“What happens if you harvest garlic too late?” What do you think about this garlic care guide questions? Let us look for an answer to this question together.
If you harvest garlic too late, the bulbs will have started to split open. If you harvest garlic too soon, the bulbs will be too small and have a thin shell. If you wait too long to pick garlic, it won’t keep well.
When the plants in your garlic patch start to turn brown, you should pay attention to them.
SUMMARY
WHAT HAPPENS IF YOU HARVEST GARLIC TOO LATE?
So, you planted garlic in your garden, let it grow all winter and spring, and now you want to know when to harvest it.
Read also: CAN I PLANT GARLIC IN THE SAME PLACE AS LAST YEAR?
If you dig it up too soon, the bulbs will be small, and if you dig it up too late, the bulbs will be split and not good to eat, so it’s important to know when to harvest garlic.
WHEN DO YOU HARVEST GARLIC
Just look at the leaves to tell when the garlic is ready to be picked.
When one-third of the leaves are brown, you should start checking the bulbs to make sure they are the right size.
It’s easy to do this. Just loosen the soil above one or two garlic bulbs to see how big they are while they are still in the ground.
If they look big enough, you’re ready to pick garlic from your garden. If they’re still too small, your garlic needs a little more time to grow.
Read also: IS IT TOO LATE TO PLANT GARLIC IN APRIL?
But you shouldn’t wait too long. When the leaves are half to two-thirds brown, you should pick the garlic, no matter how big it is.
If you wait to pick the garlic until the leaves are completely brown, you will only get a bulb that you can’t eat. Sorry, but the video player didn’t work.
If you live in a good place for garlic to grow, you will usually get your first harvest in July or August. In warmer climates, you can harvest garlic as early as spring, but only certain types of garlic do well in warm climates.
HOW TO HARVEST GARLIC
Now that you know when to harvest garlic, you need to know how to do it. Even though it might seem like all you have to do to harvest garlic is dig up the bulbs, there are a few things to keep in mind.
Don’t yank. When you want to get garlic from the ground, you have to dig it up. If you try to pull it out, you will only break off the leaves.
Be gentle. Freshly dug garlic bulbs are easily damaged, and it’s easy to cut a bulb open by accident when you’re digging if you’re not careful.
When gathering garlic, lift each bulb out of the ground by itself. Put it somewhere where it won’t move around too much.
As soon as possible, get the garlic out of the sun. In the sun, garlic will turn white and burn.
As soon as you can, put the freshly dug bulbs that haven’t been washed in a dark, dry place.
Now you know when to pick garlic and how to do it. The only thing left to do is eat the garlic you grew in your garden.
ADVICE ON HOW TO PICK GARLIC
Freshly dug garlic can be used right away, but it will last for months if you let it dry slowly in the shade.
When garlic scapes show up, it means that the harvest will be in a few weeks, so you want to make sure you pick at the right time.
If you do it too soon, the bulbs will be too small and have a thin shell. If you do it too late, the bulbs will have started to split open. If you wait too long to pick garlic, it won’t keep well.
When the plants in your garlic patch start to turn brown, you should pay attention to them. This is usually the second or third week of July in my garden in southwestern Connecticut.
People have different ideas about when to harvest, but I like to do it when the plants are half green and half brown.
This year, I picked a little earlier than I should have because it was a Sunday, the weather was great, and I had time to do it. I didn’t want to wait because it was going to rain for the next few days and it was about to be Monday.
I dug up each bulb, leaving a few inches of space between it and the plant, and shook the loose soil off the roots.
Next, I put the freshly dug garlic in a shady, well-ventilated place to dry so that the outside of the bulbs could dry.
In the late afternoon, I used a whisk broom to remove the loose dirt. Now, the plants are drying even more inside the house. They are hung up on a clothes rack near an open window.
After a couple of weeks, when the stems have lost all moisture, I trim the roots and tie the plants into bunches of about seven plants each.
Then I hang them from the beams in the ceiling to dry even more. There looks like a good place for the garlic, and it’s close to the kitchen. I just cut off a bulb when I need some.
Garlic can be used right away or at any time during the process of curing. My cured garlic will last at least until January if I don’t use it up before then.
Keep the largest bulbs to plant again.
It’s always tempting to go straight to the kitchen with the biggest bulbs, but you should fight that urge. Don’t plant your best bulbs until the fall. If you grow more than one kind, keep some of each.
