No picture. But I can't conceive that garlic is ready to harvest in April. What do the bulbs look like?

My mistake. There was supposed to be one attached.

Your garlic looks about like my garlic patch. I harvested one garlic to see what was going on. The garlic had bulbed up but is not yet as big as they normally are. Don't know why mine are so much earlier than previous years. I normally harvest in late May or Early June.

Maybe a milder winter for us in Alabama and Georgia is making it seem a little different? I guess I will try to keep it in ground a bit longer. Just hope they don’t get to that point where they start to separate.

I would probably pull one or 2 plants to see what's going on under the soil. Hopefully it is not one of the root rot diseases or nematodes munching on the roots causing your garlic to brown down early.

Mine here isn't usually ready until July, and it definitely isn't ready now, this is what my garlic patch looks like here in Michigan's Zone 5:

I agree with Jack, pull a plant and see what you have. It might be one of those years where it's just ready early, hopefully.

Annie

Agree with Jack, too. Watch the leaves and if maybe a quarter more of them dry down, you are going to be pretty close. So long as at least the top half of the leaves stay green they can stay in the ground, but not much longer. If you already have obvious cloves like the ones in the picture from yolos on the bulbs you dig up for testing, then all you are waiting for is additional bulb size, but you could probably dig now and if careful still get a good cure.

Here in Minnesota I still have a little snow on my garden although not as much as the Michigan picture.

Thanks for feedback everyone. Dug one up and it had started bulbing up but still rather small. Going to try to keep them going for a bit longer. Didn’t really see any evidence of root or bulb damage/rot. Hopefully they will still bulb up nicely. Last year I had some really nice sized bulbs. Just seems they are following a different trajectory and development compared to a year ago.

Probably going to have to harvest them within the next couple of days. Several have even split near the stem base and trying to put up a new shoot from there. Almost all are nearly half brown. The ones that had split I went ahead and pulled up. Very small bulbs. Far smaller than last year. This was a new type of garlic I was trying but think I may know a potential reason.

I think they hadn’t been kept cold for several weeks prior to me planting them. Could that account for the small size and early browning? The roots don’t seem to show any signs of disease so just not sure what the problem is this year if it isn’t the lack of vernalization prior to planting them last fall.

Think I can by a few more days without harvesting? Dug up 1 or 2 today that look a good bit larger than the last time I dug a couple up a few weeks ago but still not the typical size I am used to. Probably no sense in trying to replant them right? Just going to maybe keep the rest in the ground a bit longer. Definitely look to be at least half brown now.

I would say those are ready to dig and I probably would have dug them already were they mine. Size varies from year to year and in early years size is often a bit less than when there is longer active growth.

Yeah normally I would have dug them up based on the way they looked. But I’ve never had them look that way in April. And given that when I dug a few up a couple weeks ago they were extremely small bulbs (just barely over maybe a half dollar size). The ones I dug today were definitely a little closer to what I would expect but probably at least 50% smaller than last year. And last year I didn’t harvest until early June.

The thing about garlic is that when it is ready, it is ready. It's been a strange spring all around.

yolos, that's some nice garlic!

Annie

Where would y’all recommend in terms of getting seed garlic? And for central Alabama/zone 7 what would be a good type of hardneck to try? From what I read Creole sounds like a popular one. Softneck I realize works well here and that’s what I’ve done in the past. Just thinking about trying hardneck since I’ve heard taste is better.

dandt1, I plant Music, a hardneck variety, but I'm here in Michigan and it was suggested by Michigan State University's local extension service. I got my original "seed" garlic from Territorial Seed, but now just save some nice big cloves and replant yearly. I did go back to check and see if they still sell it and one of their reviews stated the growers were in Arkansas, so I know it will grow further south than Michigan. This was last year's harvest, my granddaughters helped me dig/pull them and spread them out to dry. It was a very "weird weather" year last summer, so they weren't as big as usual, but still did relatively well, better than I expected.

We have won several ribbons at the local County Fair with our garlic, it does well pretty much every year, so it's also consistent.

Annie

dandt1, where are you located? Very important info.

Ooops. Alabama?

Yeah Central Alabama. Zone 7

I second Annie about Music. Mine originally came from Red Gate, some years ago, and I have been planting my own back now maybe 5 years, and it seems like it keeps getting bigger and bigger! Last year the plants stood close to 4' tall after the scapes were cut. However, that is in Minneapolis.

I suggest contacting local Master Gardeners in your immediate area, or at least your local extension services. A whole lot of states have published local tests on varieties of garlic and on growing techniques. Such local expertise may very well point you to dependable local sources for already locally adapted varieties. I expect you will find that there are a lot of backyard growers in your area who have been growing their own for years. That's what I found here in Minneapolis and for that matter even back home in rural Iowa. There really is nothing like local experience and local stocks when it comes to garlic.

My garlic is doing pretty well this year. And I have scapes on the German White now.

It looks like my German White garlic is ready to harvest now. Some of the plants are a little more advanced browning down than others but since they're planted in a grid I really can't selectively harvest. I'll pull a few this weekend to see how the bulbs look and go from there.

The Chesnok Red and Spanish Roja scapes are ready to cut as well.

Jack, you really are early this year!

I think I am seeing the beginnings of scapes on Music, but the rest not so much. Siberian is really standing out this year, too, but I see no sign of scapes there yet. I am watching Maiskij and Japanese since they tend to go down often before they scape out.

I am also watching my tulips; they come out from between the garlic varieties as soon as there is any yellowing. I think I will replace some of the Red Appeldoorns I have been using with the taller, later Sky High scarlet. Nice flowers with study stems tall enough to get above the rabbits or squirrels that get a lot of the flowers on the Appeldoorns. The new ones are one of those "French" types grown for long straight cutting stems, and from what they did for me they meet those standards beautifully. Hopefully they will multiply like the Appeldoorns do. And of course they are red. Aren't all tulips red?

