This year's garlic harvest. Since we've been in Utah, I've always pulled my garlic in mid June - about a month earlier than everyone else. At first I did this because I didn't know any better. I never grew garlic before living in Utah, and so I pulled it because the books all said to pull it when the leaves start drying out and turning brown at the tips. The bulbs have always been well formed and had good shelf life, so I figured I was good.
Now I know that leaving them in the ground longer would let the flavor and any unique colors really develop. But I still pull my garlic in mid June.
Why? Because I don't personally like an over powering garlic flavor, and what I've been doing works really well for me. I have one less month of growing garlic and one more month to grow something else or in case of this year's drought, one less month of watering something.
Each year I replant the biggest cloves from the biggest bulbs, so I'm selecting for garlic than can grow well the way I want it to grow. And the flavor? Still tastes like garlic to me.
My message here is not to pull your garlic a month early; it's to do what works for you. It's your garden. It's your food.
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