Snell Farm garlic is available first in the form of immature topsets or “scapes,’ which are delicious when sauteed with sugar snap peas or summer squash. The curly stems have the flavor of garlic and the texture of asparagus.
	Around the same time, we start pulling some green garlic, and we keep harvesting a little at a time as it gradually matures by August 1st. This means Snell garlic is available for sale from July to November. Our recipe for Roasted Garlic
How We Grow Garlic
	We plant garlic in mid-October, five separated cloves wide in a four foot wide bed, with about 9-12 inches between them. The beds are topdressed with compost and then mulched with a thick covering of hay, which we leave in place for the duration of the crop, although some growers remove the mulch in the spring. We prefer the benefit of the mulch for weed control and moisture conservation during dry spells.
Garlic harvest begins in July for “green” garlic, which means that the bulbs are not fully grown and would not store well, but are tasty and good for immediate use. By the first of August, the bulbs are all ready for harvest. We use a home-made implement called a garlic lifter to loosen the bulbs so that pulling is relatively easy. We work down the beds, pulling and bunching as we go. We try not to expose the bulbs to excessive heat. As soon as we have some beds harvested, we pile the bunches onto trailers and take the garlic to a shaded, well ventilated greenhouse where it is piled on wire mesh tables to dry. If wet weather follows, we will heat the garlic house to 60 degrees F and run all the fans to keep mold away.
	After two or three weeks in the greenhouse, the garlic has dried and the tops are brown and brittle. Now we cut the bulbs from their stems and sort them for size. We save the very largest and best bulbs for “seed”, bulbs that we will sell to other garlic growers or use ourselves when we plant again in October. We need to save about a tenth of the crop for re-planting. We find that our garlic keeps best at “kitchen pantry” temperature, about 60 degrees, dark, and dry. The bulbs last well until March, at which time they seem to want to grow.

Garlic and Seed Garlic

Local garlic is the best garlic you’ll ever taste!

How We Grow Garlic