Garlic is an easy to grow plant. Plant it toward the end of October or first part of November to harvest in summer. Like other members of the genus Allium, garlic survives nicely over winter.

Garlic puts up lovely bloom pods in early to mid-summer, depending on the Texas weather. The long, curly bloom stalks, or scapes, of hardneck garlic are edible, and many people cook with them or eat them sprinkled in salads. The scapes take quite a bit of energy from the bulb, so cut them off to direct the plant’s energy to the bulb instead of to flowering.

As the bottom leaves of the garlic plant start to turn brown (roughly one-third to one-half the leaves at the bottom will turn brown), it is time to harvest. If you fear the garlic is not quite ready to harvest, loosen the soil above the bulb and feel to see if the bulb has matured to a nice size. If you think it needs to grow a little longer before harvesting, just test again in a week or so. In North Texas, June is generally the best time to harvest garlic, but an unusually warm spring may affect that. Testing the bulb is very important to be sure the garlic does not stay in the ground too long.

To harvest a garlic bulb, use a garden fork or shovel to carefully spade around the garlic. Some people prefer to use their hands if the soil is nice and loose. You will probably need to use a shovel or spade in our clay soils, but exercise caution so you don’t dig too close to the bulb and injure the cloves. Dig four or five inches away from the stalk. Once you have loosened the plant, gently pull on it as you brush away excess soil. If you have had rain, wait until the soil dries out a bit before you harvest. You do not want to introduce too much moisture if you want to store the garlic.

Once you harvest the garlic, tie the plants in groups of five or six and hang them in a  dry, shady place with good air flow. A garage is a good place to hang the garlic clusters. If the weather is dry and warm, you probably need to hang the bunches for one to two weeks. Once the roots appear to be fully dry, take the clusters down and place them in a container that is well-ventilated. Garlic usually stores for at least six to nine months.

When digging the garlic, you may notice tiny bulblets falling off with some of the soil. That is fine; those bulblets will “replant” future garlic harvests. If you have left over garlic, you can also take a few cloves and simply plant them in prepared soil the following October. Either way, you will have another wonderful garlic harvest the next year.