It was last October, shortly before Halloween 2008, that I planted my garlic, and it still isn’t ready yet. Many readers have written in to ask how to know when garlic is ready. Some clients have been asking all spring about planting garlic, and I’ve been telling them they need to wait until Fall. And, they’ll need some patience. Garlic takes almost as many months to mature as a human fetus (that’s about 9 if you didn’t know). So, here’s a little rundown on garlic.
Tubs of Newly Planted Garlic in October 2008
All of the varieties I planted are hardnecks, and the scapes have been rolling in for the last few weeks. The scapes have been an unexpected treat. I knew I’d be pinching them out and using them to cook this spring, but somehow the idea that I’d have fresh garlic before I had ripened bulbs hadn’t completely connected for me. So, they have been a treat. I’ve used them to saute fresh snowpeas and king boletes. They’ve been included in garlic-sorrel vinaigrettes for salads. I’ve mixed them with fresh rosemary, sage and thyme to rub on pork loin. Really, they work equally well as a chopped garlic clove. Sometimes I think they may even be better. And, it is important to pinch the scapes out or the cloves within the bulbs won’t achieve maximum growth.
One side note: I did plant a clove of elephant garlic. It sprouted in fall, but it turned to mush after the hard winter snows. So, no elephants in the garden this summer.
Here’s the concept: a plant forms a flower, in this case a garlic scape. If the flower opens and is pollinated, the plant throws a huge amount of energy into forming seed. As it does this, it won’t put much energy at this time into rooting or storage of energy into the roots. So, in the case of garlic, if the potential to form seed is removed by pinching out an unopened, unfertilized, seedless scape, the plant then throws its energy into maximizing its growth potential by beefing up its bulb before it goes dormant. It knows that by storing maximum energy in its root, it has more chance of putting on stronger flowers in the following year to then spread its seed. Plants are patient. What they don’t realize is we’re patient too, just waiting for the bulbs to fill out and the top growth to whither in summer. That’s when we harvest the bulbs! (more…)
