Fall edible garden checklist

 

Sunday, October 8, 2023

As summer comes to an end and the cooler temperatures of fall start moving in, let's not forget to give some attention to our edible garden.  

There are a few things to tend to in the fall edible garden.  It's not as exciting as spring but very appreciated for the health of your garden and to make sure you are ready for next season.  Here are some items to consider for tidying up and getting ready for your next edible season.

-Save seeds from your best producers.  Seed saving will help your plants adjust to your specific microclimate and have the most abundant harvests.  I keep mine in plastic baggies, labelled with the variety,  year saved and store in the refrigerator.  Add any other helpful information.  Seed saving-fun, easy and a cost saver

-Take cuttings from any of the plants that you want to start indoors for the winter.  Basil is an edible that you can easily start from a cutting to have handy for cooking.

-Be sure to treat any of the tropicals you had outdoors for pests before bringing indoors.  Since the light will be less indoors, pruning before bringing indoors will help minimize leaves dropping.

-Cut back herbs and dry them to make an herb mix.  Harvesting and drying herbs

-Keep harvesting your veggies and fruits as long as they continue to produce.  Tomatoes, peppers and eggplant will continue to give you fruits until the first hard freeze.  If you can't eat them all, preserve them for winter and spring eating!  Preserving the extras from the summer garden

-If you haven't already, remove any dead or dying plants from the garden.  Any that are diseased should be burned or put into the trash; don't compost these.  For the rest and any trimmings, put in the compost pile or bin.  Composting is possible in small spaces or even indoors

-Keep your garden weeded.  You want to be sure to keep weeds from going to seed otherwise you will have lots of the little buggers to pull next spring!  I add weeds to the compost pile as long as they don't have seeds.

-Clean, sharpen and weatherproof your tools.  Make a list of tools and supplies that you would like to add to your repertoire for next year's gardening season. 

-If you have clay pots, be sure to empty them out or place under cover so they don't freeze and crack.  You can either revitalize soil next spring with added compost and fertilizer or can add to the compost pile.  Re-energize your potting soil!

-Take a soil test to see what amendments to add.  Enriching the soil now will have it in top shape for the spring season.

-Take a look at your garden journal and make notes of what went well or not so well, what varieties did well in your garden, what you want to plant in next year's garden, how many you want to plant, etc., etc.  I always try to put together my plan for next year's garden at summer's end while everything is fresh in mind.  I will make additions to it or maybe some switches in what varieties to try, but the bulk remains the same.  Reflecting back on the 2021 edible garden, planning for the 2022 garden

For fall edible planting, look for empty spots in the garden to put winter veggies, like leeks, onions, carrots, cabbage, kale.  I get pots going with lettuce and greens that I will keep under my portable greenhouse for fall and winter salads. 

A fall edible garden

Winter edible garden

What to plant in the October edible garden

November edible garden

 Saturday, October 7, 2023 

October is a great time to plant garlic to have big cloves by next summer.  Many cold hardy crops can be transplanted into the garden.  Cover can be used to extend the harvest all the way through to spring.  

What is a four season garden?
You can garden year round in small space
Planning for a four season garden

This month you can transplant more greens, any perennial veggies, fruits, and herbs as well as flowers, trees and shrubs.   Midwest Perennial Vegetable Garden   Greens can still be sown by seed if you have a cold frame or a portable greenhouse cover.  Sow the seeds, then after sprouting and developing a couple of sets of leaves, you can put a cover over them at night to keep them warm and growing faster.  You want your plants to be as close to full size by mid November as you can get.  That's when the daylight hours get less than 10 hours and growth outdoors pretty much slows to a crawl.

Here are the crops you can start in the October Midwest edible garden:

October seeds outdoors
Austrian winter peas

Fava beans

Garlic

Lettuce-winter hardy varieties

Snow peas

Spring bulbs

October transplants
Arugula

Broccoli
Brussel sprouts

Cabbage

Cauliflower

Celery
Corn salad

Endive
Escarole

Frisee
Italian dandelion

Kale

Kohlrabi
Lettuce
Mache
Mustard and Mustard Greens

Winter and Perennial Onions

Parsley

Scallions

Sorrel
Spinach

Sprouting broccoli

Trees, bushes, and perennials

Transplants for winter and overwintering

Look for cold hardy edible varieties when planting for fall and winter harvests.  You may be surprised that you can harvest all through the winter months things like greens, onions, Austrian peas, carrots, and cabbage.  You can also extend the harvest by looking for the same crop with different days to harvest timing so that they mature at different times.  

