Garlic-Life cycle to date

Ozark · May 28, 2016

I realize now that the garlic starts that were given to me last summer were sprouts from bubils that had fallen on the ground. Is "bubils" the right word? Anyway, the seeds from the top scapes of hard neck garlic. They were given to me as straight shoots like green onion plants with little 1/4" bulbs at the bottoms.

I spaced those out in a corner of my garden and the plants looked OK for a few weeks, then they died down and disappeared in the fall. This spring they came up real well and they've made full-grown, vigorous looking plants. A couple of weeks ago they started sending up scapes, which have now turned a full circle and the "bulbs" at the top are turning white. I cut off a bunch of those scapes and chopped them up in an Asian stir-fry with veggies and rice and they were real good.

Poking around in the soil with my fingers, I think the bulbs are now about 1" to 1 1/2" and I expect they'll be ready for harvest by July. I've read that all the scapes should be cut off to make garlic bulbs grow bigger but I don't have a use for all those scapes. I've also read that they're good pickled, and I might try that as I like garlic and I like all kinds of pickles. Has anyone here ever pickled garlic scapes? Thx.

May 28, 2016	#16
Ozark Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Ozark, Mo. Posts: 201	I realize now that the garlic starts that were given to me last summer were sprouts from bubils that had fallen on the ground. Is "bubils" the right word? Anyway, the seeds from the top scapes of hard neck garlic. They were given to me as straight shoots like green onion plants with little 1/4" bulbs at the bottoms. I spaced those out in a corner of my garden and the plants looked OK for a few weeks, then they died down and disappeared in the fall. This spring they came up real well and they've made full-grown, vigorous looking plants. A couple of weeks ago they started sending up scapes, which have now turned a full circle and the "bulbs" at the top are turning white. I cut off a bunch of those scapes and chopped them up in an Asian stir-fry with veggies and rice and they were real good. Poking around in the soil with my fingers, I think the bulbs are now about 1" to 1 1/2" and I expect they'll be ready for harvest by July. I've read that all the scapes should be cut off to make garlic bulbs grow bigger but I don't have a use for all those scapes. I've also read that they're good pickled, and I might try that as I like garlic and I like all kinds of pickles. Has anyone here ever pickled garlic scapes? Thx.