size for the variety you are growing and you should be able to feel the individual cloves under the outer skin of the bulb. If so, harvest the garlic and then cure in a dry place for two to four weeks. Longer for very large bulbs. When storing garlic, I don't trim the leaves or the roots. I believe this helps preserve them, but there are more opinions on the best way to cure garlic than there are stars in the sky.
Harvesting Garlic, from the Tacuinum Sanitatus, 1500's.
Onion and Garlic Varieties
There are many varieties of onions and garlic from which to choose. The varieties differ in terms of their taste characteristics (strong/hot or mild), storage capabilities (short and long storage) and growth habit. (early, mid and late season for garlic or short-day and long-day for onions)
When choosing an onion for your garden, be careful to select one that will work in your location; onion plants create bulbs based on the number of hours of sunlight they receive and are sold as "long-day," "short-day," and "intermediate day" varieties. Northern gardeners should purchase long-day onions and gardeners in the South should opt for short-day onions. Onions also differ dramatically in terms of their size, from tiny "pearl" onions up to the huge Ailsa Craig that can tip the scales at up to 6 pounds. Check out the varieties offered by mail order companies to find onions and garlic that meet your tastes and geographic requirements. Here are some varieties you might consider:
- Purple Glazer Garlic - a mild tasting, easy to peel, mid-season variety.
- Music Garlic - a moderately hot, mid season variety with high yields.
- Chesnok Red Garlic - a strong, late season garlic that is good for cooking.
- Ontario Purple Trillium garlic - a very strong and very early maturing garlic.
- Borrettana Cipollini onion - a small (2 inch), flat, yellow, long-day onion that is a good storage.
- Red Wethersfield onion - a red, long-day onion thats shaped like a flattened globe. It's an heirloom variety from Wethersfield, Connecticut.
- White Bermuda onion - a white short-day heirloom originally from Bermuda but now grow extensively in Texas.
- Candy - A large, intermediate-day hybrid onion.
To learn more about garlic, see my posting, Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About Garlic