Covering plants when there is a cold snap in the fall will keep them warmer and growing quicker.  You can use cover to possibly extend the harvest all the way to next spring.  I use a portable greenhouse for my lettuces that works great.  Extend the season with protection for plants  Homegrown, organic salads in a Midwest winter

When planting when temperatures can get hot, be sure to keep the soil moist until the plants are well established.  Lettuce won't sprout when the ground temperatures are above 75F.  If it is too hot in your garden, you can start them indoors.  My lettuce seedlings are just starting to get their first set of true leaves.  I'll likely transplant them in another week to their winter pot.  

Summer and fall planted crops take longer to come to harvest than they do in the spring.  Rule of thumb is to add 2 weeks.  It's because the days are getting shorter rather than longer and cooler rather than warmer.  

Once there are less than 10 hours of daylight, most plants growth will slow to a crawl.  This occurs at our latitude on November 24 this year.  We get back to more than 10 hours of daylight on January 21.  Once we get back to 10 hours of daylight, plants come to life and start growing quickly again.

What you want to do is to start your seeds and transplants early enough in late summer and fall so that the plant is at full size before daylight gets short and the cold really sets in.  Then you harvest what you want through the winter.

A great and easy way to start your fall garden is to sow the seeds in a pot on a covered deck or patio.  This makes it easy to keep an eye on the seedlings and protects them from the hot sun and frosts.  After they have a couple of sets of their true leaves, you can transplant into the garden bed or pot.  Harden them off first by moving the pot to full sun before transplanting.  "Hardening off" seedlings  After transplanting into the garden, keep them watered regularly during dry weather until well established.

For more seed starting tips Outdoor seed starting tips  Indoor seed starting tips  Ideal soil temperatures for starting your seeds

October 2023 Edible Garden Planner

Early October edible garden is in full bloom

Sunday, October 1, 2023

Gardening in October is refreshing, like the weather.  Pests are fading fast as the weather cools.  The sun shines brightly to take the chill off the cool days.  The summer vegetables like tomatoes, eggplant, peppers, basil and cucumbers continue to produce at a reduced pace.  The cool season crops like lettuce, carrots, radishes, peas, cabbage, beets, broccoli and cauliflower are coming into maturity throughout October and into November.  Flowers, bees and butterflies are abundant in the fall garden.

Now is the last call to save seeds from your favorite fruits and veggie plants if you haven't done so already.  The plants still producing well this time of year are great ones to make sure you have some seeds to plant again next year.  The varieties that do well in your garden conditions are ones you want to invite back!  Just be sure to not save seed from any plants that are diseased as this can bring the disease back into your garden in the spring.  Seed saving-fun, easy and a cost saver

Basil will turn black when it gets close to 35 degrees.  I pull all the leaves when it is forecasted to get close to freezing or any chance of frost.  You can chop basil, put in an ice cube tray and cover with water to then use any time your recipe calls for fresh basil.  It stores best when frozen in water.  I also dry some to add to my "Herbes de Provence" seasoning mix.  You can also make into pesto and place in freezer bags with just enough for a meal.  Gives a whole new meaning to “fast food.”  Pesto is great over pasta, fish, or as a condiment on sandwiches.  Basil will root from cuttings if you want to bring it in for the winter.  Basil basics-harvesting, preserving, growing basil...

The bees just love basil flowers!  Bees favorite flowers are those with the small flowers like basil.  The purple holy basil flowers mixed with the white sweet basil flowers are quite pretty, too, as well as very fragrant.  If you want to keep the stems from getting woody, keep the flowers pinched back.  I always have Cardinal basil as well in my garden.  The leaves are great in pesto and the flowers are showy.  

