When Is the Right Time To Harvest Garlic?

When you look at a garlic plant, you'll see leaves going up both sides of the stem. Each leaf corresponds to a layer around the bulb that's growing underground; the lower leaves are the outside layer.

When the bottom several leaves have turned brown and dried, then you know that the outside layers of the bulb are also dry and papery. This is the right time to lift them. Take a look at the photo below of a garlic plant that is definitely ready for harvest:



Now look at the photos below of garlic plants that are close but not yet ready for harvest. Note that most or all of the bottom leaves are still green and vibrant.



To harvest, you can't just yank the plant out of the ground like you would a carrot. Such rough handling would surely damage that nice protective layer. Instead, loosen the soil around it with a garden fork, spade, or shovel. Once loosened, you can gently lift the bulb out.



Once harvested, I like to lay my garlic out and lightly brush off any dirt, and sort them by size and variety, and then I braid long chains of garlics together.



To cure garlic, you want it to dry out, but you don't want it to get baked by the sun. Hanging garlic under a porch is a great place to cure it.

Once I have a nice long chain of braided garlic, I'll suspend it from a line under my porch (where it's out of direct sun) and let it air dry for several weeks. Once it feels really nicely dried, I'll cut them off one by one and place them in net bags and hang them up in the pantry until they are ready to use. There may be better ways to store them (fridge, basement, cellar, etc) and I'd love to hear from others on the best place for storing them.