Topic: Harvesting The Garlic

[clumsy]

Just harvest all my garlic. I took all home to show the family they seemed to be  pleased nice size and all. I don't think I got allium leaf miner this year. Put some pictures of some of the garlic.

[astraman1]

looks good i only got a 1/4 of mine as i have discovered white rot

[Plot22]

I have been up at the allotment this afternoon spraying my garlic for rust and weeding it.  I am not an expert on it but I have 200 odd set and mine look exactly like Clumsy's but I am going to leave them until the leaves die off hopefully in another month or so. I cannot understand why he has harvested them so early when they still have green stems and leaves ? I would only harvest mine early if I had a problem like rust. I understand that the last month or so of growth is when the plant sends all the goodness down to the bulbs to enlarge them.

[goodlife]

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I cannot understand why he has harvested them so early when they still have green stems and leaves ?
Well, maybe I can bring some light to the matter...

If the bulbs have formed and are more and less as big as they get, harvesting them when there is still green growth on will ensure that the bulb will form good 'paper' after the bulbs are cured. Good 'paper' skin will store much better than those whose paper is already started to thin and even break down due being in ground so long.
So for storage purposes it is better to get the garlic up little bit early than late.
I have one variety that is just about to come up too. I had look yesterday and the bulbs are ready and half of the leaves are starting to yellow up too...sign that alerted me for the bulbs maturity.

[clumsy]

That's a good reply by goodlife. It's true they need to be pulled just that bit early.

[Paulh]

Thanks, that's really useful to know. It's usually rust that drives when I harvest mine (only 50 or so - enough for us!) but that has not got started yet this year.

[BarriedaleNick]

Mine aren't that good this year.  The ones on the plot don't seem to have bulbed up properly and the ones at home were rotten and died off.  I still have some to eat so all is not lost but I normally fair better.  I am leaving the ones on the plot for a while - risking rust and white rot which are endemic around here.

[goodlife]

Thanks, that's really useful to know. It's usually rust that drives when I harvest mine (only 50 or so - enough for us!) but that has not got started yet this year.

Last year was bad year with rust for my garlic. First it was wet and humid..so that encouraged the rust and I decided to leave the plants to finish their growth as 'far' as they could to get even some kind bulb. Then the weather dried out and the soil turned too hard to dig..couldn't lift the garlic with the result that there wasn't any living...green tissue left...and then come the rain. When I finally was able to lift the garlic, all the 'paper' was gone and I was lifting gloves..
And of course one could not get each and every one up, so last year's garlic bed was sprouting lot of missed gloves...
I had those as early crop and ate them as 'garlic greens'.

But this year...NO RUST! they all look healthy and I'm hoping good crop for change..and like already mentioned, first ones are getting ready for lifting...

[strawberry1]

I just lifted mine.4th year from my own cloves, they are jolimont. Very good size bulbs, some rust on the leaves and no sign of anything bad. Thank you goodlife, I read your post and went straight up. I still have some cloves from last year that need using.  Nice to get them up in a dry state as we have yellow rain warning from friday afternoon

[clumsy]

The weather does not look good on friday. I also had rust last but this year the weather has been good for garlic.
It was a perfect time for me to lift them since the ground has been dry. Today I planted the kidney beans in that place so
ready for the rain on friday.

[strawberry1]

I put the lifted garlic all over my open mesh outdoor furniture today and the leaves are wilting great. I just transferred them to the garage, only until the forecast rain passes over. I put phacelia seeds in the bed for a green( and pretty )manure crop. Too many green beans can be a pain as they need picking and processing and there is only me. I agree that beans do very well after the garlic esp the short types like maxi, I was tempted but had my sensible head on. I already have a few tall beans doing well

[Robert_Brenchley]

I lifted some from the local market which I planted last winter, so it had no lack of cold weather. Nothing had cloved; it was all solo rounds.

http://thisandthat-robert.blogspot.co.uk/2015/06/solo-garlic.html

[squeezyjohn]

I was forced in to harvesting my garlic a bit early today.  The leaves had been dying back on some plants at an alarming rate and a quick dig and check showed that these had white rot beginning on the lower half of the bulbs and roots.  It's really infuriating - I've never planted alliums in that spot before and I've been told that half of my plot had been overgrown with brambles and nettles for about 7 years before I took it on.  How long does this stuff last in the soil???

Anyhow - I had 2 varieties of hardneck garlic - Moravian Giant and Donetsk Red - The Donetsk seems to be pretty much ready but it looked like the Moravian giant would have made fatter bulbs if left for another two or three weeks.  However with about a quarter of all plants affected by the white rot in some way - I couldn't take the risk of keeping them in.

I don't know whether I can salvage some of the cloves of the less damaged ones with rot, maybe they could be pickled or something?

[johhnyco15]

done mine  2 weeks ago white rot on half rust on them all i chopped them all up and put them into ice cube trays in the freezer so they are portion size

[goodlife]

I

don't know whether I can salvage some of the cloves of the less damaged ones with rot, maybe they could be pickled or something?

If the cloves are firm or part that are...it is all edible...obviously one would not eat any rotting bits. But be sure to dispose all the waste correctly..you would not want any of it end up back to you plot.

[caroline7758]

I thought mine were looking good this year- no rust (it's usually pretty bad) , healthy looking plants with the tops starting to go yellow. Then I dug a couple and found they have small bulbs and look as if they may have white rot. :( Was too disheartened to dig any more, but if they are all as bad I won't be growing garlic next year!

[squeezyjohn]

I just don't understand how it got on that back bit of the plot???  Could the garlic bulbs I bought for growing have been carrying spores?  I got them from thegarlicfarm.co.uk

[caroline7758]

Squeezyjohn, I salvaged some poor garlic last year by freezing it (crushed and put in ice cube trays).

[clumsy]

Yes the bulbs could be carrying the spores, because we will never know when buying from anywhere. It's difficult to complain to company to say there bulbs have issue. I've brought bulbs from that  thegarlicfarm.co.uk as a gift to my mum the smoked garlic bulbs they started to rot within few days in storage did complain to them bulb got some excuses from them.

[Number Six]

Interesting site here giving advice on growing garlic. It says that if you are unlucky enough to have white rot then you shouldn't grow alliums in that soil for 15 years!

http://www.thegarlicfarm.co.uk/growing/tips-and-advice