The flower stalks are called scapes and they are delicious when snapped off while still tender. If yours have gone to open flowering they are probably much too woody by now. Better to pick them off when about 12-18", which will also result in larger bulbs. Mine are usually ready first week of June.

Scapes can be chopped and used raw in salads, stir fried, or my favorite is tossed with some oil, salt, and curry and grilled.

TomNJ

So should i still cut them off? My goal is to get a bigger bulb> Not all have flowered

Yes cut them off. For maximum bulb size you ideally would want to cut them before they straighten up, but the best time is when they are just 12-18" and still tender, that way you get to eat them!

TomNJ

will do, the plant is 3-4 feet tall, quess im way late

Just to be clear Matt, only cut off the round flower stalk, not the flat leaves. The flower stalk (scape) emerges from the top of the plant after the last leaf.

TomNJ

ok so i will cut these off...thats it?
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Yes, cut off the entire round stemmed stalk at the point that they emerge from the top of the plant, just above the flat leaves. Leave all of the flat leaves, and harvest the garlic bulbs underground when about half of the flat leaves die off (turn yellow).

TomNJ

Do I replant the seeds from the flower part of the plant? Or do I have to plant a garlic bulb.....

Maureen, it's very unlikely that you will get true garlic seed. However, you will get, most likely you already have, little garlic bulbils. You can plant them but it will take 2-3 years before you get sizable bulbs from them. The first year you will either get small rounds (single clove bulbs) or you will get a mini-bulb.

Your best bet is to replant individual cloves from the bulb(s).

Rodney

Mathew, I have grown garlic for about 10 years now....its your choice as to weather you cut the scapes off....the whole idea of cutting to get bigger bulbs is not true....I cut them to eat them....and to put it this way to simplify it....usually I cut the scapes when tender, and within 2 to 4 weeks I pull the garlic as it is ready....I have compared sizes....no difference. Now I have grown 7 different varieties of garlic and as many as 1000 bulbs at once and this has held true with all of them. Oh, and the comment about 2 to 3 years for sizeable heads is not accurate either in my experience.

"Oh, and the comment about 2 to 3 years for sizeable heads is not accurate either in my experience."

Not accurate how? When I made that comment I was referring to garlic bulbils. The little topsets that form on the garlic scapes. You do not get full sized bulbs from bulbils in a year. It takes two to three. The first year you plant bulbils you will either get small rounds or mini bulbs. In second year you will get small to decent sized heads. By the third year you should be getting full sized heads.

Rodney

There is really no question that prompt removal of the scapes increases the eventual bulb size for most BUT not necessarily all varieties of hardneck garlic. Last year I had two patches of a rocambole, one with the scapes removed and one not. The one with the scapes removed produced bulbs twice the size of the other one, with identical treatment. OTOH This year I got very nice bulbs from my Japanese without removing a scape.

Planting the largest cloves also produces the largest bulbs, virtually always better than bulbils and/or rounds often by a good two years. That is one of the easiest ways to improve one's own stock.