[lucywil]

when i was weeding the garlic and onion bed yesterday i noticed some of the garlic had flower stalks coming on them, i cut them off but will they be ok or do i need to dig them up? and why some and not others??

[gillie]

I understand that some types of garlic do flower.  It is perfectly OK and will not affect the crop.

Gillie

[Oliver]

I understand that some types of garlic do flower.  It is perfectly OK and will not affect the crop.

Gillie

My experience with garlic is that once it has flowered the bulbs will not get any bigger as the plant is now concentrating on making seed, so cut off the flowering stalk and hope the bulb that has formed will be ok for you to harvest. (The bulb will probably be quite small)
Oliver

[Trillium]

Oliver is pretty close to the mark. Because garlic is daylight oriented in its growth habits, a lot of bulbs will try to put out seed heads. Soon as you see one starting, snap it off down most of it's stem. The flower head bit, called a scape, can be used in stir fries, pickles, etc. Has the garlic taste without the potency. The sooner you snap off the scape, the better chances your root bulb has to reach full mature size.

[lucywil]

ok thanks, i did cut them off but will watch out for any more

[BigPaddy]

Quite a bit behind here.

Just discovered scapes today on my garlic crop. Fantastic looking things and what a taste! I'll be harvesting more and making pesto and bbq'ing them. I cant wait to experiment.

Love the scape.

[debbiedoll]

Darn it! I didn't know you could use the scapes, I've just put them on the compost heap. Oh well there's something new I learned.

[peapod]

Really informative post Trillium, I never knew that, thanks!

[Salmo]

I read, probable somewhere on here, that removing the flowering stalks increases yield by up to 20%,

[BigPaddy]

BBQ scape was really good. Raw they have a bit of a bite. This is gone when flame grilled. Also used in fried rice and in stir fry now. Really good, bit mor subtle than garlic, but that means you can add so much more. Lovely stuff.