. Garlic from seed takes forever, but from cloves only one season.
Let it dry out of direct light and where there is good air circulation. I seem to remember that you have a barn, an excellent place to dry garlic or onions.
A word of warning--home grown and dried garlic is stronger than garlic from the grocery.

 

[Durgan]

4 May 2018 Garlic (Processing)
Posted on May 4, 2018 by Durgan
http://durgan.org/2018/May 2018/4 May 2018 Garlic/HTML/ 4 May 2018 Garlic
A small cube of garlic is ingested daily. Garlic must be crushed and ingested raw to get the full touted benefits. The juicer used to remove the garlic skin from the cloves is still available. I have had one for years. Basically it is a strong hand juicer. A tortilla press can also be used but is slightly more difficult. After the cloves are bare, they are put through a Champion juicer to crush and make a fine slurry. The juice and pith are mixed and placed in cube freezing tray for storage.\

The press to remove garlic skin.
https://www.amazon.ca/Detachable-Gr...sr=8-2-spons&keywords=hand+press+juicer&psc=1

 

[Durgan]

There is a large window for harvesting garlic. A month longer is not important. Most of the internet babble is downright incorrect for getting large bulbs that keep for around 8 months.
The only misery is i it rains a lot around harvest time. It must be dry to keep well

 

[Durgan]

I think this year I will have some elephant garlic! Wonder how to pickle them? Nice harvest, mg!

I grow large perfect elephant garlic. I thoroughly dislike the stuff. I dislike the taste. Its only virtue is ease of handling due to large size.

 

[alp]

Diversity is the spice of life!

 

[headfullofbees]

I grow large perfect elephant garlic. I thoroughly dislike the stuff. I dislike the taste. Its only virtue is ease of handling due to large size.

I love garlic. I love leeks.
Elephant garlic, which is a type of leek, I cannot stand.
I don't grow it.