10 Garlic Varieties

[@trollforge]

Bruce, I'm not sure if I mentioned this before, but if you cut the leaves down to the storage length, at the same time you trim the roots, you can dehydrate the leaves to make Green Garlic Powder. We use a lot of this!

[@BlackJesus8463]

Chives are better in every way.

[@trollforge]

@@BlackJesus8463 how do you figure?

[@REDGardens]

That would be a cool thing to try. I have usually left them to dry, as I fell that a lot of the nutrients in the leaves will end up in the cloves, but perhaps this isn't the case, and better to use them when they are in good condition.

[@andruloni]

@@BlackJesus8463 are chives a byproduct of growing garlic?

[@lksf9820]

@@andruloni No, chives are chives, look them up.

[@ElRemaro]

I have been growing hard neck garlic in zone 9b in California for 20 years. I frequently plant as many as 300 cloves. I have grown varieties from Turkmenistan and Armenia because we like the flavor and they produce large, easy to peel cloves. I plant the cloves in November, and have always dug them up the first week of June. However, a large portion of the plants have formed “witches brooms” the past two years. Last year I thought I had harvested them too late. This year I began digging up a plant every week or two beginning in early April to see how the cloves were developing. Some plants had formed “witches brooms” by mid April and had produced as many as 8 scapes where they should have had only one, and the cloves had separated. I suspect this formation of “witches brooms”. Is caused by the highly variable winter weather we have experienced the past two winters, caused some plants to behave as if they had experienced a summer and were in their second year in the ground. I a now looking for a variety of garlic that is less likely to form “witches brooms”. That may very well be a soft necked variety.

[@REDGardens]

I have had a few plants of a few varieties do that, but didn't know what had caused it. Other varieties seem fine. I will have to keep an eye on that to see if I can figure out what might be causing it.

[@michaelmcclafferty3346]

A very helpful video, thanks. What preparation did you make to your beds before planting the garlic? I’m going to my allotment this morning to put garlic in. I’ve been advised however to add a wee touch of lime to the beds? I mostly use a no-dig approach but not exclusively. My biggest task today will be keeping my Springer Spaniel pup from digging the bulbs up before the net goes over the bed!

[@REDGardens]

I use a range of different methods for preparing the beds, as I grow garlic in different trial/demonstration gardens that I manage. I am not sure if any of the methods is better than the others.

[@PerfectEclipse]

Please don't neglect to harvest the green leaves on the plants. These taste wonderful and can be used in many things where garlic cloves are too strong, such as in fresh salads, finely diced. Dehydrating them, as others have mentioned, is also a great way to get more use out of the plant.

[@REDGardens]

I should try that. Thanks for the suggestion!

[@franko6843]

How long can u save cloves for planting? How to save them to Last for couple of months without sprouting?

[@corinne7126]

Great videos, love when you do trials.

[@REDGardens]

🙂

[@sjhall2009]

I'd be interested to hear more about the flavor or the different varieties, usefulness in the kitchen, and shelf life. Quantity of yield is important, but if a similar producing variety is better tasting, that'd make my decision.

[@BlackJesus8463]

Tastes like garlic and theres more than one way to preserve it.

[@REDGardens]

There is definitely some difference, but I haven't spent enough time cooking recently to be able to really try them. There is noticeable difference in how easily the cloves are to peel, which is also an important factor.

[@swittman9123]

Which varieties peeled the easiest?

[@REDGardens]

@@swittman9123 Still something I want to check properly.

[@ryanwaege7251]

​@REDGardens Will be interesting to see if you post. That pernicious rust issue is unfortunate.

[@Tomhohenadel]

Put my garlic in a couple days ago. Have been using “Music Porcelain” for six years. Reducing the number I plant. Can’t use them all and I give away quite a bit. Needless to say, I love garlic.

[@BlackJesus8463]

You can pickle them cheap and easy.

[@robrod7120]

If you ever have “too much,” garlic chips are so good.

[@REDGardens]

Giving away garlic is always a cool thing to be able to do!

[@Tomhohenadel]

@@REDGardens that’s right. Either for cooking or for seed. Always a pleasure to share the bounty of the garden. Thanks Bruce

[@bonniepoole1095]

I'm half italian and I grow about 100 bulbs each year. I got my original bulbs from a friend and have no idea what variety they are! Whatever they are, the grow and store well so I haven't given them a second thought, so, thanks for this video! You collect so much valuable detailed data! How many hours do you work in the gardens each day?

[@REDGardens]

I was like that, the one I had grew well, and didn't really think about trying a new variety until recently. The work in the gardens, the research, data collecting and analysis, and making the videos is a full time job. Not sure how much I spend in the gardens, which changes with the season, but it is never enough.

[@lksf9820]

@@REDGardens Never enough for you or the gardens? 😀

[@ranchoraccolto]

I believe both, my garden can always use more time

[@REDGardens]

@@lksf9820 Haha, both obviously 🙂

[@glassbackdiy3949]

outstanding, I appreciate the effort that went into this trial and commentary

[@REDGardens]

Thanks

[@stubbi]

Subscribed on June 30 2019 to your Patreon and not regretting any single day. Love the context, love the videos, love the data and information. Thanks for all the insights, Bruce.

[@REDGardens]

Awesome, thank you!

[@Pixieworksstudio]

It's great to see garlic being taken so seriously. I'll bet your tunnel smelt wonderful - did it help with bug control at all?

[@REDGardens]

I dont know if there was any assistance with pests, as I generally don't get them in the tunnel early in the season, but I always grow a decent crop of garlic and onions in there.

[@Pixieworksstudio]

Sounds good, and I'm going to give it a go.@@REDGardens

[@ChristianCorrao]

Wow! What a tremendous amount of hard work. Very interesting trial. Well done. Just wondering-what did you do with all that garlic?!?

