Garlic Bulb Development & Maturity

Garlic bulbs mature underground and out of sight making it difficult to judge when they are at their optimal maturity for harvesting.

But studies conducted by leading Research and Development companies like IPK Gatersleben, have progressively photographed garlic bulbs during their development and show the incredible stages of development until their optimal maturity.  From this research we can correlate the above ground number of remaining green leaves that match the optimal bulb maturity.

So all you need to consider is whether your garlic is a softneck or hardneck to understand the remaining number of green leaves that matches the bulb maturity. 

• Softneck garlic – harvest at 6-7 remaining green leaves
• Hardneck garlic – harvest at 4-5 remaining green leaves