Early Garlic Harvest

Garlic picked June 6th,  2013

      Last years garlic harvest was somewhat disappointing because it did not store well.  The wrappers were very thin, and some were torn as I dug the bulbs.  Early indications this year were positive, with a big crop growing quickly.  But a few weeks ago, some of the leaves were starting to turn brown, and now many of the plants have fallen over.  The bulbs above will be okay, but they are on the small side.  Harvest date around here should be around June 22nd or later, so I am concerned that the garlic doesn't know that.

Many stems fallen over

Garlic from bulbils

      The garlic shown above from bulbils planted in the fall of 2012 are even further along.  If I don't dig them all now, the stems will soon disappear and leave me no way to find the bulbs.  I knew that I would have to replant the first year bulbils this fall for another season next year, but I expected a longer season for them this year.  Anybody else experiencing a forced early harvest of the garlic crop?

      This bed of garlic was started from some of my larger cloves in 2012, and seems to be doing a little better with continuing growth.  My garlic over at the park looks better, that is the plants are more robust and not falling over.  Yet when I dig down in the soil to take a peek at the bulb size, I am disappointed that they are not larger.  I guess it makes sense that this often cool and damp spring has kept down bulb size, but why should they be stopping their growth?

      Update June 11th, 2013:

Part of forced early harvest, drying on a screen

Garlic, March Update

      It has been a disappointing winter.  Generally cold, damp and gray.  And hardly a single snow flake.  But very few days when it is enjoyable to be outside puttering in the garden.  So it is a welcome sight that the garlic seems not to care about the gloomy weather, and is making nice progress for a harvest in three to four months time.

Garlic on 3/18/2013, planted 12/14/2012

Music Garlic 3/19/2013, cloves planted 11/16/2012

Red Russian Garlic 3/19/2013, cloves planted 11/16/2012

       The Music and Red Russian garlic planted last November were cloves planted from single bulbs obtained from prior neighbor and gardener Jan Watson.

please see:  http://fromseedtoscrumptious.blogspot.com/2012/11/planting-more-garlic.html

Each of the plants coming up now should make bulbs of six or more cloves, which will be separated and replanted in the fall of this year, 2013.  So by harvest time of early summer 2014, I should have good crops of both strains.
   

   
      The garlic shown above was from small heads of garlic found in the spring of 2012, and planted in this little area to see what would happen.  The plants look good, but small.  They will need to be dug soon, teased apart to separate to individual plants, then replanted on four inch centers.  These may serve as part of my green garlic supply, where you eat the whole young plant instead of waiting for bulb production.
       Two years ago, my garlic supply stored very well for months and months.  I was still eating nice full garlic cloves into May.  The crop for 2012 has been very tasty, but the storage quality has been iffy.  At this point, many of the cloves in bulbs are dry and shriveled.  The rocambole variety however stored very well, but alas, it has been eaten as they were the best bulbs.  The papers of the garlic bulbs of this past harvest were very thin and fragile even when the bulbs were fresh.  I have read that that is an indication that the bulbs will not store well.  And they didn't.
      So luckily, I have tons and tons of young garlic shoots coming up that were started from bulbils.  Some will be used for green garlic, and some will be used for cloves to start next year's crop.

please see: http://fromseedtoscrumptious.blogspot.com/2012/12/umbils-of-garlic.html

Started from garlic umbils 12/14/2012

Closer shot as of March 18th, 2013

      The low growing plant in this picture is chickweed, a wild plant that is quite welcome in a spring salad.  So it won't bee in this garlic bed for very much longer.