[@REDGardens]

Thanks. Saved a lot for replanting. Passed a selection of all the varieties to a few friends for tasting/using. And then any leftover was distributed to people in my community through the Vegetable Fridge I use to pass on all the other surplus from the gardens.

[@TheEmbrio]

I’m so glad’you do these trials and share, you’re the best ’intermediary scale’ tester out there ! I live in France in a near-Irish climate in some ways, and vicariously through this channel I can think and re-think my growing practices.

[@REDGardens]

Thanks for the comment. Nice to know the people appreciate these trials.

[@johnharrison1743]

Shame you didn't try any Solent varieties which do well for us in N Wales (similar to Ireland climate) - Also, on selecting seed garlic. The cloves are a clone so will be basically as the parent so I wouldn't expect any strain development. But I could be wrong (often am!)

[@REDGardens]

I will have to keep an eye out for that variety. I have often seen comments about a strain adapting to conditions, presumably through epigenetic, as clone reproduction would exclude genetic selection as you mention, but I am not sure. I suspect most of the changes people notice is simply because they are selecting bigger cloves to plant, and the fairly straight line I noticed on the graph seems to point mainly to that. But it would be interesting to be wrong on that one.

[@ubuvolt]

Useful video I didn't expect that each bag of garlic can produce different shapes of cloves as we always buy one or two from the shops thank you very much guys

[@drpk6514]

As a scientist, I pronounce you a scientist (lol) Well done! Still, I think the taste is something you could explore more as in a backyard garden when you can a lot in a small space quality would be more important than quantity.

[@REDGardens]

Yay, thanks! I think the taste preference with garlic is something that will take years to really develop, as it will go hand in hand with how well is stores. Getting a good tasting clove that is still crisp in late spring would be a definite benefit.

[@TheEmbrio]

One recipe for a taste trial that’could convice more of your friends and neighbourgs is roated garlic heads. Roast in a pan in the oven, next to a butternut squash or a whole chicken (non vegetarians), a third of the clove at least being in the broth in the pan (add vegetable broth if needed. The garlic gets to be like a paste, lovely on bread, so you can really taste test these for very many bites without it ever being displeasing. Truly around me, the garlic cloves in our Sunday roast are always a sought-after treat. Wars cqn be fought if we don’t at least have one per person !

[@REDGardens]

@@TheEmbrio I ended up roasting all of the garlic that I had cut open of the shots in this video! But the varieties got a bit mixed up, and with a few glasses of wine and good company, we just enjoyed the garlic and noticed that there were differences, but couldn't link them to a variety. 😁

[@coen555]

​@@REDGardensThat's hilarious. Sounds like a great night! I've done the same with roasted potatoes.

[@Creative_soil]

I love garlic, I'm going to grow some this year. Will start planting around Halloween.

[@REDGardens]

Same here!

[@BlackJesus8463]

nerds

[@turtle2212]

The garlic scapes are delicious just fried with olive oil. It is worthwhile to harvest them Bruce, it also helps to get growth into bulbs rather than scapes. It is quite a high extra yield.

[@brianbrian758]

Hi, for rust in dictoyledons it comes from a lack of calcium and magnesium, we first look at the pH of the substrate. There is a blockage of calcium and magnesium below pH 6.5. if not that, we look at the presence of calcium and magnesium in the substrate. If there is calcium and magnesium in the substrate, we look to see if the Liebig barrel is respected, that is to say that all the trace elements are present and assimilable. Certain plants have always extracted the transport and transformation of calcium magnesium by a mycorrhiza. Forced mycorrhization after germination can solve the problem of calcium assimilation. TNC MycorrMax is a good mycorrhiza complex. And 5th point is maybe there is too much light, a little shade sail can also help. All this is for dicotyledons but for monocotyledons it remains to be verified. You have some ideas for removing the rust now. Thanks for your video see you next time. bye

[@BlackJesus8463]

I'd like to see a portion sprayed with vermicompost tea, even in bad weather.

[@REDGardens]

Interesting stuff, something to look into. Our soil is calcareous, with a pH generally over 7.5, so would not have thought there was an issue with calcium absorption. And the test show a fair amount of magnesium, but there could be something blocking their absorption.

[@MrMoekanz]

@@REDGardensour soil is exactly the same and had awful trouble with rust too this year.

[@saethman]

I think "your strain" did quite well - the smaller cloved producing almost as much as the larger cloves for the other varieties. Could it be that they struggled outside because you're always (?) replanting from those in the polytunnel? (i.e they're adapted to that microclimate, and not to combat rust outdoors)

[@REDGardens]

I have wondered if replanting the ones from inside was an issue, but I have had mixed success with that, and I think any adaptation issue is outweighed by being able to plant bigger cloves. This year, with the variety trial, most of the bulbs were from the supplier, and I assume they were grown outside somewhere.

[@pansepot1490]

Plants don’t adapt when you replant bulbs, the genetics is identical. In order to get adaptation you need to reproduce plants by seed.

[@angelad.8944]

I did have a chuckle when you said that you are good at adding varieties but not finishing varieties. I can relate to that. 😁 I have finally narrowed down a cherry tomato that is my favourite. That took over a decade, lol. I still try a few here and there but I now compare them all with my favorite. A black cherry of some kind. I say that just because I have been saving seed from them for so long. I have been building my garlic patch as well. I now have about 25 bulbs to break up and plant. It is a hard neck and produces 5 distinct cloves of a few centimeters in length and width. I harvest them when the greens are 2/3rds dead. That is what I was taught and the reason is so that the bulbs don't separate in the ground and so that the paper skins keep things tightly together. It has always worked for me. I leave the stalks so the bulb can take what it needs to finish off, etc. I always cut the scapes and make pesto or pickle them. Quite tasty. It will for sure affect your bulb in the end if you do not cut them. I think you should grow it in the tunnels if it works out better for a nice quality bulb. You could easily companion plant them with other things. ☺

[@REDGardens]

Yeah, when I do settle on a variety or a method, it tends to be simply because I dont have the capacity to keep trying! Thanks for the points about garlic, makes sense.

