How to Harvest Garlic in Zone 6

There are over 700 species of Alliums. Garlic, Allium sativum, is an aromatic perennial, hardy in USDA plant zones 2 to 10. In USDA plant zone 6, garlic is planted in the fall and harvested the following fall when the tops die down. Search out hard neck varieties of garlic to plant in your garden. Hard neck garlic has superior taste and keeps well. It produces a flower stalk or scape in midsummer. Snip off the scapes and stir-fry them for a delicious treat, or allow them to go to seed. You can plant the seeds to eventually grow into more garlic bulbs.

Pruning shears
String
Fan
Mesh bag

Instructions

- 1
  Watch for scapes growing out of your garlic bulbs in mid summer. Garlic scapes curl around themselves in a circle. Cut them off.
- 2
  Pull up the bulbs, leaving the leaves and roots attached, when the garlic tops or leaves start to turn brown and wither away; this will occur in late summer or early fall in USDA plant zone 6. Shake off excess dirt.
- 3
  Lay the garlic bulbs in an area that's protected from sun and rain with good air circulation to cure. Alternatively, hang the garlic bulbs up with string in an area where the temperature is ideally 80 degrees Fahrenheit.
- 4
  Dry the garlic bulbs with fans or a cross breeze. Allow them to dry until the outer skins to become papery and the inner bulbs to retain their moisture and oils. Bulbs may take up to two weeks or more to dry. Check them daily.
- 5
  Cut or pull off the roots and dried leaves. Store garlic in a cool, dark place. Hang it in a mesh bag, at a temperature of 60 to 65 degrees Fahrenheit.

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Bulbs