Lifting the Garlic

Tradition has it that garlic is planted on the shortest day of the year and harvested on the longest. Garlic is grown by 'sowing' the individual cloves; they need a period of cold at the start of the growing season in order to trigger splitting of the growing head into multiple cloves, rather than simply growing into one bigger clove, as is the case with onions. I don't claim to understand the science but have previously harvested garlic where many of the heads were no more than a single fat clove, following a mild winter. This past winter was very, very dry, but we had plenty of sub zero nights so I was confident the heads would contain multiple cloves but I could already see that they were pretty small, thanks to that dry winter. My other big worry is the allium leaf miner fly - see my post about leeks for more info on this pest. 

Lifting garlic is a pretty simple job, but be aware that the post harvest drying period is essential for keeping your harvest right through the year. With a heatwave in progress and the thermometer heading into the high thirties and more critically no rain forecast in the next five days, I decided to ignore the anti-canicule advice to stay indoors and went out and got the job done. The leaves begin to turn from green to yellow when the garlic is ready to harvest; mine has started this process and with the hot weather I doubt they'll grow any bigger.

The garlic has been subjected to the straw mulch treatment and I was really please to find the ground positively moist when I pulled the mulch back, and with few slugs. At least the digging wouldn't be like trying to crack concrete!





It is important to get the fork beneath both the bulbs and the bulk of the roots - they are very shallow rooted - and carefully lift. Obviously putting the fork through the head means the bulb won't dry, but the same applies to damaging the roots and the base plate of the bulb. It is therefore important to carefully tease each bulb out of the ground and then gently remove the excess soil from the roots.

Once lifted, the garlic needs to be racked out to allow it to start the drying process; once the leaves are dry and rustling the bulbs can be strung up ready for storage. You can of course eat the fresh, or 'green' garlic straight away. We will be having garlic curry this week, a once a year only treat!

I use a pallet to lay the garlic out, the advantage being that I can lift the whole lot up and move it under cover if needed. You can also plait the fresh green garlic on the day of harvest, if you like. I prefer to dry flat to start with because then I can spot any that have any potential drying problems before I've tied them all up.

But a few plaits of garlic hanging up in the kitchen ready for use are just great!