[@BlackJesus8463]

Everyone loves black cherry tomatoes.

[@user-so2kz5hq5w]

You're vegatively propagating the garlic. It cannot adapt as it is the same individual u started with. The variation is caused by growing methods or season.

[@REDGardens]

There is a fairly common idea that there can be some development through epigenetic, but I am not so sure.

[@nonyadamnbusiness9887]

I'm starting trials this year in north Florida. Thermidrone and Lorz this year. Now I'm hoping Termidrome just likes hotter weather than you have. My goal is to eventually grow a mild and a strong/hot variety. Planting starts next week. The one thing I've learned about alliums generally is that if a patch gets diseased, it's all diseased. But, the same variety 30 meters away is can be just fine. I try to split my planting now.

[@REDGardens]

Hope the trials go well for you. I am hoping to end up with 3 or 4 varieties that have different flavours/strengths but that all produce well both outside, and in the polytunnel.

[@rymlks]

Do you let your selected saved cloves go to seed? If not, I'm not sure if you're doing much genetic selection at all. You might just be cloning the best one seed from the original batch over and over

[@bobaloo2012]

Garlic never goes to seed, it's lost the ability. Bruce is talking about epigenetic adaptation, not germ line selection.

[@REDGardens]

With Garlic it is just vegetative propagation, or clone as you said, not a seed that has been pollinated with a more diverse genetics. But there is a widely shared idea that if you keep saving the best bulbs that the strain will ‘adapt’ to the local conditions. Not sure if that happens, or how, but apparently it could be some form of epigenetic.

[@SiApPeter]

I was under the impression that it was possible to grow the small cloves produced within the Scape?

[@REDGardens]

@@SiApPeter that is interesting. I’ll have to try that.

[@babybalrog]

@@REDGardens From what I've read, the scapes themselves are further clones, but the seeds are beneath them. If memory serves me correct. people try to get garlic seed by brushing off the scapes early in their development because they choke off seed formation. You'll have to check on that. Landrace Gardening is trying to revitalize the species.

[@glgauge7999]

Ten different, Wow!!😂

[@REDGardens]

Yeah! Thought I'd just get a few, but when I realised there was 10, I figured why not?!

[@alexanderpaines1754]

Have you tried growing elephant garlic? I grow it in north devon, outside,a similar wet climate, and it grows like stink with no issues, even without irrigation or fertiliser. I harvest not only the bulbs, but the scapes and sometimes the shoots (as technically theyre a leek). This way i have a yield all year around. If it turns out i dont need to harvest all the bulbs one year, the next year they will just form larger clumps. An added bonus is the tall flowers are not only very attractive, but the pollinators seem to love them too.

[@bobaloo2012]

They grow great, unfortunately to me and many other people they taste awful. Apparently it's one of those flavor chemical that only some people have receptors for.

[@Aigjis]

​@@bobaloo2012because elephant garlic actually is not really a garlic - it's more leek than garlic, a whole different crop.

[@REDGardens]

I tried elephant garlic years ago, but didn't really like it.

[@TheMrpiggyboy]

A most informative video. I was gifted a 4 clove bulb of stiff neck garlic,.planted them, they produced 20 cloves along the skapes. Planted them the second year along with the little bulbets from the scapes, The bulbets grow for four years befor they proguce multi clove bulbs. Such great fun growing garlic No shortage of garlic at my house.

[@the_earthway]

Hello Red I've been watching your videos for several years now. I like you started growing garlic from just a few bulbs. Living in Sweden I found several good varieties. Last July I moved to Romania and my Swedish garlic did well. If you can guide me to where I can but several good large varieties, I'd greatly appreciate it.

[@REDGardens]

That is interesting that they did well in two very different places. I bought mine from supplier here in Ireland called Fruit Hill Farm.

[@at1the1beginning]

Well no, the strain/cultivar cannot adapt because there's no (ex)change in DNA; you're practically just dividing (daughter plants are genetically identical to the parent). You'd have to save and plant seed in order for that to happen, preferably with other cultivars.

[@funmomiji]

There are other types of adaptation, the dna is the most fast. Also there are garlic varieties that are not steril and you can grow throught true seed.

[@at1the1beginning]

@@funmomiji What adaptations would that be? Regarding the seed: yeah..? That's what I said....

[@REDGardens]

@@at1the1beginning Other people suggest epigenetic as a way for the strains to adapt to a location. It is interesting stuff, the I don't know a lot about, and not sure if it could be a factor here.

[@at1the1beginning]

@@REDGardens True. But epigenetics has to work with what's already present; it doesn't create new adaptations through sexual recombination (evolution). Genes are merely switched on or off, so this poses a limit to what can be achieved. Anyhow, other question: which of the varieties had the largest cloves overall? I'm personally interested.

[@colinandgillianayre796]

This encourages me to try something different as I have grown the same variety for years

[@PuigdoYT]

Great job!! We see your videos from Catalonia 🙌😊

[@REDGardens]

Awesome! Thank you!

[@gkiferonhs]

I love side-by-side comparisons like this. I appreciate the added problems to record all of this. Thank you.

[@REDGardens]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@justinsenryu7308]

Nice video! I would not expect any adaptation due to the fact that you're growing clones. Maybe only very minimal epigenetic changes. Have you not considered growing from seed? Genetic variation is critical to adaptation, so growing different types and letting them cross, and continually propagating from seed, should lead to a superior population adapting to your land, as well as giving you the option of selecting for phenotype - though best to select for just a few phenotypic traits, so as to not unnecessarily limit the genetic diversity. If you worry about yield, you could grow a patch of clones and another patch of evolutionary adaptive seed grown plants, and as your evolutionary population throws out some good plants, you could use their bulbs to replace your clonal population, whilst continuing your adaptive population from seed. This way you can have good yields from the clones but be improving your population each year, and also keeping up with the climate changes that are so rapid these days. You can do the same with potatoes, growing from seed and from clones in parallel. I would recommend this with all crops really. This is the way to create your own landraces, which can be far superior to growing heirloom crops since in almost all cases heirlooms will be adapted to land and farming methods quite different from ones own, and especially if they are self compatible, then even if you are growing from seed rather than clonally, they still won't be adaptive. So for self compatible plants, you can make an adaptive population by selecting many different varieties and selecting for higher rates of outcrossing, like exserted stigmas in tomatoes for example, and can use hand pollination initially to create a hybrid swarm. Even within 3 years there should be significant adaptation to your land.

