Timely harvesting of garlic is the key to high-quality storage of the garlic crop in the off-season. Surely you will agree with this remark, but determining the optimal moment for this work can be difficult. In this matter, one has to rely not on the formal recommendations of agronomist scientists, but on visual signs of ripening of garlic heads and forecasts of weather forecasters.

Choosing the date for harvesting garlic

Before storing for storage, the garlic heads need to be thoroughly dried.

The harvest time for winter garlic in central Russia is mid-to-late July, which corresponds to approximately a 100-day growing season. Readiness for harvesting is signaled by yellowing and drying of the garlic tops, when most of the leaves begin to droop to the ground.

During this period, the heads of garlic still remain in a dense shell of integumentary scales. If you are late in digging up the garlic, the leaves will dry out completely and become indistinguishable on the surface of the soil. This means that such a harvest of bulbs is as good as lost, since it will be stored very poorly: the heads will be easily infected by pathogens of various diseases.

On bulbs that have been lying in the ground, the integumentary scales become thinner and destroyed, and the teeth are separated. If there is sufficient soil moisture, they germinate quickly. In addition, scattered teeth become difficult to find in the depths of the bed.

Thus, It is safer to carry out harvesting work for garlic a little earlier than risk the complete loss of the entire crop. An indication for harvesting garlic in advance is rainy weather, which increases the risk of rotting of the heads. If the heads of the dug up garlic have not yet reached the desired condition, then they can be ripened under a canopy or in a well-ventilated room for 2-3 weeks.

Spring garlic varieties reach harvest maturity later, usually 2-3 weeks later. In central Russia, spring garlic is usually harvested at the end of August. The time to harvest the bolt comes when the yellowing of the upper part of the leaves becomes noticeable, the bottom of the false stem becomes brown, and the bulbs themselves stop growing.

Garlic leaves turn yellow - reasons

Please note that garlic leaves may turn yellow and dry out prematurely due to flaws in the technology for growing this crop.

This problem is explained primarily by the fact that garlic grows in too dense soil, which is why the root system suffers from lack of air. This leads to disruption of all metabolic processes in the plant, in particular, oxygen starvation negatively affects the supply of nutrients to the above-ground parts. This often happens in areas with shallow groundwater, during excessive watering or heavy and prolonged rains.

The cause of yellowing of leaves is often a lack of moisture in the soil, as well as a prolonged drop in temperature (below +10 degrees). This is especially dangerous in the first stages of the growing season. At low temperatures, nutrition is poorly absorbed by plants, as a result of which their growth is inhibited and yellowness appears on the leaves.

Partial yellowing and drying out of the above-ground parts of garlic plants can also be a symptom of a lack of such an important macronutrient as nitrogen in the soil. Please note that nitrogen-containing fertilizers are absolutely ineffective in the absence or deficiency of potassium in the soil, so it is better to feed the garlic bed.

How to properly harvest garlic

Garlic is removed from the garden along with the above-ground part and root system. If the weather is sunny, the plants are placed to dry directly in the garden bed. On a rainy day, the crop is placed under the protection of a canopy. During a week's drying, the nutritional elements from the leaf apparatus and roots are completely transferred to the garlic heads, due to which they acquire a more vigorous taste and are better stored in the cellar.

Then the roots and leaves of non-shooting varieties are removed, leaving a small tail of 2-3 centimeters. If you plan to weave garlic braids, there is no need to trim the leaves.

Perfect, when garlic is stored at a temperature of about 0 degrees and air humidity of 50-60%.

Most summer residents prefer to plant winter garlic before winter, and spring garlic in early spring, but when to remove garlic from the garden, when the garlic is dug up for storage, you need to understand in more detail. After all, this healthy and piquant-tasting vegetable can be found in almost every garden.

It is extremely undesirable to keep garlic in the ground: it may begin to grow again, overripe heads will disintegrate into individual cloves, and long-term storage of such a crop will be a big question. If you remove garlic from the soil ahead of time, it will be soft, unripe and loose. The keeping quality of this vegetable directly depends on the degree of its ripening and proper drying, so you should remember a few simple rules, which I will tell you about in this article.

Drying garlic (photo by Anna Nepetrovskaya from Novokubansk)

Signs of garlic ripening: when to harvest?

