[Pony Girl]

Should I harvest my onions and garlic this weekend?

White onions are looking good - big bulbs and tops flopped over.

Red onions are further behind - still looking quite green.
Garlic - very rusty.

Do you have to wait for a dry day to dig them up? What's that again?? 

[Stevens706]

If they are ready (tops flopped over) they will need a period of drying before storing, you can either leave them in the sun to dry (if we get sun) or dry them under cover.

[Goosegirl]

Personally, I would wait. They need sun () to ripen and, although the leaves have flooped, as mine have but that may also be due to winds, they need to go more yellow as a sign that they have finished their job. Others on here may disagree - see what they say.

[New shoot]

If the garlic is very rusty you may as well harvest it as it won't grow much now.  Mine came out a week or so ago and is drying in the greenhouse  

I'd agree that if you want to store onions, you need the leaves to wither and go really yellow before harvesting. Nothing to stop you pulling a few now to eat up straight away though  

[Nobbie]

I'd harvest the garlic now or the skin may start to rot away like it did to mine last year. I dug mine up a week ago and gave it a good scrub to clean the bulbs up and it's now in my attic room drying nicely.

[Chrysalis]

I'd harvest the garlic now or the skin may start to rot away like it did to mine last year. I dug mine up a week ago and gave it a good scrub to clean the bulbs up and it's now in my attic room drying nicely.

Snap! 

[MyAchingBack]

How long can the onions stay in the ground after the leaves have dropped?

[New shoot]

Normally they can sit for ages without coming to harm, but with the wet weather this year, I would say lift them as soon as they are ready and dry them under cover somewhere 

[angelavdavis]

Hi,

I harvested my onions and most of the garlic three weeks ago. They are currently drying out in the conservatory.  Some of my garlic are still in place, but I will be digging them up this weekend.

[Trillium]

Because of my very dry weather, my garlic is already dying back, 2 weeks early, so I dug it up this past weekend. Shallots also keeled over from heat so they're also up now.

[Salmo]

Because of my very dry weather, my garlic is already dying back, 2 weeks early, so I dug it up this past weekend. Shallots also keeled over from heat so they're also up now.

You just said that to be annoying. We Brits are suffering from probably the wettest Summer ever. Lack of sun, waterlogged soil, slugs and snails eating everything.

The problem here is that the overwintering onions/garlic/shallots are ready to be lifted but just keep being green and do not keel over.

[shokkyy]

But it's America's fault, you know. I read somewhere that it's precisely because they're having a heatwave that the jet stream has been pushed to a different place, giving us this appalling weather.

[Trillium]

You just said that to be annoying. We Brits are suffering from probably the wettest Summer ever. Lack of sun, waterlogged soil, slugs and snails eating everything.

The problem here is that the overwintering onions/garlic/shallots are ready to be lifted but just keep being green and do not keel over.

  No, I wasn't trying to be annoying. We're as desperate for rain as the UK is for sun. But the sun came with unseasonable heat, averaging about 30C daily, so our modest crops came and went almost in the blink of an eye so we're hustling to get things up before pests get them. Despite our extreme dryness, out worst pest this year has been snails of all things. Snails snails everywhere. Same with earwigs. In the continental and eastern USA, they've had no rain and 41C average temps, and field crops are literally browning to crisps in the fields. My son went through there 2 weeks ago and was appalled at how bad it was.

As for UK garlic, it's getting close to garlic and onion harvest times anyway. I'd pull up the garlic asap if the rust problems seem to worsen, or for non-rust garlic, before the end of July so it doesn't rot and try to go to seed again.

[Erfurt]

There is a problem with a pest called springtail that loves wet conditions. Lift a bulb and look for wee white things around the roots/base. If you have these lift immediately and wash then.
Good luck drying you are going to need it.

[Kirpi]

With the weather as wet as it is this year, are people leaving their onions for the usual ten days after bending them over to fully mature or are folkslifting them and drying them off straight away?