[@REDGardens]

I think you are right about the amount of changes to expect. I only just learned from another comment that growing from seed is possible. Your suggestions about how to explore developing new varieties is really interesting. One of the things that I find interesting about the issues of adapting to a changing climate, is that the vast majority of the varieties and crops that I grew here in Ireland were not bred for a climate like this, so they are already not adapted to the climate for the most part. There are some varieties that seem to have been bred for cool maritime conditions, but most are bred for warmer areas of Europe. So I have been more focused on finding a range of varieties that will do reasonably well here, so that as things change with the climate there is a better chance of one or more of them fitting well with the changes (as it is likely to get warmer and more continental weather). But, developing a landraces would be a cool thing to explore!

[@lksf9820]

I wonder how a plant can adapt when our climate is so variable. This year for instance was completely different to last year so the plant might aswell have been in a different place.

[@REDGardens]

@@lksf9820 Good point, and one of the reasons land races might be much more useful, as they contain a really wide genetic diversity with a greater chance that some variation in the the mix will do well in that season.

[@justinsenryu7308]

@@REDGardens I wrote one reply that included a link and it got deleted very quickly. So I wrote another comment with no link. It was addressing some of what you said, and some of what @lksf9820 was saying with a recommendation for an interview with a professor of evolutionary plant breeding. I see that was also deleted. I just wanted to know, if you deleted it or if it was KZbin deleting it? No worries if it was you but I would love to know why, if so. Thanks!

[@REDGardens]

@@justinsenryu7308 I don't delete any comments, except those that are clearly spam or promoting hatred/racism/violence. It was likely KZbin that deleted it, I think links can be a problem and are often deleted. Thanks for trying to share the info. Do you know the name or title of the article or video so I can search?

[@kestergreen3844]

When you’re saving the largest garlic cloves for the next planting, are these being saved from all the garlic bulbs or just from the largest garlic bulbs? My reasoning is that to breed a specific cultivar you would need to be culling whole genetic strains and that would only be happening if you eliminate whole bulbs of garlic not just the tiniest cloves.

[@REDGardens]

I save just the largest bulbs, and try to select the larger cloves from each,

[@kestergreen3844]

I appreciate the extra info. It is really surprising that cultivation of the best bulbs and cloves only made a minor improvement. Maybe the species has been cultivated for so long before us that the genes are stable and there isn't enough randomness to produce better or worse crops without crossbreeding. @@REDGardens

[@lambbrookfarm4528]

Thanks for sharing. I have grown up to 13 varieties of garlic, mostly hard neck in the past. I have settled with 4 varieties that seem to grow the best in my location. Indeed, every year is different, and one should grow varieties a few years to compare before making choices. Thanks again and happy planting.

[@REDGardens]

Yeah, I think I would need to grow for a few years before making any overall decisions about varieties.

[@MrKmanIce]

Since weight is such a simple and cheap metric to record, no doubt, bigger seems better. And probably so. Besides cuisine characteristics, garlic has medicinal benefits too-- alas, ways to measure and compare chemical compounds at the scale of this research project proves challenging. But it really does make me wonder, is bigger better? Could it be that nutritionally speaking, other garlic varieties may be better??

[@REDGardens]

Good points. Weight/yield is easy, and the only thing that can be quantitatively measured at my scale, or at least within my budget. I expect that there are nutritional differences, but I would imagine this may be noticeable in the taste.

[@dawnwoodruffsgarden5036]

Great video! Have you tried using a mustard cover crop to help cut down the rust? I live on the southern east coast of USA and because of the humidity rust is an issue in my garden. I find when I grow a cover crop of mustard it helps. Greatly cut back the rust on my beans and garlic. I grow everything outdoors.

[@REDGardens]

That would be a useful thing to try, thanks.

[@mirocipcih3692]

Fantastic, by far the best and most honest analysis of garlic seeds and cultivation I have ever seen. Many thanks and good luck in the garden.

[@REDGardens]

Wow, thank you!

[@yannikin]

Best gardening channel. Ever. Amazing.

[@mattmccallum2007]

The aroma and taste of garlic and other alliums is a sulfur compound, is it beneficial to fertilize with sulphur?

[@REDGardens]

That is a good question, especially as our soils are naturally deficient in sulphur.

[@Aleph-Noll]

i love it when people go about thinking scientifically in their everyday lives. should be more common

[@REDGardens]

😁

[@gregbluefinstudios4658]

for me, my top three "needs" are Yield, Flavor, Storability, in that order. If someone were to ask, I would say I am a gardener/foodie, neck and neck, tough to see which is more my personality. So, flavor is important. I cook. A LOT. making sauces, meals, etc. So, for me, flavor is key. How it hold s up. i am only recently coming to garlic, as a crop I grow , and still learning what grows in my garden, here in New England. I have so far only planted two varieties of Hardneck. This coming weekend, I will be planting 3 varieties: Two new for me: Northern White Hardneck and Chesnok Red last 2 years: Kejora Siberian hardneck Garlic I am not happy with the Siberian Red, so, I need to find one that does well.

[@REDGardens]

I would agree with that list, but probably prefer storability over flavour. But that is probably because I haven't really explored and appreciated the difference in flavour yet! I haven't been cooking a lot lately, which is something I miss, and with dietary changes in our house, garlic has been dropped from a lot of what we eat, which really sucks. Enjoy your garlic growing explorations!

