Harvesting Garlic Scapes

Garlic scapes are one of those things that come out a garden that you would never ever find at a grocery store.  Farmers market maybe, but only for a very short time frame.  Growing your own hardneck garlic is the best way to experience what fresh green garlic tastes like.  Hardneck garlic sends up a flowering stalk in late spring, shortly before the bulbs would be ready for harvest.  They are very subtle in the beginning because they look a lot like the leaves of the plant.  As they grow they curve back on themselves and when they have made a nice little loop, they are best for harvesting.

 When I harvest them, I cut them as close to the leaves as I can.  The long stalk is tender and can be chopped and used like garlic cloves to flavor any recipe.  I usually use the whole stalk and most of the flower, just discarding the tough ends of the scape.

Once harvested scapes are best used fresh, but they will keep in a jar of water for a few days if you pick too many at once.  I am trying to just harvest them and use them as I go until they are gone.  They don't all flower at exactly the same time, so this spreads out my harvest over several weeks as they ripen.  

I will be watching my garlic crop now for signs that the bulbs are ready to harvest.  I have read that you should harvest the bulbs when the bottom two to three leaves have turned brown.  Some of the plants are definitely starting to look a little brown around the edges, so I should be removing the irrigation in that bed to let it dry out a little.  Hopefully in just a couple more weeks I will be harvesting the rest of my garlic crop.