How to determine the ripeness of garlic? The surest signal is the drying and yellowing of the lower leaves of the plant. This process, of course, is influenced by the air temperature (sunny or rainy summer), the type of garlic, as well as the territorial location of your site (region). Among other things, gardeners have their own “signs” indicating the ripening of the crop. Someone in the process of growing garlic does not cut off all the arrows, but leaves a couple of pieces on individual plants. When the initially curly arrow becomes even, this is a sure sign that the garlic can be dug up.

Another summer resident looks at the flower heads: if they begin to burst and show “bulbs,” it means it’s time to harvest.

There are a couple of techniques (folk) for enlarging the onion and cloves:

• When you cut off the arrows on the garlic, stick a burnt match in their place (take the rest from the gas stove). A burnt match stops the secretion of juice - the teeth become juicier and larger.
• the greens from the garlic (feathers) after tearing off the arrows, tie them in a knot - the head of garlic will form faster and become larger.

You should know that only winter varieties produce shoots, spring varieties do not shoot, a rare exception is the “Gulliver” variety.

Winter and spring varieties, photo:

Winter garlic is planted in September or early October (in Kuban it is better to do this later, for example, in early November), spring garlic - at the end of March or April.

And the timing of garlic harvesting depends on how hot the summer is. Most often they vary between the 20th of July/the first week of August - this applies to winter varieties.

Spring varieties of garlic always ripen later than winter varieties because they require more time to germinate. Around the 20th of August/in the first half of September, you can start harvesting summer (spring) varieties.

In any case, when the above-described external signs of ripening appear, you can always carefully dig up a couple of heads and visually verify the degree of their ripening.

How do you know when garlic is ready to harvest? The ripe head is always dense to the touch, the film covering the teeth is easily removed, and the teeth themselves are easily separated.

There is another effective technique: to speed up the ripening of garlic, gardeners use one effective technique: approximately 5-7 days before the intended digging, they lightly rake the soil from the bulbs (top layer).

The harvest time for winter garlic in Kuban is approximately the end of July. Again, look for external signs of ripeness and be sure to consider the type of garlic. The fact is that different winter varieties will have different ripening times. Often, gardeners confuse different varieties and plant them all together in one garden bed. To avoid confusion, always pay attention to the shade of the outer shell of the head, as well as the shape and number of teeth in it. Thus, representatives of individual varieties can be planted in separate beds.

I would also like to focus on a question that novice summer residents often ask: is it necessary to fell the garlic before harvesting? This method is sometimes used when growing onions to speed up their ripening and stop the growth of feathers. As for garlic, you don't need to do this! In order for the heads to finally ripen, you should stop watering the beds about 10 days before harvesting - let the soil dry out.

How to dry garlic after harvesting so it can be stored well

Harvesting garlic should be done on a dry and sunny day. The plants should first be dug up, preferably with a fork-shaped tool, the heads should be carefully removed and shaken off the ground. Of course, it is better to spend more time and remove the soil by hand, so you will be sure that there is no damage on the heads and they are suitable for further storage. If during the harvesting process you accidentally damage the head, then put it aside or immediately use it for food. Next, place the garlic on clean paper or a wooden table located under a canopy - if you are going to dry the heads outside. A well-ventilated area is also suitable.

Drying garlic after harvesting lasts approximately 7-10 days. Some summer residents prefer to dry garlic directly in the garden bed, in the same place where the crop was dug up. You can do this too, but at night it is better to put the garlic in a dry room, this could be an attic or a summer veranda. Complete and final drying of the heads is also carried out indoors (an additional 10 days), after which the remaining roots must be removed. The roots must be cut carefully so as not to injure the bottom! An interesting point is pruning garlic after harvesting, in which experienced gardeners strongly recommend leaving the stem and leaves intact.

The fact is that in the above-ground part of the plant there are many nutrients that “go” to the head during drying. It follows from this that uncut tops have a positive effect on preserving the healing qualities of garlic. By the way, one of the most useful ways to store this vegetable is to braid braids, for which you will need the above-ground part of the plant that you did not trim when harvesting the garlic. This ancient, but still relevant, method is successfully used today. One such bundle can contain up to 15 heads. A tight braid is woven from the stems, into which twine is woven for security, and a loop is made from it for further convenient hanging of the bundle. Leaves can be removed before weaving.

Garlic braided, photo:

In this form, garlic will be perfectly preserved even until the next harvest. Braids are hung in a dry, dark and cool room, and they can also be used as a decorative decoration in the kitchen. If you prefer a different storage method, then after complete drying, leave about 6-8 cm of the stem (cut off the rest), and then sort the heads by size and transfer to storage.