[@gregbluefinstudios4658]

Bruce, @@REDGardens , I'd have to really up amount grown, for us to be able to make our stored garlic last thru the "hunger gap" between harvest and harvest. Not impossible, but, I am trying to there with quite a few veggies, so, I need to plan my growth of garden carefully, to fill the Hunger gap.

[@gregbluefinstudios4658]

I am looking forward to it, @@Freeland-Farm

[@kayerhoads3444]

I grow Chesnok Red, and the first year, results were not outstanding. Here in Idaho, 7.6ph. The next year, results are much better. I feel I treated each year similarly. I liked the soft neck grocery store variety every bit as well as the expensive Chesnok. Also Chesnok is a stronger tasting garlic than the soft neck type I tried. Good luck!

[@dustyflats3832]

We grow hardneck in northern US. Last year I planted too early and, yes, too much growth and many of variety pack didn’t make it through the winter. I believe the Musik and Red Chesnik were winners. This year I waited for frost and then 2-3 weeks after to plant. I thought that would be Halloween, but the weather changed quickly and I planted in 2 weeks so I wouldn’t be out in the cold and snow and that is what today-Halloween-is. You have a lot of garlic and they say softneck keep better, I couldn’t say as I’ve never tried them here. It’s a lot of work to keep track of and processing. Good job.

[@chadeller5588]

I recently met a successful small scale garlic farmer. I asked what his secret to huge seed-quality cloves was... he said he plants very late so only roots grow during the winter, and no green shoots develop at all until spring. He said it's best to plant after the ground has a frozen crust, around New Year's Day here in Washington State. I haven't done this myself yet, but want to compare results from Fall and post freeze plantings.

[@TheEmbrio]

Interesting. If’you can keep your seed cloves in good shape that long. Perhaps in a fridge.

[@REDGardens]

That definitely sounds like something I should explore!

[@uucfgreen3]

I just finished shopping for hard-neck garlic, to plant in the next few weeks (Zone 7, Virginia, USA). After watching this yesterday, the penny dropped on something I did not previously understand. In the U.S., garlic offered for planting is sold as either "garlic seed" or as "culinary garlic". The difference being that culinary garlic is the smaller bulbs, for each variety. And is cheaper. The upshot is that, as I read it, the U.S. retail market for garlic somewhat reinforces the notion of planting big cloves, not small ones. As you demonstrated here. Separately, have really enjoyed watching your videos over the years. Finally signed up on Patreon, and I hope to see many more such videos.

[@REDGardens]

That is interesting about the different in size between the garlic seed and culinary garlic. Thanks so much for becoming a patron! That kind of support really does mean a lot!

[@accordingtoabe2211]

I'm in zone 7b in VA as well. Which variety of hardneck did you go with? I'm in planning stages now.

[@uucfgreen3]

@@accordingtoabe2211 Short answer: Music. I tried Bluemont "Music", German Extra Hardy, and Chesnok Red. (All bought from the same source, Snickers Run farm in Loudoun County). The only one that thrived and gave me reasonable-sized heads was Music. Even then, the heads weren't huge. German Extra Hardy appeared to grow OK, but the heads were noticeable smaller than Music. Chesnok struggled and gave me a handful of tiny, essentially-unusable heads. With 20-20 hindsight, I think that big heads of garlic require more hours of direct sunlight than I have in my back-yard garden. (Which makes sense, given the small leaf area that a garlic plant has.) I get just under six hours of direct sunlight, and I see places that recommend 10 hours a day for garlic. So I'm guessing that all of these grow well in this area. For sure, the farm I bought them from is not 30 miles away from where I live. But if you have limited direct sunlight, you're best off going with Music.

[@accordingtoabe2211]

@uucfgreen3 awesome. My range is in Ashburn so I'm familiar with Loudoun co. I was planning to go with elephant and music. Parts of my yard get 8+ hours a day, I'm in stafford county off route 17.

[@susanmitchell8339]

Well I'm 7 minutes and 52 seconds into your video and not once have you mentioned the names of the 10 varieties of Garlic???????

[@xaviercruz4763]

9:45 why are you disappointed? You took that variety for those years to its greater yield expression and it shows when you compare to the new non selected for yield cloves of it. Do that for 2-3 harvests to the peinador and other 2 high weight bulb varieties and it will be better probably too. You even have cloves to sell that are superior yielding in the category or variety you have had for years and to the buyer of that variety that’s great advantage compared to buying it from a small Clove supplier, so congrats! Keep going!

[@pomicultorul]

I am sorry that I cannot contribute! I have been watching you for years and feel like I am stealing/taking advantage of you! I wish you the best of health and (if any consolation) inspired by you, I will use any occasion to give some back to those around me. Thank you my friend, you really take this to the...best level!

[@REDGardens]

No worries, I know that only a small portion of people can. I set this project up this way, to share widely, and not have any info behind a paywall. So I am delighted that you get a lot out of my videos, and if you can share with others around you, that is how real change happens!

[@pomicultorul]

Doing all the work that you do and still having time to read comments and reply! (Your work ethics puts many of us to shame.) I am glad that more and more people are beginning to appreciate your sacrifice AND the fact that you are doing it all alone, without selling out! Before anything else my friend you are a source of inspiration. I hope that you and your family are much better than ok. @@REDGardens

[@owendavies8227]

Adding sulfur will help with or completely eliminate fungal problems.

[@REDGardens]

That would be an interesting to try. Adding to the soil?

[@owendavies8227]

@@REDGardens Yes. I guess a foliar spray like bordeaux or burgundy mixture would also work. Or both is also fine.

[@cashakozlov3104]

Great science! i wonder if location relative to where its grown has any influence

[@brockpagnello8144]

Try Lautrec Pink from France. My favourite to grow in Canada.