Bee on basil flower

Other herbs will do just fine through frosts like parsley, rosemary, thyme, chives, savory, and sage.  It takes good snow cover to stop these herbs.  Many winters you can harvest these herbs the entire season for cooking.  Cut back the extra now, dry and make into seasoning mixes which you can give to the whole family at Christmas.   Make your own "Herbes de Provence" 

I will wait until it gets below 32 degrees before I strip off the eggplant, peppers and tomatoes.  You can freeze or dry these veggies.  Tomatoes are a high acid fruit so you can also easily can sauce from them without using a pressure canner; a stockpot is all that is needed.   Preserving the tomato harvest  Be sure to follow any canning recipes exactly so your canned goods don’t spoil.  

For more on preserving your extras for year round use, see

 Preservation garden

24 No Tech Storage Fruits and Vegetables

Peppers, tomatoes, and eggplants are tropical perennials that can be brought in to overwinter.  If you have a favorite plant you would love to have in your garden next season, bring it in to an attached garage or even your living room.  I have successfully overwintered hot peppers and a few eggplants.  You get a serious jump start on the season in the spring if they over winter.  I am bringing in my tiny hot pepper plant Chipetlin to overwinter for the sixth year.  For some reason, my Cayenne pepper plant that I had overwintered successfully for three years just died recently.  I use cayenne peppers for my hot sauce so I will start another in a pot next spring.

There are several herbs that can be brought indoors as well.  Basil and chives are great ones to grow indoors in a sunny window since they loses so much flavor when dried and they are easy to grow indoors.  Growing herbs indoors for winter

Make sure you pull the tomatoes from the vine before the vine dies.  Wondering what to do with the green tomatoes?  You have a couple of options.  You can make fried green tomatoes-yum!  Just use some fish fry seasoning; we like Andy’s Cajun Seasoning.  A late fall tradition-fried green tomatoes!  You can also wrap green tomatoes in newspaper and store in a cool, dark location and many will ripen.  Check about weekly to cull any that spoil.  They won’t taste as good as fresh off the vine, but are better than store bought.  I have had tomatoes this way into February.

Potted tomatoes first of November

As the vines die back and the fruit loses its sheen, it is time to harvest winter squash. Winter squash include the well known pumpkins, butternut squash, acorn squash and spaghetti squash among many others.   Be sure to leave at least a couple of inches of the stem and place in a warm sunny spot for the skin to harden.  Many winter squashes will keep until next year.  I have had butternut squash last until the next June and I have Trombetta squash from last year still in the cellar.  Harvesting winter squash

October and November is garlic planting month for the Zone 7 garden!  Plant in the waning cycle of the moon.  Garlic loves loose, well-fertilized soil.  Loosen the soil down to about 6 inches, mix in a couple of inches of compost, and plant your garlic cloves about 2-3” deep.  Time to plant garlic! With growing tips......  Garlic leaves are one of the first greens you will see in spring.  Don't be surprised to see them sprout this winter.

Now is also a great time to divide any perennials you have, whether they be herbs, edibles or ornamentals.  This will give them all fall and winter to put down strong roots.  Perennial greens (like chard, sorrel, cultivated dandelions, salad burnet) are always the first up in the spring.  This is the perfect time to plant any perennial plant.  The fall and winter allows the plants roots to grow deep, preparing it for a fast start in the spring.  Perennial veggies in the Midwest garden

It is still not too late in early October to transplant fall crops like cold hardy types of lettuce, cabbage, chard, pak choi, broccoli, kale, parsley or perennial herb plants.  You can check your neighborhood nurseries for bedding plants.  I use my Aerogarden or just a pot on the covered patio to start from seed cold hardy crops I want in my fall and winter garden.  Starting them indoors gets them going quicker.  With less sun and cooler temps outdoors, plants grow more slowly so getting bedding plants or starting indoors gets your fall veggies to full size quicker.  Add about 2 weeks to the "Days to Harvest" timing for fall planted edibles.

