[thumb:585:l] The garlic is all harvested. A couple weeks ago some of the plants had fallen over so I had harvested those. Since the bulbs were a bit on the smaller side we went back to watering the others. But now those plants also started to fall over. I don’t know if they just got too tall or what. They look healthy, just toppled over. I hadn’t read about garlic doing that. I might have left them but the apartment complex has landscapers that ride around on a big mower. Since the plants had toppled out over the lawn I didn’t want them mowed up.
I noticed digging them up — gently! — that the thicker stalks have bigger bulbs. I guess it makes sense but it’ll help us judge in the future about the bulb size. Eventually I think you’d develop a feel for when the plants are ready for harvest. I’ve already tried one of the bulbs fresh in a salad after the initial harvest. Very yummy. We ended up with 34 bulbs out of 36 cloves planted. It is Inchelium garlic, from Ferry County. I’ll save the best bulbs for replanting late Fall.
The top toppling is the garlic’s signal that they are done and ready to harvest. We start harvesting when about a fourth of the plants topple. Once they start there really is no way to make them stop or get them to grow bigger.
Thanks, that’s good to know. The sheet that came with the garlic about growing it didn’t mention the plants toppling over. They sure smell good.
The best way to insure bigger bulbs is to save your biggest and best bulbs for planting the next fall. That’s Irene and I have done for almost 20 years and her garlic is unbelievable, people ask if it’s that elephant garlic it’s so big.