[@sparkysmalarkey]

Something was getting my okra a few years ago. I found out that if you inoculate them with a beneficial microbe appropriate for the type of plant, it will basically occupy the space that any bad microbe could use to infect. You can't use super salty fertilizer though or you will have to reinoculate.

[@potatoefacedfox]

your soil is garbo plop, fix your drainage instead of adding just compost

[@c-onethirty]

The reason that your own strain did not adapt was because garlic cloves asexually reproducing is just cloning, so very little of that adaptation will be passed on. You would need to get them to flower, harvest the seeds, and let nature cull them. Do that over and over, and the ones that are left should actually be better adapted.

[@lynclough]

Ty for info. I love growing garlic but I'm not great at it. Getting better each year I guess

[@lksf9820]

Thanks for another very useful video. One thing you didn't touch on though and that is the importance spacings have on size, I wonder if some of your smaller cloves were a little closer to one another. I remember reading one of Titchmarshes books and he said to buy in fresh every year. I wonder if those who are suffering from repeated disease every year (rust) are causing it by re-use.

[@REDGardens]

Yes, spacing is something that I really want to explore, to see how it affects the size of the bulbs. In the trials I did this past season, I was fairly careful to keep consistent spacing between all the cloves planted in the different gardens, but I think there was uneven competition from other crops in the adjacent beds which may have had an impact on the trial. I do wonder about the repeated saving of my own seed, and the possibility of passing on diseases, which is apparently a big issue with potatoes. That is one of the reasons why I prefer to use the garlic from the polytunnel as it tends not to be affected by rust, so it reduces the chance of it carrying over.

[@mattbarker3789]

Thank you . This was Very informative

[@Aigjis]

It would be interesting if there would be a chance to add a couple of garlic varieties from Eastern Europe like Poland, Ukraine etc. to see and compare how they feel and grow in Ireland's climate. From these varieties which you were growing I knew and was growing only Messidrome which is Dutch variety as much I know, not the best yield if comparing with old garlic varieties from Poland and Latvia. Great experiment & expierence, thank you for sharing!

[@REDGardens]

That would be interesting.

[@ss31111]

real garlic is small, but it is not sold in stores because it is capitalism and the size is important

[@Jack-he8jv]

morado looks the most appealing by far.

[@richm5889]

Wow-I am so jealous of those massive roots. I get good garlic but I can imagine how much better they could be because my roots are half that size.

[@REDGardens]

Yeah! They do grow big in that polytunnel!

[@wyfyj]

My garlic and shallot yields have been so horrible. I hope I can find a garlic that grows well for me.

[@REDGardens]

Hope you have better success next year.

[@thefallfever]

Great work, im following you know!!

[@brycebyte]

where did you source your garlic samples, good sir?

[@REDGardens]

From my main supplier Fruit Hill Farm

[@brycebyte]

Thanks! @@REDGardens

[@TheKrispyfort]

Good presentation. Appreciate the employment of the scientific method. I look forward to your replication studies. Happy you found a funding method that works for you 🙂 (I've just finished weighing a few sources of garlic, and have written it down in a log book. I miss research 😅). WRT young plants pulled up prior to adequate root development - I'm running a pilot experiment in an exposed earth bed (no poly tunnel) where I planted the cloves half between summer solstice and Autumn equinox, and have been pruning the greens off to mulch level to see the impact on bulb development. My theory is that the roots will establish more extensively without having to also support the greens. Given that hard frost is still some weeks away, differentiation of the Scape buds, nor the clove buds should have yet occurred. Yesterday was the last scheduled pruning. Nine months from now will tell if I'm on to something or not.

[@REDGardens]

Interesting experiment.

[@timeflysintheshop]

If you did not cut the scapes off the hard neck garlic, did you get useful garlic from them? In my experience, leaving the flower on hard neck garlic makes the bulb almost too small to use.

[@REDGardens]

Yes, I still got useful decent bulbs from the hard neck varieties without removing the scapes. It will be interesting to see if the yield increases if I do remove them next year.

[@troutslayer-yv3dx]

I am in a zone 4 in northern MI. I started out with almost 17 different varieties, my daughter and I lost the "map" of the names the first year and have just been growing the best of what comes ever since. I would bet there is still about 10 different ones left but it's hard to say. Its sort of funny, they all look/grow different, finish different times all mixed together, and taste different, but we cant single one out and love our motley crew of garlic. Probably will never change. Thanks for another great vid!

[@REDGardens]

That is great! It almost makes me want to intentionally 'misplace' the map of the varieties, so that I can just maintain whatever works well, and enjoy the diversity, rather than trying to keep everything organised and having to continually evaluate and remember the names! 😁

[@juliek3701]

Great video!! Are you sure about the Thermidrome, I just bought Thermidrome clovers and they are weighing in average 4,47 g after removing the smallest and the largest is 6.78 g, a quick google search brings up a number of 216 cloves per kg or 4.63 g per clover for Thermidrome. around 4.5 g would fit a lot better in the graph.

[@REDGardens]

Thanks! Interesting calculations, but the bulbs I bought for Thermidrome had cloves that were quite a bit bigger than that, at least the cloves that I planted. I just checked the video clips that I took at the time I separated the cloves, and they were definitely bigger than the rest.

[@firefly5421]

Really interesting to see these results - I was just thinking about your previous garlic video while out in my own garden today! You mentioned briefly that the different garlics have different flavors and I remember watching Alton Brown's "Good Eats" program growing up where he said smaller cloves are more potent. Have you found this yourself? Any chance you could get access to a mass spectrometer? 😂

[@REDGardens]

I haven't tried enough to notice the difference in the smaller cloves yet, but it would be interesting to see if that idea holds up with the different varieties. A mass spectrometer is on the list of stuff to buy when I win the lottery! 😀

[@firefly5421]

@REDGardens lol! Well if I get access to one in my line of work, I'll see if we can't get some samples from the garden run through 😂

[@kurtounN]

Pure quality content, thanks a lot ! I would never have thought of growing garlic in a greenhouse, but I'm going to think about it. A garlic/bean/spinach rotation, for example, sounds interesting. Greetings from belgium.

