As we start to bring in the harvest from our gardens, we begin looking forward to next season. We start cleaning off garden space, working up the ground and preparing to plant.
One of the most popular vegetables to raise is garlic. Many in our area raise garlic, making beautiful braids to dry and store for later use. Garlic (allium sativum) is a member of the allium family that also includes onions, shallots, scallions and leeks. It is planted in the fall to allow time for good root development necessary for next season's yield. This establishes a head start that each clove needs for the next season.
There are many kinds of garlic, but soft-neck and hard-neck are the two kinds that are planted in colder climates. Soft-neck does not send up a seed stalk, though this variety is more productive. It has a longer storage life of six to eight months. But, we are not delving into how to grow garlic. We want to focus our attention on what comes later in the spring -- the scapes.
As spring warms the ground, the cloves begin to send up a slender smooth stem surrounded by flat green leaves, which look similar to leeks. These flat leaves supply the much-needed nutrients (especially nitrogen) to develop the bulbs.
As this slender stem grows, it begins to curve, then loop, and then loop again. Scapes are ready to harvest when there are one or two loops.
In the spring, between May and June, these interesting-looking stems may be harvested in the morning -- look for smooth green stalks, cutting them one inch above the plant.
They are full of flavor, milder than the bulb and can be used in place of cloves of garlic. Remember, they must have two full curves, be smooth green, and not be allowed to straighten out at the top.
A bulbil will form. This will develop into an array of smaller bulbils. The scapes turn tough at this point and cannot be eaten.
After being cut, they can be washed and stored in a jar with one inch of water in the refrigerator. They will keep for up to three weeks. These can be chopped up and used in any recipe calling for garlic. They can be used in salads, dips, pesto and any other creative and tasty way you can imagine.
Hughes is an Ohio State University Extension Master Gardener Volunteer in Mahoning County.