When to harvest garlic: how to tell when it's time

Garlic is not only a delicious and flavorful seasoning, but also a very healthy root vegetable. It is quite easy to grow, but to get a quality harvest, you need not only to plant and care for the vegetable properly, but also to dig it up in time.

Incorrect harvesting time can lead to a loss of flavor and reduced shelf life of garlic. That's why the Urozhay chain of stores has shared tips on how to tell when the harvest is ripe.

Types of garlic

There are two subspecies of garlic: shooting and non-shooting. They, in turn, are already divided by the time of planting into winter and spring.

As a rule, winter varieties ripen at the end of July, about 2-3 weeks earlier, but are stored worse than spring varieties. In addition, they have a 1.5 times higher yield and a sharper taste.

How to determine that garlic is ripe

One of the main signs of garlic ripening is the change in leaf color. If the lower leaves are completely yellow, and the middle leaves have changed color by a quarter or a third, then you can start harvesting garlic.

If you have no experience growing garlic, you can start digging up a few roots in mid-July and check to see if it's time to harvest.

When the garlic is ripe, the outer shell is already dry, but still holds the cloves firmly. And if the shell is juicy and rises high to the stem, the garlic is not yet ripe.

If you harvest garlic too late, its upper scales will crack and the heads will break into teeth, making it unsuitable for long-term storage.

How to dig up garlic correctly

20 days before harvesting, you need to reduce the watering of garlic, but the soil should be kept moderately moist. Also, shortly before digging up the vegetables, it is worth turning the soil a little to speed up their ripening.

Garlic is usually removed from the soil using a garden pitchfork, gently prying it from the side. It is best to do this in dry weather, but if it has been dry for a long time, it is advisable to water the garden before digging.

The dug garlic is laid out in rows so that the leaves of the second row cover the heads of the first. Dry for 2-3 days on one side, and then the same amount of time on the other. Then you need to cut off the roots and leaves, leaving a stump 4-5 cm long, and put the garlic in a storage place.

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