Cloches and portable row cover

To extend the season, you can order a mini greenhouse to cover your pots or the part of the garden you have planted your cold hardy greens you want to harvest all winter.  You can also purchase row covers that cover plants and provides protection from frosts, but not hard freezes.  Adding mulch is a good winter blanket for cool season crops.  Preparing the garden for frost

Winter hardy kale, spinach, Austrian peas, carrots and winter onions don’t need to be covered and can be harvested all winter (as long as the ground isn’t too frozen) and into spring.  I grow Austrian peas over winter and they provide greens for salad all winter long.  They have very pretty flowers, too.  Come spring I have lots of early peas too.

I’ll put our portable, plastic mini greenhouse over the greens in my Earthbox self watering pots sometime this month or next.  One watchout with green houses-they get very, very hot in sunny weather so be sure to open them to allow circulation in fall and early winter.  They will need to be closed up when winter really sets in December or January sometime.

Portable greenhouse over pots

What's happenin' in the late September edible garden

Cactus zinnias on right and Flame cock's comb on right
Saturday, September 30, 2023

We are having a very dry September again this year.  In the past, we could depend on the rains starting by mid-september and supplemental watering being pretty well over until next summer.  Our temperatures are above average as well, with low humidity.  Tomatoes, peppers, beans and squash all love this type of weather.  

Tomatoes, peppers, beans and squash all love this type of weather if you make sure they have enough to drink.  I am getting a bumper crop of beans right now.  I have many peppers just waiting to ripen, lots of flowers and baby tomatoes, and many baby squash and flowers on my Trombetta squash.

The shallots I planted a month or so ago are all up.  Herbs are doing well.  The basil is in full bloom.  I do need to do a cutting of my basil and make some pesto before frost hits and my basil all dies.

Cardinal basil in forefront and Genovese basil in background

The winter lettuce seed I planted about 10 days ago has sprouted and most have their first set of leaves.  When they get their next set of leaves, I will start transplanting them into their winter pots which I will cover with a portable greenhouse cover.

If you are a garlic lover, October is prime time to plant your garlic for next summer's harvest.  I save the biggest cloves from my summer harvest to plant in the fall.  Unfortunately, the early warm up followed by frigid temperatures killed the garlic I have in a large pot.  I did find some volunteers that survived in the old spot in the garden bed I had been growing garlic this summer.  I transplanted them into a new bed.  Hopefully, they will come up later this fall.  I do have my eye on one or two new varieties that I'm looking forward to trying next year.

My potted sprouting broccoli, Ruby Streaks mustard, tatsoi and chard are very nice sized so we'll have them for winter salads and braised greens.  I also have several volunteer celery plants in pots that will do well under cover all winter.  

My cactus zinnias and cock's comb did really well this year.  I'm sure I will have many volunteers come up next year.  I'll look later in the fall to collecting some cactus zinnia seeds from each color (gold, orange, fuchsia, peach, and yellow).  I had started the cactus zinnias from seed in early summer..  It was a combo pack of different colors and looking at the flowers, different sizes.  They were all pretty and just bloom continuously.  One plant produced huge orange flowers!  Definitely need to save some of those seeds.

Fuschia pin cushion zinnia

Hummingbird vine, Heavenly morning glory, and Red Malabar spinach volunteer vines went a little crazy this summer.  Next year, I'll need to thin them back much more than I did this year!

My husband has been busy hauling in dirt from our pasture to backfill around the addition we put on.  I am looking forward to getting my southern exposure flower beds back!  Right now, I have been temporarily growing in the beds at the back of the house, which is northern exposure.  We don't have alot of garden bed space in back so about half of my veggies have been grown in pots.  I only have the tomatoes, shallots, squash and garlic in the ground; everything else is in pots.

I do like growing Egyptian Walking Onions, eggplant and peppers in pots so will continue to do so.  Tomatoes, pole beans, squash, okra, cucumbers, corn, garlic and melons all are more productive in the ground.  You can still do well in pots using compact varieties, but smaller plants do mean smaller yields.

Pretty soon, it will time to reflect back on this year's garden, see how much I was able to can, pickle, dry and put away in the freezer to develop next year's garden plan.  It is best to do at the end of the season when all is still fresh in your mind.  It is also a great time to write up the list of things you'd like to learn more about over the winter to try in next year's edible garden.

