This is my garlic with the scapes out and ready to be cut. Garlic scapes are the flower head of the plant. Most hard neck garlics put out scapes, while most soft neck garlics do not. You don't want to let the plant flower, it uses too much energy from the bulb, and that's what you're growing the plant for. So, you want to cut off the scapes, but you don't want to do it too soon. If you cut the scape too soon, the plant will try to put out another one, which again, uses too much energy from the bulb. Wait till the scapes are long and twisty, when they look like the photo above, then cut them off, be sure to cut only the scape and not the leaves, the plant still needs those for energy for a bigger bulb.

This photo shows some of the garlic scapes i harvested the last 2 days. Garlic scapes are really delicious. You can cut them up and use them in a saute, or raw in a salad. I like to make a pesto out of them. I cut up the scapes, put them in a food processor, add olive oil and sunflower seeds. I use sunflower seeds because pine nuts are so expensive, and i think sunflower seeds are a close approximation for pine nuts. I process all that, and put it in plastic containers and freeze it. It keeps really well and I get to enjoy it all year long. Garlic scapes have a mild garlic flavor, nothing close to what the bulb tastes like. If you've never had them you should try them! Most farmers markets will sell the garlic scapes, and in the northeast they'll be out now. The garlic itself won't be ready to harvest for another few weeks, but once you cut the scapes, it won't be long till the garlic is ready.