Hi Quirkpod, I have just pruned off my scapes per the instructions that came with my bulbs. This is a portion of an article I found online. Hope this helps! HARVESTING Many people make a big mistake at this point. They wait too long to harvest. Keeping garlic in the ground beyond a certain point does not result in bigger bulbs, but rather dried out, split and nearly useless ones. When to harvest? When the lower third to half of the leaves have turned brown, but there are still mostly green leaves higher on the plant, it's time to harvest. Others suggest harvesting when the hardneck scapes are standing straight up but before the pods containing the bulbils open up. You can always test dig one or two plants. You should be able to see the shape of the cloves beginning to bulge through the wrapper. On the High Plains, depending on the weather, harvest can begin as early as the first week of July. There is also a two to three week difference in the harvest dates of the several varieties. So watch you plants carefully. To get the bulb out of the ground, don't just try to pull them. The stalk will break. You must dig, using a pitchfork or the like in order to loosen the soil. Then you can lift the entire plant out of the ground. Don't let the bulb stay in the sun very long as it will sun scald, which reduces its quality. For our larger fields here at Yucca Ridge our very clever neighbor Bob has modified an ancient potato picker which actually does an excellent job at extracting the plants. (It really helps to move in next to a guy who likes to weld things and is so clever he makes you feel quite inferior, which of course you can't admit to him....... why am I getting into this?) Incidentally, many people wonder if the scapes should be cut in order to increase bulb size? For elephants the answer is definitely yes. For hardnecks, yes appears to be the correct answer also, although some varieties seem less affected by leaving the scape attached. Cut them generally just before the scape has fully extended (or the coils in the Rocamboles have started uncurling). When still young, the scapes are considered good eating by some.

Hi! You'll definitely want to check out www.territorialseed.com an OR company - they have a great print winter catalog with growing hints. Their web site has a special winter gardening section. Per their grow chart, you can still direct seed Arugula, spring cabbage, carrots, corn salad, spring peas/favas, lettuce, mustard greens, and radishes. And of course garlic! Having said that, the last couple of years I've been experimenting with fall/winter gardens. Arugula does great. Have not had luck with the overwintering crops planted in July/August like cabbage and broccoli - they get all chewed up by slugs. Fava beans and peas croaked from the cold. I am sure I am colder than you, though. So, other successes planted this late are: lettuces/greens. Some of these will grow slowly all winter under plastic cover, and burst into growth in early Feb. Some, like Arugula, Cracoviensis lettuce, Siberian Kale, will grow enough, if you plant enough, to harvest enough leaves for salad - or at least additives to store-bought. Beets, carrots planted earlier do great left in the ground fall/winter. Minus is going into the garden in the dark after work when it is raining to harvest root crops out of the mud LOL! I continue to experiment. This year I am seeing if I can get snow peas to bear under plastic this fall.

In zone eight we always plant garlic in the fall but I'm not sure about your zone. I usually harvest garlic mid summer when all but about seven of the leaves have turned brown. Pull them up and let them dry out in a shady spot for a week or so until all of the leaves dry. At that point you can use it or store it for the winter. It will last from four to ten months or so depending on variety. Onions from sets usually do better as green onions rather than bulb onions. The green onions can be harvested all winter if the ground isnt frozen. If the onions don't go to seed in the summer they will start to grow large bulbs and when the tops start to die down they are ready to pull. Good luck. Theresa.

You didn't say what kind of garlic? Assuming it's a hard neck variety. I've been growing French Music for about 15 years and my rule is 25% brown, dig it! If the ground is wet, it'll dig easier, and you have a drying process to still go through. When I started growing it, I harvested in July by the above rule. In recent years, it's about a month earlier, even though I still plant in mid October. Good luck, Ev