Time to pickle!

Home made pickles

Sunday, September 24, 2023

  

As fall comes, try pickling extra veggies.  My favorites are the traditional pickles, pickle relish, pickled garlic and hot sauce.  You can pickle any veggie you have extras of.  Peppers love fall temperatures and are a great option for pickling.  Home pickling is super easy and a great way to preserve those extra veggies for winter eating.

My husband loves the stacker type pickles on his burgers.  I slice up my extra cucumbers to just the length and width my husband likes them for his burgers and use herbs and spices with organic apple cider vinegar for pickling.  The trick is to make sure you do not put less salt or vinegar in them than the recipe calls for.  Salt and vinegar are preservatives.  They keep the dilly solution acidic enough so your pickles do not spoil.

You can make any variety of cucumbers into pickles.  Pickler cucumbers have been bred to be smaller and have smaller seeds than slicer cucumbers, but both have the same fresh cucumber taste.  Don’t let the cucumber get too big, this results in big seeds and slows down cucumber production.

I can a jar at a time.  You want your cucumbers fresh for preserving.  I harvest the cucumbers before they get too large.  This does two things, it keeps the size of the seeds in the cucumber down and it keeps the vine producing.  All vegetables are in the business of insuring survival so they give everything they have to producing their seed, the vegetables we harvest.  If you keep removing their seeds, they keep trying to make more!

I typically can 2-3 cucumbers at a time.  These will fit nicely into a quart canning jar.  Make sure the jar and lid have been sterilized.  I slice them lengthwise to the size that will fit on a bun; make sure you remove the ends of the cucumber as some ends are bitter.  I add 2-3 flowering dill heads, 4-5 sprigs of salad burnet or tarragon, 2 cloves (the spice), 4-5 garlic cloves, 1/4 cup of apple cider vinegar, 1/4 teas of caraway seeds, 1/4 teas of peppercorns, one cardamon seed pod, 3 tablespoons of salt, a bay leave, and a grape leaf to keep the pickles crunchy.  Fill the rest of the jar with water (about 2 cups is all that is needed).  If you like 'em spicy, throw in a pepper or two with stem removed.  Slice the pepper in half to get the spicy seeds.  

There is also ready to use pickling spice you can buy if you want to keep it simpler.

Sliced cucumber with herbs from the garden for seasoning

You can get a good jar seal by heating the water and seasonings on the stove to a boil, let cool, add the vinegar, then pour over the sliced cucumbers in the jar, and put the lid on. It is critical that you have at least the amount of salt and vinegar recommended or the pickles can go bad.  I shake the jar a couple of times a day until the salt is completely dissolved. You let them ferment in a cool, dark place 1-4 weeks and they are ready to eat!

Unopened pickle jars will keep for a year or longer in the pantry.  Once opened, keep refrigerated and eat within a couple of months.

You follow the same basic procedure for peppers or any vegetable you want to pickle.  

I like to make hot sauce with my Cayenne and Jalapeño peppers.  It is super easy.  I just take the peppers we like, slice them up and completely cover with organic apple cider vinegar in a quart canning jar.  Let sit in the refrigerator for 2-4 weeks.  Then put mix in food processor and process until smooth.  I then put back into a quart jar.  You now have your own hot sauce!  I keep my jars in the refrigerator.

For more on fermentation for food preservation, a good book is "Wild Fermentation" by Sandor Ellix Katz.  For traditional pickles and pickled peppers, I use Ball's Canning Book.

Cucumber ready to harvest

I love taking my garlic harvest and pickling all the cloves.  I first learned about picking garlic when I went to a general store in Albany, Georgia.  They had many local canned items in Mason jars for sale.  I saw the jarred garlic and mouth it.  They added some spicy peppers in the jar that gave it a kick.  I loved it!  It has become my favorite way of preserving my garlic harvest.

