Garlic Maturing Early
 

I was surprised to see some of my Asiatics and Turbans beginning to lodge. Checked them and found almost full-sized bulbs. My Chinese Pink is 2" and others are nearly as large. Last year I harvested the early types between 6/18 and 6/29. I'll let mine go another week, but no way will they last that long this year. I'll chalk it up to our unusually mild winter and balmy March. Anyone else having similar experience?

BTW, my maturity gauge for harvest varies based on type. I still have a hard time getting top-sized Rocamboles, but otherwise it has worked pretty well for me in the past.

Asiatics - as soon as leaves begin to turn brown - don't wait for 40%
Turban - just after Asiatics, a week or so after seed head emerges
Artichoke - 1/2 leaves brown
Standard PS - 1/3 leaves brown
Marbled PS - 2/3 leaves brown
Porcelain - 1/3 leaves brown
Rocambole - 1/3 leaves brown
Silverskin - 1/2 leaves brown

This is info I garnered from various sources, notably Ron Engeland's book and the Heirloom Vegetable Archive ([url]http://sev.lternet.edu/~jnekola/Heirloom/[/url]) which has an excellent section on garlic.

I picked mine this week, in Northern Illinois.

Yep. Those look like they were ready. What types are they?

[QUOTE=Masbustelo;278035]I picked mine this week, in Northern Illinois.[/QUOTE]

Red Janice soft neck.

Really at first I thought maybe a cat had rolled on them and knocked them down. It is so early I wasn't looking for them to be done. So I quick pulled them and planted corn where they had been.

Wow- I need to take a closer look tomorrow- wasn't even thinking they'd be ready until July. They are still standing upright but I was concerned that some lower leaves were looking yellow. Guess it wouldn't be a good time to fertilize, then. Your maturity gauge will be very helpful- thanks!

kath

My artichoke garlic was early last year. This year it seems to be way behind with about a third of the leaves brown now. I dug around them to get and idea of how big they are and was pretty diappointed with their size. The good news is there's still a few more weeks for them to fatten up. I just gave them a good soil drench with some liquid organic fert.

Damon

odd picture, i never saw galic lay over like onions.

no sign of scapes, harvest isn't even close.

tom

I know so little about garlic! This is our second year growing it, and I've gotten the same kind both years from my local garden center. They just called it "late italian". Last year, it did get scapes, so I guess I'll wait for those to appear again before checking them. We harvested it in late July last year. They are still mostly green this year, but I expect they will be ready earlier this year...

I pulled my garlic a week earlier this year...[IMG]http://i272.photobucket.com/albums/jj163/hunt-john/gardening/024.jpg[/IMG]

I got scapes this week, which is very early for me. turban is starting to bulb, but porcelains and purple stripes arent bulbing yet. rocambole will be later still. i added a lot of organic N at planting and didnt have much precipitation over the winter, no snow cover, so the effect was not a mild winter, but there was an early spring. rocambole seemed to be the least cold tolerant.

Scapes are early this year and I picked a handful tonight - tossed them with some EV olive oil, curry, and salt, and grilled them. Of course they needed something to go with them, so I threw a full rack of lamb on the grill, along with some baked potatoes, and washed it all down with some Washington State pinot noir. This was capped with some Bailley's cheese cake and a 1995 vintage port. Ahhhaaaaaaa!!!

Much of life falls into two categories - needs and wants. Happiness is focusing for a while on the wants.

:D:roll::lol::);)

TomNJ

LOL Tom, I never thought of rack of lamb as a side dish!

I am getting scapes, this is only my 2nd year growing garlic. I yanked one bulb a week ago desperate for some garlic to cook with and too lazy to drive to the grocery store. Still needs to bulk up, but above ground is looking like it will be ready soon.

Will they rot if left in too long?

They won't rot but will lose their wrappers and sprout. You'll want to dig them while there are still some green leaves. Each leaf represents a wrapper around the bulb and if all the leaves die off, so will the wrappers. I dig when at least three leaves are mostly green.

TomNJ

My garlic seems early too.

Fall planted garlic never had the leaves die back - first time for me.

I planted some Metechi in December (bad I know but what can you do when they arrive in the mail?) and they look fabulous! No scapes on those yet.

I also planted seeds in December and think they shall produce decent rounds.

I had some garlic lay down like onions, but assumed it was the neighbor kids' basketballs - ugh. Re-evaluating the garlic bed placement for next season. We also have raccoons that seem to visit and wrestle in the "worst" locations.

Thanks for the harvest gauge!