[@REDGardens]

Thanks. That does sound like an interesting rotation.

[@jayjalocon5800]

Hello I'm watching from Philippines, we have black garlic in Philippines and native garlic that are very small but very aromatic,l

[@REDGardens]

Wow, those sound interesting!

[@acctsys]

I feel like the trial on yeild across varieties is done. Further explorations could be focused on the 4 varieties. Perhaps closing out the study on clove size planted to bulb size harvested by comparing across sizes across the 4 varieties is the next exploration. A quick taste trial of "acceptable or not" among the 4 could be screen test if further taste trials are necessary. IMO, if among the 4, there's one that can score 4 out of 5, comprehensive taste trials across 10 varieties aren't a priority. Rust resistance seems important especially for the outside gardens. As someone who cooks, I think price (yeild), flavor, clove size (proxy for effort to peel), and storability are important to garlic.

[@REDGardens]

Interesting thoughts, thanks. I think the main focus is with the outside gardens, but I am interested in continuing that trials inside the polytunnel to see if the results are generally repeated, and to harvest varieties when they seem to be at the same stage of development.

[@billsnyder6945]

I was going to make some comments about leaving scapes and too many dead leaves on harvest, but you explained all that, and the graphs were very informative and useful. Generally, they confirmed the scientific studies that have shown the selection of big cloves leads to big bulbs, but maybe not 100% in all cases, thank you!

[@REDGardens]

Thank you!

[@Peter2k84]

Am not a professional gardener, nor biologist. But i would expect the garlic cloves you've been replanting for the past decade to be genetic clones of each other.

[@REDGardens]

Yes, that is true, to a point, but there is apparently the possibility of epigenetic changes.

[@gkiferonhs]

If you harvest the scapes the bulbs get bigger AND you can make garlic-scape-pesto.

[@REDGardens]

Both of those would be great!

[@officeoutlaws467]

I know garlic is typically grown from cloves but, Trying to plant from seed might give you better opportunity to affect the adaptation/genetics of your garlic.

[@REDGardens]

That would be a cool thing to try

[@accordingtoabe2211]

Please list the names in the description. Trying to pause the video to screenshot your charts is tedious. Thank you for the informative content.

[@REDGardens]

Thanks for the feedback.

[@ernestkirstein6233]

Growing by splitting bulbs... isn't that just cloning? I wouldn't expect to see much adaptation unless you let the garlic go to seed and crossbreed. At the risk of oversimpligying: cloning might give you a little bit of adaptation through mutations, but crossbreeding allows the plants to pick and choose from different sets of genes, selecting the best ones over time.

[@REDGardens]

Apparently there is the possibility of epigenetic adaptations within the clone reproduction, but I am not sure if I am seeing any of that.

[@Qopzeep]

I’ve grown both Therador and Messidor (a cross between Therador and Messidrome) this year and both did really well. My soil is river clay with an undeep hummus layer on top. This is different from your soil I think, which either suggests these varieties are tolerant of different soil and weather conditions, and therefore fairly easy to grow, or that it was just a really good year for these varieties. Another variety I grew was Valverde, which didn’t do as well, so for me at least, it wasn’t the case that garlic in general grew well this year.

[@REDGardens]

That is very different soil to grow in, and interesting to know that those varieties did well. I do think garlic is quite easy to grow in general, until there is an issue either with a disease, or with a particular variety or batch of cloves.

[@Qopzeep]

@@REDGardens That's the thing though, Valverde, another softneck, didn't do well at all. Might have been a clove issue (they were bought), but they seemed just the same as the other varieties when I planted them. Soil conditions were the same. Who knows why one did well and the other didn't 🤷‍♂️

[@oasen-pa-asen]

How do you cure them? We always seem to fail on that part with it being to high humidity...

[@REDGardens]

I hang them in a place covered by plastic to keep off the rain but let the wind and sun in.

[@sheelaghomalley5459]

I'm late this year with garlic and onions. You have just prompted me to order my sets from Fruithill farm.

[@REDGardens]

I am anxious to get back to the gardens to get my garlic in.

[@simonhughes9418]

Spare a thought for us unfortunate folk riddled with white rot 😔. I just wish I could grow more garlic. I have to grow 5x what I need, lose at least half. The other half mostly be small and anything decent needs to immediately be frozen in cloves as it won't keep. It works out that I get enough but it's still devastating.

[@REDGardens]

I am so glad I have not had to deal with white rot! The is a hard disease to work around. I was wondering if growing in containers with bought in growing medium would be an option for you.

[@dennistaylor3796]

Look up rye and mustard cover crops to see if this will help this .

[@simonhughes9418]

I grow a few bulbs in containers but it’s not too practical on a large scale. I’ve attempted a few experiments this year. Apparently following brassicas might help, so I’ve used that bed. I’ve been watering in garlic powder for the last few months. No alliums have been grown in this bed by me. So at least 5 years. Large spacing (8-10inches) and finally a decomposed wood chip mulch. I read the fungi might be able to outcompete white rot. All random things I read on the internet but I’ve nothing to lose so figured I’d try them all 😂

[@dejannisic9770]

every clove in bulb is genetically the same, smaller or bigger makes no genetic difference, it won't adapt overtime, one thing that matters bigger bulbs are healthier and have less chance of carrying viruses and other pathogens within.

[@REDGardens]

There is apparently the possibility of epigenetic adaptations. Healthier cloves would help, though I think the biggest benefit of the larger cloves is that there is more energy on the clove for the young plant to get that extra head start at the beginning of the season.

[@hakajiru264]

You should send samples to some foodtube channels, perhaps they know how to compare and taste them. A collab for future comparisons like this for different plant varieties would be cool to see.