How to pickle garlic

  1.  Get quart canning jars.  I use Tattler or glass lids.  The vinegar eats at metal lids.  Easy, low tox canning of summer's bounty
2.  Either make or purchase raw apple cider vinegar.  Any neutral tasting vinegar will work.  I just like the nutritional benefit of raw vinegar.  Make your own apple cider vinegar

3.  If using your own garlic or purchasing whole cloves, separate the cloves and remove the "skin".  You can also buy separated cloves, sans skins in many grocery stores that you can use.

4.  Slice 2 or 3 hot peppers and place in the jar, if you like your garlic a kick.

5.  Fill the rest of the jar with garlic cloves to an inch or so below the mouth of the jar.

6.  Fill the jar with vinegar.

7.  Put the jar in the frig.

8.  Use cloves any time a recipe calls for it!

Another way to preserve cucumbers is to make pickle relish.  This is not the sweet pickle relish.  I use this for egg, salmon or tuna salad.  

How to make pickle relish 

  1.  Get your canning jars, lids and rings.  I chose the pint size since one pint of relish lasts me a few weeks.  You can go smaller or larger, depending on how quickly you will use the relish.  I use Tattler (BPA free plastic lid) or glass lids.  The vinegar in the relish eats at metal lids.  Easy, low tox canning of summer's bounty

2.  To let the pickled relish taste shine through, the recipe calls for white vinegar.  You can use apple cider vinegar.  Any neutral tasting vinegar will work as long as it is at lease 5% strength.  Make your own apple cider vinegar

3.  Here are the ingredients.  Feel free to adjust the spices to your taste.

8 pounds of cucumbers (peeled or with skin) finely diced

1/2 cup pickling or canning salt (finely ground salt with no additives)

2 teaspoons turmeric

2 medium onions, finely diced

2 tablespoons dill seed

1 tablespoon mustard seed

4 bay leaves

4 cups white vinegar (can use any vinegar with 5% strength or higher)

4.  Wash, peel and dice your cucumbers, place in large bowl, add salt and turmeric, cover with water  and let mix soak for 2-3 hours.  Drain in colander or fine meshed sieve and rinse well.

5.  Add cucumbers, chopped onions, seasonings and vinegar to large stock pot.  Bring to a boil and simmer for 10 minutes.

6.  Remove bay leaves and fill hot pint jar with mixture, leaving 1/2" head space, making sure all bubbles are removed.  Screw on hot lid and place in pressure cooker or pot large enough that pint jars are covered with at least 1" of water.

7.  Bring canner/large stock pot to a boil, process for 15 minutes.  Wait 5 minutes before removing.

8.  Remove jars straight up from pot; do not tilt.  Allow jars to fully cool for a full 24 hours.

9.  Gently remove ring and test seal by lifting jar by seal, while supporting jar with other hand.  If seal holds, relish can safely be stored in the pantry.  If seal does not hold, relish should be placed in the refrigerator.

The vinegar and processing per the instructions are critical for food safety.  The acidity mush be high enough to use the boiling water method.  For low acid foods, pressure canning is required for food safety.  For more detailed instructions on canning:

Sites & resources for canning  

For options on jars, see my blog:

Easy, low tox canning of summer's bounty

How does your garlic grow

Saturday, September 23, 2023

Fall is the time to plant garlic for next year's harvest.  There are many varieties to choose from.  Mail order supplies run out fast so if you want to order some, now is the time to get your order in.  Big box stores should have garlic cloves that you can buy for planting as well.  It is a carefree edible that is easy to grow; just plant in fertile, loose soil in fall and watch it sprout and grow.

Garlic has been around for thousands of years and is rich in lore.  It has been reputed to repel vampires, clear the blood, cure baldness, aid digestion over the ages.  It originated in Asia, was cultivated in Egypt and has been a Mediterranean staple for centuries.  Today’s studies have shown garlic is antibacterial, anti-fungal, antiviral, and a cancer fighter. And, it tastes great!  Garlic is high in vitamin C, B6, calcium, manganese, selenium and more.  For more nutritional info,  garlic nutritional value 

It is easy to grow and has little pest issues.  All you do is throw them in the ground in the fall in October or November and by early summer, they are ready to harvest.  Loosening the soil and adding compost prior to planting can boost the garlic bulb size.  I have planted Elephant garlic straight into my mulched flower beds and had great luck.  Their flower in spring is quite striking as well.

