When to harvest elephant garlic?

Heck the dead leaves on the stalks. A rule of thumb is when half the leaves have died back it is ready to pull. Usually bulbs have about ten leaves.

Cut off the scapes.

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Cut off the scapes.

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This is correct, and they can be used in things like stir-fry and to season dishes for their light garlic flavor.

After you cut off the scapes wait for the leaves to die and turn brown, then pull the garlic. It is also better to wait until the soil is pretty dry as opposed to doing it when the ground is wet.

That helps them dry quicker for storage. When I pull my garlic I will set it out to dry on a very large open grate I have set up between 2 saw horses. Lay the garlic spaced so no heads are touching and allow them to air dry to where the paper is very brittle, then I trim off any loose plant material and store in a cool, dry place.

BTW, I saw you can cook the scapes so I decided to try it out. Sauteed in butter, salt, pepper, tiny bit of garlic. Damn good - basically like a mild pepper green bean