The Life Cycle of Garlic, From Sprout to Storage
When I started growing garlic alongside other crops like growing radishes, I learned garlic has a long and beautiful journey. It all begins when cloves are planted around Halloween, pointy-side up in well-mulched soil. In springtime, little sprouts emerge, shooting up stalks that look flat like leeks, and by mid spring, you see signs of green garlic — soft stems and curved leaves — not unlike a green onion in shape. Each plant builds its energy, pulling nutrients from the ground, and over weeks, that one clove becomes a full garlic bulb, tucked neatly under the field surface.
By June and into July, strange curly tendrils called garlic scapes appear. These curlicue-shaped tops are actually the future flower — if left alone, they would bloom into little puff-ball heads. But us farmers cut them off by hand to help the bulb grow larger. We group them into bunches, include some in a CSA box, and enjoy using them for flavorful pesto, butter, or as a sharp garlic twist in the kitchen. If not eaten right away, I freeze some to enjoy through winter. Every year, I even leave a few indicator plants uncut, just to see when the rest are ready — when the flower is visible, it means the garlic underneath is nearly done.
We pull the mature bulbs from the soil, often dusty on the roots, and lay them on ventilated racks in the barn to cure. After about two weeks, they’re now cured garlic, with papery skin, ideal for long storage in a cool, dark, and dry place. From there, we shuck the garlic cloves, saving the largest as garlic seed for next season. It’s always tempting to eat your best ones, but if you want high quality future crops, you set aside the seed stock. Compared to the little grocery store stuff, real locally grown garlic is more juicy, sharp, and full of flavor. This whole process takes months, and it’s why we value every bulb we grow just like we value the stages of every crop.
Garlic’s Growth Journey
When growing glorious garlic, you’ll first notice long, thin, pointy green sprouts that shoot up from the garlic clove like chives or blades of grass, resembling micro-scallions — they might even make beginners wonder if they’re accidentally growing radishes instead! Garlic takes 8 to 9 months to grow from planting in the fall through a cool overwintering season, until harvest in late spring or early summer, depending on your soil and weather. You’ll know it’s time to harvest when the lower leaves turn brown and start to dry, the stem begins laying over, and if you’re growing hardneck varieties, the scape (or flower stalk) will have curled and then straightened. The bulb reaches its full size in the last 3–4 weeks, and harvesting during a dry period ensures the garlic lifts cleanly for better results in both cooking and curing.
