Garlic

[ChrisH54]

It's my first time at garlic so unsure to lift yet or not. Read the previous posts about this and thought yes I will. Popped out to do this and appear to have 'scapes' on. Now when I googled garlic this scape thing preceded the lifting by some time. The garlic itself was planted Oct/Nov last year. Is it scapes do you think or have I left it to long and it's going to seed?
Hope someone can help

Chris

[oldie]

I think it depends on which type hard necked or soft necked. The hard neck types produce the scapes which are delicious in a stir-fry. I don't think the soft neck ones do. From an Oct/Nov planting I would be expecting to harvest about now.

[SMS6]

Lift one and see how they are. I planted mine about the same time as you and lifted them a week or so ago. Only one had a seed head/scape forming.

[HotStuff]

Only hardneck varieties, such as Chesnok or Lautrec, get scapes. Here's a pic of some of my Chesnok a few weeks ago. As oldie said, they're good in a stir fry, you can also make pesto with them. Some people advise cutting off the scapes so that the plant isn't diverted from putting effort into swelling the bulb. As long as they're healthy there's no need to lift them yet, but as SMS6 said, why not lift one and see how it is?

[taff]

I cut the scapes off mine about three or four weeks before I harvested them. They were all good sized bulbs, except for a few softneck ones. They swelled up impressively in this time though.

[Shadylane]

Only hardneck varieties, such as Chesnok or Lautrec, get scapes. Here's a pic of some of my Chesnok a few weeks ago. As oldie said, they're good in a stir fry, you can also make pesto with them. Some people advise cutting off the scapes so that the plant isn't diverted from putting effort into swelling the bulb. As long as they're healthy there's no need to lift them yet, but as SMS6 said, why not lift one and see how it is?

I thought this too until about 2 thirds of the garlic (which I'm pretty sure are soft necks all produced scapes). I did some more research and apparently hard neck will always flower but it seems soft neck can too.

I think when the scape straightens out is when it's supposed to be ready(unless you cut them off obviously). Why don't you have a finger around the bulb and see how big it is. If it's still small leave it until the stalks go yellow/fall over. Oh yeah and the scapes are beaut roasted in the oven with a bit of olive oil.

[Birdie Wife]

Here's a daft question, as I'm trying hard neck garlic for the first time - do I harvest the scapes before the flowers come out, ie during the bud stage? Only I snapped off a few and stir fried them but OH said they were chewy...

[Shadylane]

I cut them off while they were still curled, before the flowers come out, no idea what they'd look like at that stage. If they were chewy maybe the pan wasn't hot enough (?)

[ChrisH54]

Many thanks, lifted them anyway, a bit of a 'mixed bag' small, medium and large. No probs because they'll all get used,drying out in my well lit potting shed now. Tried the scapes raw, my word a mix of chilli and garlic.
Cheers all