As far as harvest goes on the farm, Spring is my favorite time! Especially April and May. The fields start to look lush with green as the plants are shaking off their winter slumber and bursting to life. We are entering that exciting time of year where every week we have new crops ready to harvest and enjoy. And perfect timing too, as our winter crops begin to dwindle in number. Just as I was about to start mourning garlic, our Spring garlic popped to life.

This garlic began its life way back in October, when seed garlic arrived at the farm. Back when last season’s garlic was still drying, we got to work preparing our new garlic for planting. By the end of October we had planted our five beds of garlic, tucking the seed cloves in to the moist fall soil and wishing them well on their journey. Garlic plants need what is known as a vernalization period in order to grow healthy heads. This means they rely on the cold as a cue to begin growing. Over the winter the garlic starts to sprout, and by the time the spring rolls around there are lush rows of knee-high garlic at Red Dog.

We grow two types of garlic here: soft-neck or green garlic, and hard-neck or head garlic. For our green garlic, once the spring rolls around they are delicious, tender, and ready to harvest, chop up, and throw in whatever stir-fry or salad dressing you’ve got cooking in your kitchen. Hard-neck garlic still has a long journey ahead of it. In the next few months it will start to produce seeds, sending up scapes. These delicious garlic scapes will also be harvested and are a yummy replacement for traditional garlic in any recipe. Once the plants produce scapes, their heads start to set and dry. When the plants have developed strong, plump heads, we harvest every last one from our fields and hang them to dry. They store this way through the fall and winter.

I love how the life cycle of garlic allows us to enjoy it in all its forms throughout the year, from green garlic, to scapes, to head garlic. The never ending cycle of garlic!

~Paige