What can you plant after garlic?

To prevent the land from wasting away in vain, after harvesting the garlic, you can always sow greens. Parsley, cilantro, arugula, lettuce, dill, spinach grow quite quickly and especially well if their predecessor was garlic. Many gardeners successfully grow radishes, beets, radishes, and carrots - after garlic, they grow much faster, and their taste only gets better. In Kuban, you can even plant early-ripening cucumbers, and Chinese cabbage, as well as kohlrabi, generally grow well (they have a short growing season). Also, green beans and early ripening varieties of sugar peas will grow well after garlic.

Follow the rules of agricultural technology, watch the appearance of the stems - no matter what region you live in, the signs of ripening of a given vegetable crop will always be the same. Now you know when to remove garlic from the garden, what is the best way to do it, and what to plant after harvesting it.

For several millennia, since the times of Ancient Egypt, garlic has been actively cultivated in various regions of the planet. This enduring popularity of culture is easily explained. Garlic is not only a tasty addition to meat and vegetable dishes, but also an incredibly healthy vegetable, containing many vitamins and microelements, and in addition, has strong bactericidal properties.

Almost every summer resident considers it obligatory to grow at least a few rows of garlic on his plot. But all the efforts in planting and growing will be in vain if you miss the moment of ripening of the heads.

How to understand that the crop is ready for harvesting

Experienced gardeners know that it is unacceptable to remove both unripe and overripe garlic. The first one will not have time to acquire a pleasant crunchiness of the pulp, and the second one may begin to take root again and disintegrate into individual cloves. In addition, it will store very poorly. Therefore, it is important to be able to recognize the moment of ripening and not delay cleaning.

• Usually in the middle zone for winter garlic, harvesting time occurs around mid-July. Most often, the reference point is the day of Peter and Paul, which falls on the 12th.
• In more northern regions and in Siberia, cleaning will have to wait a week or two.
• The weather can also affect the timing. In the rainy season, the bulbs will arrive a little earlier, and a hot and dry summer will push their ripening to a later time (sometimes even until the first days of August).

In addition to mathematical calculations based on the duration of the growing season of a particular variety, the correct time for harvesting winter garlic will be indicated by the external signs of the plants.

• When removing the bulk of the arrows, several control specimens are usually left. When the bulbs are fully ripe, they straighten, and the wrappers on the inflorescences crack.
• You should prepare for harvesting at the moment when the lower leaves of the plants turn yellow and begin to dry out.
• The skin of mature bulbs becomes much thinner and drier. It is easily separated from the pulp, and the latter becomes significantly denser.
• Ripe garlic cloves separate from each other without much effort.

Correct cleaning technology

If, by all indications, your garlic is already ready, then you should immediately begin collecting it. There are some nuances in this process, knowledge of which will allow you to preserve the harvest until spring.

• Try to choose garlic from the ground in dry and sunny weather. Over-watered heads are preserved much worse.
• Do not pull the bulbs out of the ground by hand. Always use a garden tool (fork or shovel) for cleaning, but be careful. Damaged specimens will rot very quickly, since cuts and scratches will serve as a gateway for pathogenic microorganisms and viruses.
• In dry weather, place the garlic directly on the garden bed to dry. The sun and wind will remove unnecessary moisture very quickly (in 1–2 days). But we must not forget about night dew. To prevent the crop from getting wet, cover it with polyethylene, and simply put a small amount in the barn until the morning.
• Before storing dried garlic, be sure to trim off the dry leaves. If you do not plan to store the harvest in braids or wreaths, then the stems can also be removed, leaving a small (3–4 cm) tail.
• The treated bulbs must be sorted, selecting seed material for the next season and discarding the diseased heads. Damaged garlic is not suitable for storage, but can be used for food in the near future.

How to save the harvest

There are many traditional and unusual options for storing garlic. However, the requirements for temperature and humidity conditions remain the same.

• The bulbs are stored equally well both at room temperature and in a much cooler microclimate, where the temperature ranges from +2 to +4° C.
• Humidity in the room also significantly affects the preservation of garlic. In too dry air it very quickly loses the juiciness of the pulp, and in too humid air it gets sick. The optimal value is 60–80%.
• Good ventilation plays an important role in creating suitable conditions, especially when it comes to storage in cool cellars, glazed loggias and similar rooms.

When choosing a storage method, everyone is guided by their own tastes and preferences.