Tag: garlic scapes

It’s Garlic Time!

If you’ve followed my blog at all, you know I love to grow garlic. I recently harvested this season’s crop and right now is the perfect time to order your garlic bulbs for fall planting.

While a lot of things in the garden didn’t do well this year, it was a banner year for garlic in my home garden, but unfortunately not so much in the Wisconsin garden. I grew two hardneck varieties this year, Purple Glazer and Music, both from Territorial Seeds. Before planting, I replenished the soil with some new garden soil and compost. After a while, soil in raised beds sink and new soil and nutrients need to be added.

Garlic comes in two types, hardneck and softneck. Hardneck varieties require some time in frozen ground, so are not recommended for warmer climates. In the spring, they produce a tall edible stem called a “scape” and are generally known for their stronger taste. Softneck varieties tend to grow in a wider variety of climates, last longer in storage and are good for braiding. They also tend to be a little milder in taste. For whatever reason, I’ve had much better luck with hardneck varieties in my northern Zone 5b garden.

Late spring, the garlic scapes appeared.

Garlic scapes are the garlic flower stalks that twist and turn when young, and end with a terminal pod containing garlic bulbils. It’s these young, tender, twisting and turning scapes that are a delicacy to eat. Removing them also tells the garlic to put its energy into making the garlic bulb and not producing new seeds.

Mid summer, when the lower leaves are starting to turn brown, but the upper level are still green, the garlic is ready to harvest. Harvesting the garlic is easy, but you need to be gentle.  Unlike onions, you can’t just yank it out of the ground.  Too easy to damage the head or accidentally tear off the leaves.  Garlic also cures better when the leaves are still on.

So grab a trowel and dig gently around the bulbs to loosen the soil.  Be careful not to hit the heads and damage the tight cluster of cloves.

Then it’s time to find a spot to cure the garlic so that it’ll be ready to store for the winter.  Garlic should be cured in a protected area, like a garage or porch, out of direct sunlight and where there is reasonable air circulation.  It should be hung with the leaves and roots still attached. Even some dirt is fine.  I hung mine in the screen porch.  On particularly hot days, I turn on the overhead fan to keep the air circulating. After 3-4 weeks, I’ll trim the leaves and roots, and gently clean off the remaining dirt. Then I’ll store it in a cool, dry spot to use all winter.

Now that I’ve harvested this year’s crop, time to plan for next year. I’ve already placed my order for Music and Duganski garlic from Territorial Seeds.

I’ve had really good luck with Music, which is a mid-season porcelain type. It’s one of the larger garlics I’ve grown, has creamy white cloves, a medium hot, true garlic flavor and has a long shelf life. Duganski is similar to the Purple Glazer I grew this year, both being mid-season purple stripe types, but is a bit stronger flavored. I love the beautiful purple cloves that purple stripe types have, but thought I’d try something little different this year.

Garlic doesn’t ship until late September or early October depending on your location, so I have a little bit to wait until they arrive. Good thing because its spot is currently growing a second season of beets and swiss chard.

Want to grow garlic this year? I’d recommend ordering soon for best selection. I’ve had good experiences with garlic from Territorial Seeds, Botanical Interests, and Burpee. Just don’t plant the garlic you buy in the grocery store!

Want more information in growing garlic? Check out some of my other garlic posts or get tips from:

Me checking out the early garlic!

Harvesting Garlic Scapes

Last year I ventured into the world of growing garlic for the first time (Planting Garlic and Warding Off the Vampires).  It was great having homegrown garlic all winter, and even into early spring.

terra cotta garlic keeper

I am totally sold on how much better homegrown is than the store bought variety, and it couldn’t be easier to grow.  This past fall, I planted another crop of garlic, this time planting Music and Purple Glazer hardneck garlic varieties and Susanville softneck garlic (Another Fall Crop In the Ground).  I doubled the amount I grew last year since I had space both here at home and in my Door County, WI garden.

Last fall brought the early green shoots that sprout before winter sets in.

garlic

This spring, it became obvious that none of the Susanville survived in either location and I’m not sure why.  Maybe it was too cold late in the late winter/spring.

But that serves as a good reminder to plant more than one variety when testing something new in your vegetable garden.  Spring also came a little later to Door County, so those plants have been a couple of weeks behind the ones at home.

garlic

And that turned out be a good thing for harvesting scapes this year.

garlic scapes

Scapes are the garlic flower stalks that twist and turn when young, and end with a terminal pod containing garlic bulbils.  It’s these young, tender, twisting and turning scapes that are a delicacy to eat.  Removing them also tells the garlic to put its energy into making the garlic bulb and not producing new seeds.

Last year, I totally missed the season and the scapes grew straight and woody.  I also didn’t really know what to do with them, so ended up cutting them off and throwing them in the compost pile.

This year I was ready, but went on vacation and came back to straight, tall, woody scapes! Ugh!!

garlic scapes

I had missed it again!  But I did have another opportunity.  I was hoping that since the WI garden was a couple of weeks behind, I might have better timing.

garlic scapes

Success!!

garlic scapes

I harvested them by snapping the scapes off at the base near the first set of leaves.  Then removed the swollen tip, and the rest is ready to use.  I used the first small batch to season some sauteed spinach with pine nuts.

garlic scapes

I usually find that garlic overpowers the spinach, but the scapes were perfect.  Just a delicate hint of garlic to jazz up the spinach.  For more recipe ideas, check out my Pinterest page.

The rest I’m going to coarsely chop, blanch for 20 seconds in boiling water and freeze to use later.

garlic scapes

The production of scapes also means that garlic is almost ready to harvest.

garlic

Ideally, garlic should be harvested when there are 5-6 green leaves remaining and the rest brown.  Fewer green leaves mean fewer wrappers keeping the bulbs tight and ultimately healthier for storage.  I’m anxious to again have garlic hanging on the porch to cure (Warding Off The Vampires).  But in the meantime, I’m enjoying the little tease of garlic that the scapes are giving me.

 

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