[@REDGardens]

Interesting idea!

[@gerritvandenbosch4681]

Just a question about your so called adapted crop. Does garlic ever go to seed? My understanding is that the bulb forms a genetic clone meaning there is no way for it to adapt to the environment.

[@REDGardens]

It apparently can form a seed, in the garlic scape, but I only plant the clove. So, as you say, it is a genetic clone, so there isn't the possibility go the adaptation through the genetic changes. But there is this common idea that the strain will adapt over time, and some people think that it is through epigenetic, which is more how the existing genetics will 'express' in response to the environment. Or something like that.

[@dianekilbourne5734]

What do you feed your garlic? Forgive me if I asked before watching the entire video.

[@REDGardens]

I have a different fertility management system for each of the different gardens, so it varies, but I don really treat garlic any different from a lot of the other plants.

[@Hansulf]

"Morado" (which means purple in spanish) makes a perfect shape!

[@REDGardens]

They do!

[@eggcluck]

Garlic from clove plants are clones of the parent so there will be little adaptation, you will be only selecting for that particular strain that fits best. For adaptation you need to grow garlic from seed.

[@REDGardens]

Some people suggest there can be epigenetic adaptations, but I am not convinced.

[@orangemoonglows2692]

why do you mainly grow softneck in ireland? it get cold enough to grow hardneck.

[@REDGardens]

I don’t know why it is mainly soft neck available.

[@raufjaleel8317]

In all we have to climatize garlic varieties to our local climate, which may take many seasons.

[@REDGardens]

I am not sure that adaptation really happens very much at all. Any improvement seems to be mostly just planting larger cloves.

[@beingsneaky]

I think on going experiments is needed. Plus which one taste the best??

[@REDGardens]

Indeed.

[@julynbaker1718]

Did you amend your soil at all? This will be my first time trying garlic.

[@REDGardens]

The soil in this garden is really well developed, with lots of organic matter and amended for every crop, with a general purpose fertiliser. I am not sure how fertile the soil should be for garlic in general.

[@KnowledgeNerd123]

Speaking as a former chef, larger bulbs are easier to work with in the kitchen as well

[@REDGardens]

Very true! A lot less peeling. It seems that a few varieties also have skin that comes off easier.

[@odiousmelodious2410]

Excellent research!

[@aarondavidson6409]

2:09 Looks like purple blotch fungal disease/ downy mildew, centre screen at top :). Treatable with organic inputs. Try potassium bicarbonate, followed by beneficial bacteria and fungal spray. Great video. Many thanks from Australia

[@REDGardens]

Thanks for pointing that out! I really need to get more knowledgeable about these things, and to be more observant. Comments like these are one of the main ways I learn, which is great!

[@aarondavidson6409]

No worries mate :). I'm not certain but it looks similar to what I've had in my crops. Starts as a small pale circle, changes to purple/black, sheds spores, and can kill the plant in extreme cases.. Have a squiz at your plants, have a google and get back to me :). Im keen to learn more :) @@REDGardens

[@DerKleineLandgarten]

Great video! I am starting a little garlic breeding project and saw in your video 5:44 that one seemed to not only make bulbils but also actual flowers. Do you remember what variety this was? Thank you for all the great videos!

[@REDGardens]

I think it was the variety called 'Primor'.

[@DerKleineLandgarten]

@@REDGardens Thank you! That's one of the varieties I have ordered 👍

[@susanvasquez3625]

Unfortunately, growing garlic from cloves is only cloning them, and thus it will NOT allow any change in the garlic genetics. I.e., your better head size is based purely on the amount of energy stored in your larger cloves planted, not any form of genetic improvement from selection. You would have to breed garlic seed and plant that in order to see any true improvement. And from what I've read, breeding garlic is a slow task that fails far, far more often than it works, and is only possible with hardnecks. But garlic USED to breed sexually, so perhaps the most patient gardener may someday succeed in breeding a variety that breeds easily?

[@REDGardens]

There is apparently the possibility of epigenetic adaptations.

[@susanvasquez3625]

Yes, that is true... but would be rare, I think? Reading more, I've found that they have done pretty good at getting seed-growing plants, now it is just a matter of people in different areas landracing them, then selecting for culinary pleasing traits... AND seed production! :D@@REDGardens

[@lce_Poseidon]

i finely chop it and eat it raw on salad or to top pasta or whatever

[@REDGardens]

nice!

[@brentwalker8596]

While the two broad classes of garlic are hardneck and softneck, it should be noted that garlic can be further divided into three sub-classes of softneck: i,e,, artichoke, silverskin, middle eastern, and eight sub-classes of hardneck: ri.e.,ocambole, asiatic, porcelain, creole, purple stripe, glazed purple strip, marbled purple stripe, and turban. It is these sub-classes that are particularly useful when making choices based on clove size, climate preference, height, shelf life, and harvest date. There are several hundred total varieties of garlic so take some time to educate yourself on this fascinating and rewarding crop plant before buying.

[@REDGardens]

Thanks for that! Such interesting stuff, but so little information about what varieties belong to what group over here. Cutting them all open definitely showed a lot, but I need to do a lot more research.

[@brentwalker8596]

I grew about twenty varieties from about five different categories on my old farm. This helped to stretch out the harvest so that we could sell scapes, green garlic, and cured heads for a long time. It sold very well at farmer's markets.@@REDGardens

[@pilsplease7561]

If i didnt have to fight rust I would be happy, its ruining my garlic here in the US this year, absolutely going crazy spreading rapidly and I have been trying to knock it back with less strong fungicides but I am going to have to bring out the systemics

[@REDGardens]

I am glad our rust issue is not so extreme.

[@pilsplease7561]

I sprayed it tonight with Azoxystrobin which is a systemic recommended by the state of california for garlic rust and am hoping that it knocks it back effectively and I can switch to copper or sulfur fungicides and keep it at bay. @@REDGardens