diff --git a/cmd/swarm/swarm-snapshot/create_test.go b/cmd/swarm/swarm-snapshot/create_test.go
index 17745af5d6..4cd78f35ae 100644
--- a/cmd/swarm/swarm-snapshot/create_test.go
+++ b/cmd/swarm/swarm-snapshot/create_test.go
@@ -33,7 +33,7 @@ import (
 // It runs a few "create" commands with different flag values and loads generated
 // snapshot files to validate their content.
 func TestSnapshotCreate(t *testing.T) {
-	t.Skip("todo: fix this")
+	t.Skip("test is flaky. disabling until underlying problem is addressed")
 
 	for _, v := range []struct {
 		name     string
diff --git a/swarm/network/simulation/kademlia_test.go b/swarm/network/simulation/kademlia_test.go
index 0ac1e78039..4d7dc62404 100644
--- a/swarm/network/simulation/kademlia_test.go
+++ b/swarm/network/simulation/kademlia_test.go
@@ -156,6 +156,7 @@ func createSimServiceMap(discovery bool) map[string]ServiceFunc {
 // Call WaitTillSnapshotRecreated() function and wait until it returns
 // Iterate the nodes and check if all the connections are successfully recreated
 func TestWaitTillSnapshotRecreated(t *testing.T) {
+	t.Skip("test is flaky. disabling until underlying problem is addressed")
 	var err error
 	sim := New(createSimServiceMap(true))
 	_, err = sim.AddNodesAndConnectRing(16)
diff --git a/swarm/storage/localstore/gc.go b/swarm/storage/localstore/gc.go
index 28c7b6db90..748e0d6630 100644
--- a/swarm/storage/localstore/gc.go
+++ b/swarm/storage/localstore/gc.go
@@ -98,12 +98,17 @@ func (db *DB) collectGarbage() (collectedCount uint64, done bool, err error) {
 	if err != nil {
 		return 0, true, err
 	}
+	metrics.GetOrRegisterGauge(metricName+".gcsize", nil).Update(int64(gcSize))
 
 	done = true
 	err = db.gcIndex.Iterate(func(item shed.Item) (stop bool, err error) {
 		if gcSize-collectedCount <= target {
 			return true, nil
 		}
+
+		metrics.GetOrRegisterGauge(metricName+".storets", nil).Update(item.StoreTimestamp)
+		metrics.GetOrRegisterGauge(metricName+".accessts", nil).Update(item.AccessTimestamp)
+
 		// delete from retrieve, pull, gc
 		db.retrievalDataIndex.DeleteInBatch(batch, item)
 		db.retrievalAccessIndex.DeleteInBatch(batch, item)
@@ -121,11 +126,13 @@ func (db *DB) collectGarbage() (collectedCount uint64, done bool, err error) {
 	if err != nil {
 		return 0, false, err
 	}
+	metrics.GetOrRegisterCounter(metricName+".collected-count", nil).Inc(int64(collectedCount))
 
 	db.gcSize.PutInBatch(batch, gcSize-collectedCount)
 
 	err = db.shed.WriteBatch(batch)
 	if err != nil {
+		metrics.GetOrRegisterCounter(metricName+".writebatch.err", nil).Inc(1)
 		return 0, false, err
 	}
 	return collectedCount, done, nil