For those who love to grow garlic and for those who just love to eat it, harvest time can feel like the unique torture of an overlong summertime road trip. From the back of the station wagon, cries fill the air: “Are we there yet?” and “When are we going to get there?” These cries are often accompanied by calls like “I’m hungry!” and “I have to pee,” but for the purposes of this post we will stick to timing. Are we there yet? When is the best time to harvest garlic?!

It’s a big question. Garlic essentially has three harvests: in the spring you can cut greens to use as scallions; in early summer, we harvest garlic scapes; late summer (right now!) is the main harvest—the garlic bulbs.

Timing is everything. Wait too long, and your garlic will be overripe, its heads will not keep together, and it will not store well. Harvest too soon, the bulbs will be small, the wrapper may disintegrate, and your heads will not have had time to form properly—they will be usable and probably delicious, but you’ll enjoy greater rewards if you give them time for a bigger harvest of bigger bulbs.

The secret to perfect timing is in the leaves. Our rule of thumb is when the lower half of the eight or nine leaves on the plant turn yellow, it’s time to harvest! As with most root vegetables, you wont know for sure if the time is exactly right until you dig one up. It’s always a good idea to pull some bulbs to check and see how far along they are. If the bulb is full and of good size it’s ready to pull.

It is important to let the soil dry out a bit before harvesting. If it’s too wet, the garlic will not dry as well or as evenly as it should. A dry harvest will store longer and will not mold.  We stop watering two weeks before we plan to harvest in order to start the drying process in the ground.

After digging up the plant, we brush off as much soil as possible, and then put the bulbs in a warm, dry place to cure. To maximize space and save time, here at Green Mountain Garlic we cut off most of the stalks and the roots right away and place the bulbs on screens for drying. Traditionally 6-8 plants are tied together and hung to dry.

Make sure your harvested garlic gets great air circulation! Don’t store them in a damp basement or root cellar. You’ve waited this long – store your bulbs well and you’ll be able to savor them for as long as possible. Softneck garlic, our longest storing garlic, will last up to 12 months if hung in a dry place. And Garlic braids are a beautiful way to keep (and show off) your harvest.

The garlic looks amazing this year! We started with twelve varieties, including Chesnok Red, Georgian Crystal Garlic, German Extra Hardy, Italian Red, Music, and Silver White. Our customers have been clamoring for them—we’ve already sold out of a few varieties.

Come visit our organic garlic farm at Twilight Farm on Kneeland Flats Road in Waterbury, Vermont. You can choose your favorite varieties of seed or food garlic to take home. We’re open 9-6 every day through October.

We are in the process of harvesting our largest crop ever and the garlic looks terrific! These beauties are our Red Grain garlic, a purple stripe garlic.

Harvesting garlic usually takes place in July or August, depending on your location. Harvesting the garlic too early will result in smaller heads, harvesting too late will result in overly mature garlic that will not store well.  One indicator that the garlic is ready for harvest is when the lower half of the leaves turn yellow and brown. You can always pull a few heads to decide if it’s time.  If the head is good sized and the cloves fill the skin it is ready for harvest.

Harvest the garlic head, with the plant attached, using a shovel. Garlic can bruise, so handle carefully. Clean off excess soil and bundle in groups of five to ten plants.  Hang them in a warm, dry, airy place, out of the sun, for 3 to 4 weeks to cure. If you live in a very humid climate, you may want to remove the stems and roots and place the bulbs on a screen or chicken wire rack, for the drying/curing process.

After curing (check the clove wrappers inside the bulb to make sure they are dry) trim the stem and the roots and store in a cool (50-55 degrees), dry place for the fall and winter months.

We are in the process of harvesting our largest crop ever and the garlic looks terrific!  If you would like to order more garlic to plant this fall please order soon while selections are still good.  Perhaps you would like to try some new varieties?  Our new varieties – Red Grain, Italian Red and Hungarian Red are amazing – large, beautiful bulbs.  Click here to Order your garlic now!