How To Harvest Spring Planted Garlic

8th Aug 2024

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August, March, Shorts, Veg – Garlic – Spring

I really needed to plant some Garlic this year but I’d missed the usual Autumn planting months of September to November,

So I decided to try Spring Planted Garlic planted in March but would I actually get any Garlic cloves?

(See my original post earlier this year – Growing Spring Planting Garlic in Mid March – Is it too late to grow?)

It is not normally favoured to grow Garlic in the ground this near to Spring because it is thought that to ‘Set’ Garlic or make an individual Clove of Garlic grow into a Bulb of Garlic (I.e lots of individual cloves clumped together), the planted garlic clove has to have been through a period of Hard Frost where the ground freezes.

Planting in almost Spring – I planted on 9 March there was definitely No Frost, so according to the internet, I would only be left with the same Garlic Clove I had planted but fatter.

I decided to go All In anyway and try planting Spring Garlic (I love an experiment) and my results were quite unexpected but great!

Spring Planted Garlic – Plant & Harvest Summary

Planted Cloves direct into the ground: 9 March.
Harvested bulbs: 4 August. (Can be harvested Late July to Early August).

If you need to know how to Harvest any type of Garlic, my video below will be able to help you.

How do I know when my Garlic is ready to Harvest?

Easy, your Garlic plants will produce Garlic Scapes (which look like flower stems) from the centre of the leaves and stalk. These will need to be cut off and can be used to make pesto or can be fried and added to dishes, they have a mild garlic taste.

Need to know more about Garlic Scapes? My handy quick video shows you exactly how you cut off the scapes – What are Garlic Scapes?

Once you have cut off your garlic scapes, the stems and leaves will dye back and go brown and crispy within the next 2 weeks. They can be kept in the ground a few more weeks if necessary or just harvest them.

What do I Need to Harvest Garlic?

You Will Need:

A Hand Fork to dig the garlic out,
Secateurs to cut the stems off.
Harvest Bowl or Basket to dry them as they will have mud on. Once dry you can dust the mud off and pull apart the individual cloves
Garlic Storage – I have this Garlic Storage Tin that sits on my kitchen worktop.

How To Harvest Any Type of Garlic (mine are Spring Planted)

1. Using your Hand Fork, place it in the soil, a little away from the stalk (so you don’t pierce a garlic clove with the fork).

Push the hand fork in the soil and pivot under the roots. Dig down and across until the roots release from the soil.

How to Harvest Spring Garlic Video

2. Lift the garlic stalk out of the soil to reveal your harvest.

3. As you can see from my video, my garlic cloves are small due to them being Spring Planted but I have been able to grow a bulb which is lots of individual garlic cloves.

Autumn planted garlic will have larger bulbs and individual cloves.

4. I cut off the garlic stems with a pair of secateurs down to the top of the bulb. Warning they will smell the house of with garlic, so put a plate on top of your harvest bowl to keep the smell in.

5. Leave to dry in your harvest bowl for a day or two and then brush off the soil and pick apart into individual cloves.

6. Store in a tin with ventilation holes so your garlic cloves don’t go mouldy.

7. Use in cooking as required.