How to Harvest

& Store Garlic

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There's a specific time and a specific way to harvest garlic. Here's how to harvest and store your garlic correctly so it won’t spoil or sprout before you can use it.

Let's do this!

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Unlike tomatoes, zucchini, or other garden vegetables, garlic bulbs grow completely underground. You can’t tell if the garlic is ready to harvest by looking at the bulbs…but the plant will give you several clues.

It's super-easy to grow!

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Since we want the garlic to keep all its energy in the bulb (and not spend time growing flowers), we’re going to cut off the scapes. Use them like chives to give a gentle garlic flavor to scrambled eggs or stir-fry.

Harvesting Garlic: What to Look For

Next, you’re going to keep an eye on the leaves. When the bottom leaves start to turn brown, stop watering the garlic patch. This is usually 2-3 weeks after you’ve cut off the scapes.

I’ve had the best success with using a shovel or fork and reaching down between the rows to lift the bulbs out gently.

Harvesting Garlic: Digging

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Now I use a homemade drying rack (that looks suspiciously like a baby gate) and it works perfectly.

Curing Garlic

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Before setting the garlic out to cure, dust off any chunks of dirt. Leave the roots and paper intact, and cut off the stems about halfway up.

It’s sitting a few inches off the ground so it has good air circulation, and is inside the house and out of the sun.

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