I am always singing the praises of garlic – both in my garden and in my kitchen.
Every fall I toss it in the ground, pretty much forget about it and the following year, I’m harvesting the delicious bulbs.
Garlic generally has a long growing season, taking up to nine months to reach maturity, depending on the type and when it’s planted.
At some point during the summer months, the plants might send up long stalks that are different from the foliage.
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These eventually produce blooms that look like white balls held atop flower stalks known as scapes, and typically appear shortly before the bulbs are ready for harvest.
In our guide to growing garlic, we cover how to cultivate both hardneck (Allium sativum var. ophioscorodon) and softneck (A. sativum) types in your garden.
And if you need a refresher on the different types of garlic, our article can help.
But what are the flower stalks and what, if anything, should you do about them? That’s what we’re going to talk about in this guide.
Here’s what I’ll cover:
First let’s talk about why garlic flowers and then we’ll discuss what to do about them.
Why Does Garlic Flower?
All life wants to perpetuate itself, plants included. Garlic can reproduce via underground bulbs, but hardneck varieties like ‘Polish Hardneck,’ ‘Persian Star,’ and ‘German White’ also send up flower stalks known as scapes.
At the top of the scape, the flowers form. These aren’t the showy, bright blooms of ornamental alliums and are generally white or purple-tinged.
When the flowers fade they produce bulbils or, rarely, seeds. Bulbils are essentially aboveground bulbs filled with tiny little cloves.
Garlic flowers because it’s attempting to procreate.
The flower stalk is known botanically as an inflorescence, and it’s made up of a scape, which is the stem-like part, and the spathe and beak, which surround the bulbils and seeds.
When this inflorescence forms, we gardeners sometimes call it “bolting.”
Softneck types like ‘Chet’s Italian Red,’ ‘Inchelium,’ and ‘Nootka Rose’ produces something called a false stem or pseudostem. This is made up of rolled leaves and it might produce a few bulbils, but they aren’t suitable for propagation like those of hardnecks.
You can tell the difference between the pseudostem or scape and the leaves of the plant because the flower stalks are round, thick, and upright, unlike the leaves that are more grassy in appearance. Typically, the ends of the scapes start to curl and swell before the blossoms form.
Even though the plants are capable of producing seeds, we don’t generally propagate garlic from seed.
As with potatoes, it’s better to use asexual or vegetative reproduction methods for propagation. In the case of garlic, it’s the bulbs that gardeners plant.
Growing from seed can be done, but it’s a bit of a tricky process and the result isn’t reliable. But if you’re up for a fun experiment, our guide to propagating garlic from seed has all the details.
When to Remove the Scapes
If your plants are happy and healthy, it’s generally a matter of when, not if, they will send up an inflorescence or pseudostem.
It’s not something to worry about, the appearance of flower stems just means the plant is maturing.
But if you leave the inflorescence in place, the bulbs you harvest will be smaller, and contain less glucose and sulfur compounds. If you like your garlic to have bite, then leaving the inflorescence in place will reduce the spicy flavor.
So, since these stalks serve no purpose, gardeners generally give them the chop – unless of course, you’re hoping to save some seeds for sowing.
Once the scapes begin to develop and you can positively identify them, cut them off as close to the base as possible. Make your cuts when the plant is dry, and preferably in the morning. Take care not to nick any of the plant’s leaves.
Some gardeners let the scapes grow to the point where the top just barely starts to swell and take on a rounded shape.
The reason for this is that the scapes are not only edible, they’re delicious! You pay good money for them at the farmer’s market or grocery store.
If you want to harvest the scapes to use in the kitchen, let them grow, but don’t wait until the stem starts to harden and the flower develops further than just the swollen rounded bit at the top. You can still eat them at this point, but they’ll be tough.
The scapes typically start forming about a month before the bulbs are ready, so in addition to being a tasty treat, they’re a little signal that you should start watching your plants so you can be ready to pull them out of the soil when it’s time.
You can learn more about growing and harvesting garlic scapes in our guide.
How to Use Scapes
You can toss the scapes in the compost or garbage if you don’t want to use them, but I’d urge you to give them a try!
Scapes taste a lot like green onions, but a bit more pungent and garlicky.
They are delicious cooked or raw, and since they aren’t regularly available at the store, they’re a seasonal treat that should be savored.
I love to make a garlic scape pesto. Want to give it a try?
Here’s how: Place a cup of coarsely chopped scapes, half a cup of basil, and a third of a cup of pine nuts in a food processor and blend them.
Slowly add a half cup of olive oil. If the mixture seems a little dry, add a bit more oil until it reaches a consistency you like. Add a third of a cup of parmesan cheese and blend well. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
Alternatively you can roast the scapes with some butter or olive oil until tender and add salt as desired.
Chop them into pasta either before or after cooking, toss them in stir fries, soups, salads, or make a dip. They are very versatile!
Flowers Are Glorious… On Your Plate
Blossoms take energy away from bulb production so it’s important to remove them to maximize the size of the bulbs.
But they are delicious and I love them! I don’t see the scapes as a chore to be dealt with but a happy bonus of growing garlic. You can pull scapes off onions, too, by the way!
How will you cook up the scapes? Or do you plan to leave the flower stalks in place? Let us know in the comments section below.
Want to learn more about growing garlic? Cool! We can help with that. Here are a few guides to get you started:
