Growing Garlic: 7 Tasks for Spring
The garlic you planted last fall is happily populating your landscape with vertical green spikes. What should you do in the spring to ensure a robust summer harvest of plump garlic bulbs? Here are seven spring gardening tasks:
- Remove surrounding weeds. When the soil begins to warm in the spring, weeds can become very problematic;,removing weeds eliminates competition and encourages bulb development. For best results, dig weeds out with a thin trowel.
- Provide supplemental fertility between February and the end of March. Providing supplemental fertility after the end of March will result in poor quality bulbs.
- Harvest scapes from hardneck varieties in late spring. removing scapes will prevent garlic plants from directing energy into the scape and away from the developing bulb. Remove the scape from just above the garlic leaves.
- Cook the harvested scapes. Since you have harvested them, you might as well cook them! Garlic scapes can be grilled or sauteed. Scapes have a mild garlic flavor; incorporate them into scape pesto or dip. Use them as you would asparagus. Garlic scapes store in the refrigerator for up to a month.
- Consider including garlic scapes in a bouquet of cut flowers to add a sculptural or whimsical ingredient.
- Mark your calendar! Garlic planted in fall should be ready for harvest in mid-summer.
- Plan for curing and storing your garlic. Remember that garlic must be properly stored before curing.
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