I'll leave the rest alone. Last year my softnecks were ready in June. I have
other varieties but they are all still green.

My garlic got an early start this year. We had a lot of rain followed by a couple of weeks of very hot weather, caused a lot of sunburn on the young leaves. It's gonna be difficult this year to tell when the leaves are 3/4 dry.
:?

The key is to have [U]some[/U] green leaves as each leaf represents a wrapper layer on the bulb (the wrappers are below ground extensions of the leaves). When a leaf turns brown, a layer of wrapper also dies. Commercial growers like to leave 5-6 green leaves as they lose several wrappers during handling and shipping. Home growers can afford to harvest with only 2-3 wrapper layers around the bulb and therefore leave the plants in the ground a little longer.

In many cases some leaves are partially brown, yellow and green, so I look for at least three leaves to be mostly green. Nothing to be too concerned about, however, as I understand there is not much if any bulb growth between five green leaves and three.

TomNJ

Simplest check is to dig the soil away with your hand and check that the cloves are nice and fat they should feel nice and bumpy if you wait to late and conditions are wet the wrappers can become a problem. We grow garlic for a living and a week to ten days depending on variety seems to be the window for getting the garlic out of the ground in best condition.

Happy garlic growing and check often when you think they are getting close.

Henry

that is a great piece of garlic roper .. mine seems to be doing real well but i see no signs of scapes yet i know im growing music and german red id say about 50 to 60 heads

Thanks, I can't wait to taste it, but I think you have to cure it
for 3 weeks first. This spanish roja grew so much faster than
the other varieties. Garlic seems to mature quickly here in my
zone 8. I am hoping to find a variety that stores well, so I can
replant in fall.

[QUOTE=stonysoilseeds;277828]that is a great piece of garlic roper .. mine seems to be doing real well but i see no signs of scapes yet i know im growing music and german red id say about 50 to 60 heads[/QUOTE]

The scapes just started growing on mine two days ago, so you should be seeing them soon.

It was Scapes Alfredo for dinner, a few days ago.

I'm with Tom, 3 green leaves left, and it's time to harvest. About the 4th of July, or a little later, for me.

Tormato

[QUOTE=roper2008;277831]Thanks, I can't wait to taste it, but I think you have to cure it for 3 weeks first. [/QUOTE]

you can eat it immediately, you cure it for 3-4 weeks for better storage. if you grow only enough for a couple of months then i would be too concerned about curing it.

tom

[QUOTE=tjg911;279806]you can eat it immediately, you cure it for 3-4 weeks for better storage. if you grow only enough for a couple of months then i would be too concerned about curing it.

tom[/QUOTE]

I thought another reason for curing was to draw sugar from the leaves
into the cloves. I would like to save some for fall planting, but don't know
if this variety will last that long.

[QUOTE=roper2008;279848] I would like to save some for fall planting, but don't know if this variety will last that long.[/QUOTE]

If it's your Spanish Roja that you're wondering about, it should last well past fall planting time. Mine from last summer's harvest was still in good shape this spring. I finally planted most of the leftover cloves in early May to grow into rounds (single bulbs that won't divide into cloves) over the summer and be replanted this fall. I never tried that before, we'll see how it goes. The Music and German White didn't store as well, the tops of the cloves started to shrivel over the winter. I don't know if I will keep growing them as they aren't as productive as the Spanish Roja either.

Thanks for the info. I will save the two largest bulbs for fall planting.

[QUOTE=bcday;279860]If it's your Spanish Roja that you're wondering about, it should last well past fall planting time. Mine from last summer's harvest was still in good shape this spring. I finally planted most of the leftover cloves in early May to grow into rounds (single bulbs that won't divide into cloves) over the summer and be replanted this fall. I never tried that before, we'll see how it goes. The Music and German White didn't store as well, the tops of the cloves started to shrivel over the winter. I don't know if I will keep growing them as they aren't as productive as the Spanish Roja either.[/QUOTE]

bcday,

spanish roja is a rocambole and rocamboles don't store as long as porcelains which is what music and german red are. i'm not saying you are wrong just that i'm surprised by your storage. my music and german red store much longer than any rocamboles i grow. i never grew spanish roja. what other rocamboles have you grown that store as long as porcelains? i wish my rocamboles would store longer than the porcelains because rocamboles are much better tasting than porcelains, probably the best of all garlic types.

tom

tom

[QUOTE=tjg911;280068]bcday,
spanish roja is a rocambole and rocamboles don't store as long as porcelains which is what music and german red are. i'm not saying you are wrong just that i'm surprised by your storage. my music and german red store much longer than any rocamboles i grow. i never grew spanish roja. what other rocamboles have you grown that store as long as porcelains? i wish my rocamboles would store longer than the porcelains because rocamboles are much better tasting than porcelains, probably the best of all garlic types.
tom[/QUOTE]

Umm, I take it you meant German *white* (not *red*) is a porcelain? I know porcelains are supposed to store longer than rocamboles but that wasn't the way it worked out here, and I was surprised too. Spanish Roja was the only rocambole I grew last year. For this year I did add a couple more including German Red, lol, so we'll see. Another variety that outlasted German White and Music in storage was Chesnok Red. I still have a couple of small bulbs of Spanish Roja and Chesnok Red in a jar on the kitchen counter and they are showing green sprouting tips about 1/4" long but the cloves are still solid and not shriveled halfway down the clove the way Music and German White were.