Harvesting Garlic and Garlic Scapes

Image by Sandy Repp

Its almost time to harvest garlic but what are those crazy looking curley-Q’s on the garlic plants? They are garlic scapes, the "flower stalks" of hardneck garlic plants. These stalks start to appear a month or so after the first leaves. They are usually cut off of the plant, since leaving them on only diverts the plants strength away from forming a plump bulb.

Garlic scapes are both edible and delicious, as are the bulbils.

Look in the links below for information on growing and harvesting garlic and using the garlic scapes in delicious recipes such as green garlic pesto, garlic scape dressing and white bean and garlic scape dip.

Cornell University Garlic Growing Guide

http://www.gardening.cornell.edu/homegardening/scene568b.html#growinginfo

NYS Horticulture Garlic Guide for Youth

http://www.hort.cornell.edu/4hplants/Vegetables/Garlic.html

Growing Hardneck Garlic Plants

http://gardening.about.com/od/herbsatoz/a/What-Are-Garlic-Scapes.htm

What you can do with Garlic Scapes

https://www.backyardboss.net/what-to-do-with-garlic-scapes/