"John S. DeBoo" wrote in message
...

Newbie garlic grower question:
When is garlic ready to be harvested in the first place? I read
somewhere(?) to let the stalks turn brown and dry, then pluck the
garlic
from the ground. You just covered the drying process-thanx. I'm
doing some
(first time) this year and the plants are growing faster than weeds.
FWIW
I'm E of you in Abq.

Top setting garlic (hardneck) should be harvested when most, but not
all, of the leaves have turned brown leaving 3-5 green leaf blades.
Each leaf represents a wrapper around the bulb and, if all have died,
the cloves separate from the bulb in the ground and becomes susceptible
to rotting and insects. It isn't quite so critical with the soft neck
types. Temps in Albq are starting to get into the 90s and the leaves
brown up pretty fast when it gets hot so I would guess around mid June.
It was more like after mid May for me in Phx.. -Olin