You might remember I planted my garlic in november last year. And earlier this month I harvested my first young garlic. Today it was time to harvest the first real garlic. Some of them were really ready to harvest, and with a few I’m a bit early. I decided to harvest 8 garlic heads anyway as they were planted on spots where we now water the garden. Normally you should stop watering garlic and onions at one point as they might rot now. As I couldn’t take away the watering system I decided to take out 1/4 of the harvest now and start drying it.

 

garlic harvest2

I think these guys will be ok. It’s so great to see the formed cloves. Next step is braiding them, but I’ll wait with that till the end of the week, when I’ll harvest all of them. For now they are drying in open air, under shelter on the north side of our house. That’s exactly the right kind of place where you should dry them.

Btw, do you see the intruder? It’s a white onion that I sowed last year! It’s also the first full grown onion I’ve ever harvested. This years main onion crop will come in a few months. I’m very excited about it. I know, I know, I’m excited about everything that comes out of the veggie garden.

You might also be wondering when you have to harvest the garlic. I think there are a few guidelines, many people use different ones. I think the most important one is that you should take it out when about 60% of the leaves are turned brownish. You often will also feel that the stem is getting more dry. If you pinch the stem right above the head, it should feel dry, but not completely dry.

I hope it helps you to determine when you should start harvesting. When I will have harvested everything I’ll show you how my braided garlic looks. Can’t wait!