My Welsh onions (from grocery store scallions) are just about ready to open blossoms and the walking onions have the start of bulbils on top. The largest of both reach almost waist high, the biggest onion stalks I have ever grown.

Dutch - yes it is a little early but not too much. Looking back at my notes from the last few years I harvested a couple types as early as June 5th but the average is around June 15 for most varieties. It will still be another couple weeks for the Chesnok and Roja.

My onions are bulbing up too led by the Red Candy. I expect all of them to start falling over by the 4th like usual. Looking forward to making some onions rings with the juicy fresh picked bulbs.

Long cold wet spring here. Just in the past couple of days it went from double digits below normal to double digits above normal! Suddenly summer and with a passion. This ol boy is panting just sitting at the computer! First lettuce is getting ready very soon. So I got another couple dozen head seedlings to plant back for seconds, provided they don't just plain burn right up. I got an absolutely gorgeous red leaved romaine that is standing up real nice. Almost too pretty to eat!

Got a pretty good harvest from my 30 German White on Saturday. Nothing huge with the largest at 2 3/4" and about a dozen over 2". Just a few dinks under 1.5" and one that had some kind of rot that I tossed into the woods.

I took a close look at my Chesnok Red and Spanish Roja and the stems on those are really getting thick so I have hopes for some nice bulbs on those in a couple weeks. I have 25 of each type. I just cut all the scapes from them on Sunday.

These are some of the largest German White.

Nice. I can't believe it is that late in the year already!

Oooh, those ARE nice. My Music are just starting to make scapes, so it'll be a month or so here before mine are ready, probably.

Annie

Have harvested my two earliest--Early Italian Purple and China Rose and the rest are coming along fine. Expect the Korean Red to be ready by the weekend. Music was the best last year and looks to be headed that way this year as well. Eating scapes and know I am probably offending people.

I will be digging my first tulip barriers tomorrow. Normally the tulips get completely cured before any of the garlics need the racks. Just the red Appeldoorns though, the Sky Highs are not ready yet. There is a third variety that did not do well, sloppy stems and trashy looking flowers. Those last also get dug but then get thrown out. I wouldn't even give them away to somebody I didn't like. First species daylilies are just going past full bloom and the Siberian Irises are gorgeous this year, too. But they all need to be reset, they have only been in place about thirty years...

There will certainly be dirt under my fingernails this summer. :-)

The Appeldoorns are on the racks. Looks like about a triple increase in blooming sized bulbs which is about normal (about 25 -> 70 or 75). Still maybe two weeks before the Sky High Scarlet is ready to dig. If they do as well I should end up with a couple dozen of them out of the 8 I planted for bedding out this fall. Then next year when I dig I may be forced to choose whether to stay with the some Appeldorns or switch completely to the taller later tulips. A lot will depend on how well the taller tulips multiply of course and how many dividers I will need between types of garlic.

I found the first scapes and they were on Music of course. Finally! Just now starting, and no sign of scapes on anything else.

BTW temps here are back down below average again.

Old Dutch, the temps here have been in the 60s for highs, definitely below average for June. I think we're supposed to get 70s next week. I hope so, anyway, my garden wants it a little warmer.

And, like you, I'm just found the first scapes on Music today, I'll be cutting some in the next few days while they are still young and tender.

Annie

I'll munch on scapes to snack in the garden, but I give away the bulk to friends who cook with them.

Spanish Roja and Chesnok Red were harvested on Saturday.

50 total. Some of the larger bulbs of each.

Nice. My Maiskij was falling over; so I dug that Saturday. Poor stand and only two good plants with just barely medium sized bulbs. A real disappointment. I had a bit of a stand problem with Japanese, too, but that one has done real well for me in some past years; so I will consider augmenting my planting stock for the Japanese, but not so sure about the Maiskij. I have not had real good luck with the Turbans.

I had to pull my Spanish Roja earlier than I wanted as I needed the bed for tomatoes and zucchinI. My Spanish Roja did not form garlic scapes last year nor this year, not sure why. I was going to stop planting them this past fall but gave it another try. This is the result. Not completely bad.

My god yall are making me hungry and then some. All I can think of now is homemade garlic bread. Love the pictures and the color to boot.

Dug my Music and my Copras this afternoon. Nice set of medium to small cooking onions from the Copras all from the sets I grew last year without even a single bolt. Once again Music was my best garlic producer with quite a number of bulbs at or just over 2" and almost none under 1 3/4". I am not even going to talk about the rest of my garlics! Real sad.

I braided my yellow multipliers and got 5 decent braids. I think I may braid the smaller of the Copras, too, once the stems wilt and dry down some. The biggest got close to 3", more than enough when one cooks for just one.

Peppers are well set in all varieties, and the eggplants are starting to come on. So far the squirrels have not done much damage to the tomatoes either. Lots of two biters off the Glacier and the 4th of July plants. Next year both get cages though.

My oldest friend lost her mother last week; so I am checking in on her cat and plants in her apartment. Gotta go...

OldDutch, I'm sorry for your friend, losing her Mother. You are kind to care for her cats and her plants. I'll be thinking healing thoughts for her.

Meanwhile, my garlic is still drying, it's been pretty humid here, although hot. I'll keep the biggest ones for next year's seed garlic, but I'm pretty happy with this year's outcome. I did win a blue ribbon at the County Fair for garlic, and a Grand Champion for bok choi, so the garden seems to be catching up.

Annie

Annie, Thank-you.

The only garlic I had this year that did even moderately well was Music and I planted that one heavy. Even then I got it out late; some of the bulbs were starting to separate. That one always seems to come, through. Last fall my garlic went in real late. This fall that changes.