Harvesting MASSIVE Elephant Garlic & My Top 3 Growing Tips
It's been about eight months since we planted this elephant garlic, so let's dig it up and see what we have! Sign up for our newsletter here: https://sandiegoseedcompany.com/newsl... Buy garlic seeds here: https://sandiegoseedcompany.com/produ... 0:16 Intro 1:08 Harvesting 3:15 Watering Tip 4:25 The Key Elephant garlic is one of my favorite varieties for a few reasons: -It's HUGE -It has a mild flavor -It's super tasty We planted this back on Halloween, and it's for us to harvest. Garlic (like many root crops) can be a little tricky to know what's going on and when to turn off the water (garlic & onions) and when to harvest. We turned off the water here several weeks ago, but you can see that I let some go to flower which is not something you want to let happen. The plants have been putting energy into the flowers and reproducing instead of growing the bulb. Let's start off with some bulbs that did NOT flower. It's about the size of my hand and could even be mistaken for an onion at first glance! I'm going to set this on the counter to dry out now. Behind me, we have another one that did go to flower. The size is starting to shrink a little as the flowering process requires energy. It's also much lighter because the nutrients stored in the bulb are being used elsewhere now. If you do let your garlic flower, you can absolutely still harvest the bulb, and you might even want to let a plant or two continue its life cycle and save the seeds. The most common mistake I see with garlic is that gardeners continue to water the plants after June or so (depending on when you planted). The bulb should be drying out, but moisture will cause it to rot out, and you'll notice that if your stalks are brown and fall over. Here are the top tips with garlic: -Plant in the fall -Don't harvest too early -Turn off water 4-6 weeks before harvesting Garlic is one of the easiest crops to grow, and it's something that just about everyone uses in the kitchen. The flavor of homegrown garlic is incredible, and you're going to love having it fresh in your home. KEEP LEARNING →Want more gardening tips? Head on over to our site and the LEARN dropdown: https://sandiegoseedcompany.com/blog/ →You can also sign up for one of our classes (go through it at your own speed): "Organic Gardening: Grow Your Own Food" and our famous "Seed Starting Academy" are available at https://organicgardening.teachable.co... GET STOCKED UP: →Vegetables: https://sandiegoseedcompany.com/produ... →Flowers: https://sandiegoseedcompany.com/produ... →Herbs: https://sandiegoseedcompany.com/produ... →Rare Seeds: https://sandiegoseedcompany.com/produ... →Tools & Merchandise: https://sandiegoseedcompany.com/produ... CONNECT WITH US ON SOCIAL MEDIA →Instagram: / sandiegoseedcompany →Facebook: / sandiegoseedcompany #Gardening
