Notes on Herbs

Garlic Chives - divide or transplant in spring or fall

The care of garlic chives is pretty straightforward. Water as needed. Although the plants are drought tolerant, they do enjoy moist soil. Other care of garlic chives instructs fertilizing them at the start of the growing season with a slow release fertilizer.

After a long term freeze, garlic chives will often die back only to return again come springtime.
Garlic chives not only have a multitude of culinary uses, but are said to be beneficial to the digestive system, stimulate appetite, promote blood circulation, and have diuretic properties.
Clip the stems either all the way to the ground or with two inches remaining to allow the herb to grow anew.

Garlic

While the plants are green and growing, fertilize them. You will want to stop fertilizing them after they begin to “bulb-up.” If you feed your garlic too late, your garlic won’t go dormant.

The easiest way to know when to harvest garlic is simply to look at the leaves. When the leaves are 1/3 brown, you will need to start testing the bulbs to see if they are the proper size. This is easy to do. Simply loosen the dirt above one or two garlic bulbs and get an idea of their size while still keeping them in the ground. If they look large enough, then you’re ready to make your garden garlic harvest. If they are still too small, then your garlic will need to grow a bit more.

You don’t want to wait too long though. Once the leaves get to be 1/2 – 2/3 brown, you should harvest the garlic regardless of size. Putting off harvesting garlic until after the leaves are completely brown will only result in a inedible bulb. Your garden garlic harvest will normally happen some time in July or August.  Remember, dig, don't pull.