Mid August marks the time when your garlic crop is done curing. After curing your garlic comes the crucial step of cleaning and sorting your crop. Cleaning your garlic seed will extend the shelf life of food grade garlic. It will also help you prepare for fall garlic planting.

First, trim the stalk of each garlic plant using pruners. You will need a sturdy pair as the stems, especially those of hardneck, are quite strong once dry. Clip the stalk of the garlic off about ½”-1” above the bulb.

Once you have clipped your stem now trim off the roots using the same pruners or a sharp pair of scissors. You can trim the roots off entirely. Make sure there is not dirt left on the bottom of your bulb. Do not trim the roots so closely that the cloves are exposed on the bottom of the bulb.

After you have trimmed the roots, remove the first two layers of skin from the bulb. You may only need to remove one layer depending on how clean the bulb was. Removing all the dirt from your garlic bulb will ensure that it lasts longer in your cupboard. Dirt holds moisture and soil microbiology that can degrade your bulb over time. If you are sharing your garlic seed with a friend, removing all the dirt from your garlic will ensure that any soil diseases are not passed from garden to garden.

Repeat this process until all of your bulbs are clean. Now you can sort your garlic into planting stock and food grade garlic. You will want to plant the biggest bulbs and cloves that you have. Generally a rule of thumb is anything 2” in diameter or bigger is optimum for seed garlic. Some varieties may be slightly smaller depending on the genetics of the strain. But this is a good guideline. If you do not have any bigger than 2” simply sort out the biggest bulbs for planting.

Think of the garlic clove as the stored energy needed to grow a robust plant. The bigger and healthier the clove the bigger and healthier your garlic plant will be.

It is a good idea to replenish the garlic genetics that you grow every few years at least. You can buy new garlic seed stock and you could also find a friend who grows garlic and trades seed with them.  If your garlic is small it could do to watering or fertility issues. It could also just be time to buy some new seed. And let's be honest, trying new garlic varieties is really fun.  

Happy Growing!