This is the first year I’ve successfully grown garlic (I suppose I should knock on wood, considering it hasn’t been harvested yet). Last year, I admittedly had absolutely no idea what I was doing… I just bought garlic bulbs in the spring, planted and none of it grew. I am definitely optimistic about my garlic crop this year. The main difference between last year and this was that I planted the bulbs in the late fall, and they sprouted in the spring.
While we’re confessing things, I feel a bit ashamed to also admit that before this year, I had no idea what a garlic scape was let alone what to do with one. It’s definitely been a happy discovery. Well what is a scape anyway? It’s this:
The center stalk of the garlic plant; if left alone it will eventually flower. It is, however, advantageous to remove the scape so that plant puts more effort into the bulb of the plant. To do this, cut as far down the stalk as you can without cutting off any of the leaves. Now, what to do with those garlic scapes? EAT THEM! They taste just like garlic, so there are many possibilities! I am baffled why I’ve never seen these in the average grocery store.
I have used all of mine this past weekend making Garlic Scape Pesto. Now I just wish I had more so I could experiment with more recipes. Oh well, I’ll just have to plant a larger crop of garlic next year…