There is soft and hard necked garlic.  For storing, soft neck garlic is the ticket.  Soft neck garlic can store for months.  It's stems can be braided, too.  It is also the strongest flavored.  Hard necked varieties can be milder, have larger cloves, is easier to peel, and more cold hardy.  Garlic connoisseurs say hard neck varieties have rich and complex flavors.

If your winter weather is too mild, hard neck varieties will make small heads.  If you live where zoysia and bermuda grass thrive, soft neck garlic is the best choice.  You can always buy a sampler pack and try different types to see which grow best in your garden conditions.  

A good bet for finding which grow best in your area is to visit farmers markets and see what varieties are offered locally.  Locally grown garlic can also be used for planting in your own garden. 

I gravitate toward hard neck garlic for our Zone 7 garden because it is so much easier to peel than the soft neck garlic I have tried.  Elephant garlic is also a staple in my garden because the cloves are huge!  Elephant garlic is actually in the leek family but has a strong garlic flavor.  I usually try a new garlic variety advertised to give huge cloves and easy to peel about every other year.  I always save my best cloves from the summer to plant in the fall.

The clove puts out roots in the fall.  Depending on how warm the winter is, there can be green shoots showing through the cold months.  Garlic will be some of the first to start growing in spring.  The stems resemble onion greens.  The hard neck type garlic has a flower, or scape, with a cute little curl in it.  They are great in salads.  There is debate among garlic growers if removing the scape will also increase the bulb size.  Either way, you can't lose by harvesting them.

Hard neck garlic scapes

You can tell the difference in the two by looking at the flowers.  Leeks and soft neck garlic have a onion type flower (below) while hard neck garlic has a curly scape flower (above).

Elephant garlic flower

You should choose the biggest cloves to plant.  The bigger the clove, the bigger the harvest!  Cloves as a root vegetable like loose soil, compost and steady fertilizer.  Like carrots, radishes and beets, you can add sand to give a looser soil structure in your garlic bed.  Simply tilling in compost should provide the soil texture that garlic loves.  Compost and mulch well in the fall before cold weather sets in.

Plant the cloves root side down (that is the flat end, not the pointy end), 1-2” deep, and 4-6” apart.  For planting by the cycle of the moon, garlic should be planted during the waning cycle of the moon.  After the greens sprout to 6”, add compost or fertilizer as a side dressing.  Garlic does not need a lot of nitrogen so compost is a good choice.  

Garlic sprouting in winter

Garlic is ready to harvest then the tops begin to die off in the early to mid summer.  Each leaf represents a layer of the white covering on your clove bulb.  Dig up one or two when about half of the leaves have died (40% yellowed/brown leaves).  If the bulb is still small, wait a couple more weeks before harvesting.   If you harvest too late, the outer covering will have disintegrated and you will have just loose, naked cloves.

Store bought conventional garlic has been treated with chemicals to keep them from sprouting so they are not a great choice for growing your own.  Organic garlic has not been treated with these chemicals so these will sprout.  

A great option is to buy garlic from your local farmers market.  You know they grew well in your area and if you like the taste.  Just separate out the bulb(s) into individual cloves and plant the biggest ones.  Be sure to leave the "skin" on the cloves that you intend to plant.  You can eat or preserve the smaller cloves.

If your stored garlic dries up over the winter, grind it into garlic powder.  If you have great tasting garlic that doesn’t store well or you have a bountiful crop, another preservation option is pickled garlic.  This is my go-to preservation method.  Just peel (Quick tip-”peeling” garlic) and cover your fresh garlic cloves in organic apple cider vinegar.  You can add a couple of hot peppers if you want to add some extra zing!  
Have garlic any time you need it, just pickle some!

Of course, you can also add garlic to the tomato sauce (Preserving the tomato harvest), pickles (Easy, homemade pickles) or peppers you are going to can.  You can flavor vinegars or oils by popping crushed garlic into them (Quick tip-make your own flavored oils).  Many options for utilizing your garlic harvest!