Shantung is really a pain. Every year its a challenge for me to know just the right time. I think that If it doesn't look ready yet, the rain probably won't split it out. Hopefully you'll have a dry spell in another week or so. Good luck.

-Mark

Thanks, madroneb.
Here's what I did. I pulled some and left some in the ground. If those garlic left on the ground 'split', then we'll just eat them first. :)
Another batch of rain is in the forecast this week.

(Picture is of the garlic (Shantung Purple) I pulled yesterday before the rain.)

If you had a blow down and the stems got kinked or the roots got pulled loose, they are going to mature as they are and very quickly, too. Onion farmers use a uniform knockdown and/or undercutting the roots to loosen them to produce a uniform maturation for mass harvest. The sign to watch for is a rapid browning off of the foliage. Then you will not gain all that much at all by waiting. What you have harvested already has the cloves defined and should finish maturing them during curing as long as you are not too quick to trim back the stems, leaves and roots.

If you had a blow down, you probably won't gain much by waiting beyond the next time the weather is good for digging your garlic. In that case they will already have pretty nearly all the size you are going to get. In fact all you may gain is more and smaller cloves in the bulbs you wait to harvest.