Organic gardening is a way of growing crops without the addition of any artificial aids or fertilizers. The crops are allowed to grow naturally in conditions that prevail . Organic gardening is environmentally friendly and the produce from it is healthier and quite often tastier.

Garlic as a crop

Garlic is one of the crops that is easy to grow organically in your home garden. Planting it in during the fall and harvesting it during the middle of summer can get you the best results. You can plant later in the spring, but then harvesting can only be done around the end of August. To get a high yielding garlic crop you need to use a good organic soil, and also ensure that weeding is done and the crop is properly watered.

Harvesting of Garlic

Harvesting can start in late July for garlic that has been planted in the fall. The watering of the garlic plants should be stopped three weeks before the harvesting time, which will depend on when the garlic is planted. If you have the right soil structure and have covered it with the proper mulch the plant will get moisture from the water retained in the soil and mulch.

Once the watering has been stopped the leaves will start to change color to a gold or yellowish brown shade. Once this process starts, examine the bulbs for their size and wrapping by removing some soil at the base of the plant. The bulbs will grow to their full size and the crop is ready for harvesting once nearly half the leaves have turned brown.

Harvest the garlic using a shovel or spade to make the soil loose and then pull out the garlic bulbs by holding on to the leaves. Be careful not to bruise the garlic bulbs as they get damaged quite easily. Remove the soil from the garlic bulbs by brushing if your soil is sandy loam. Clayey soils may require the use of a gentle spray of water to loosen and remove the soil. Cut the roots till they are just a quarter of an inch long and remove all soil that is on the bulbs and leaves.

Curing Garlic

Your clean garlic now needs to be cured. You would require at least two weeks for this so that the curing is complete before you can then store the garlic for the winter. Hang them up in bundles with 10 or 12 bulbs in each, or spread them out over a wire mesh so that they can dry in the air. The place where you keep them for curing should be well ventilated, but away from the sunlight. Once the curing process is over you can remove the stalks and store the garlic, or even braid the stalks and store the braided garlic.

Storing Garlic

Garlic is best stored at temperatures of about 35 degrees Fahrenheit. Even a room temperature of 60 to 70 degrees Fahrenheit is suitable if the humidity is low. Garlic should never be refrigerated, as this could cause premature growth. Garlic stores for up to 12 months though pickling varieties would need to be consumed within 6 months.

Learn more about this author, Maggi Thomas.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.

---

Add your voice

Know something about When to harvest garlic?
We want to hear your view. Write now!