How to Braid Garlic (hardneck or softneck)

How to braid hardneck or softneck garlic (and the difference between the two).
Table of Contents:
0:00 - Introduction
1:02 - What you'll need
1:20 - Curing garlic
1:45 - Cleaning the garlic
2:16 - Leaves are protective layers
3:19 - Hardneck vs Softneck
4:37 - Preparing hardneck
5:21 - Standard braid (3 string)
6:38 - "French braid" (10+ strings)
8:06 - Braiding garlic
10:04 - Final results
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[@159India1]

Finally a clearly visible demonstration, where I can actually see where and how the stems are crossed. Thank you, David from Greenpoint, Brooklyn, NY.

[@taliahalmahri4238]

I love how no matter what video I click on you are like a story teller☺️

[@killerheYzUse]

nice to see it again

[@helenjzkkillick4097]

Thanks. That was well done with lots I didn’t know. Now to braid my garlic .....

[@championhomestead6273]

Simply the very best garlic video I have ever seen! Thank you.

[@khanoclast]

Where was this video two months ago when I was struggling to braid all my hardneck garlic? I'm already planting next year's crop! :-)

[@endlichdrin]

Thank you for the braiding lesson. As short haired guy always wearing my hair open I wouldnt have known this.

[@BackToReality]

You are most welcome! :) I knew that at least SOMEONE would find that useful.

[@lauraburn2914]

Wow! You could teach a master class in how to share info via KZbin. Thank you very much!

[@lifebeyondthesalary2458]

That is seriously the BEST explanation I’ve ever seen for braiding!!! I was a tomboy so I barely knew how to do normal 3 strands braiding (& only with a small part of the side of my hair), so French braiding was like yeah right!!! I love this!!! Thank you so much for that explanation!!!!

[@Chiryaaghar]

Plzzz plzzz post more frequently. Atleast 1 video per month. Yours is the 1st (gardening) channel i started to watchand binge watched all your videos. Now you are posting 1 video after 2 to 3 months. Plzz post more videos. Updates of your garden.

[@techtrek31]

I appreciate the esthetic appeal of a nicely braided garlic, but for my part I love the look of a full basket of neatly trimmed bulbs and skip all that work of rehydrating and rolling pins :) I find the act of garlic growing to be very profound and rewarding, more so than any other crop to me. The act in the fall of sacrificing my 100+ absolute best cloves into the cold fall earth is nothing short of a leap of faith, but every summer around mid July I am grateful to my previous self for that act. I love the tactile feel of every part of this - the crumbly shredded maple leaves I use to mulch, the tear of the roots when I harvest (I don't follow conventional wisdom of loosening with a fork first and have never had a issue, granted I only plant hard neck), and feel of the dirty paper coming off after curing to expose the gorgeous, clean white inner layer. I planted two weeks later than usual this year as we experienced a very warm fall here in NH, so yesterday I got mine in the ground. I won't be braiding next year either, but I thank you for this content!

[@elenascott081]

Loved your video ,explanation was simple ,and I'm a visual learner so I'll be braiding garlic like a pro in no time 😉 😋

[@yarnybart5911]

What a lovely video. Thanks and happy growing, from Somerset, England

[@novaelmstone1915]

I do this for flower bulbs. (mostly daffodils) It helps me to keep the bulbs together and means I don't have to store them in bags. Vthey all stay together in a braid

[@paulkieffer4536]

Thank you for finally developing an easily digested video on this technique! Makes so much sense now. My grandfather did this but never taught me.

[@yx6889]

Bummer, I had just processed all of my garlic for the year and I did the traditional cut off the tops method. The garlic braids are very lovely!

[@suuzq02]

Excellent teaching

[@penguinchick6563]

Your explination of the French brain made me understand more than before... thank you! 👍

[@timeflysintheshop]

Is a French brain more understanding? 🤔😁😉

[@berti642]

Now that’s how to demonstrate a plait ! Wish I’d seen that before the others I’d had to learn from 😂 I’ve even mastered how to do it without string at the bottom and how to add small bulbs up the stem like buttons. I like that look. If you plait them while they still green they look absolutely lovely…….for 3 weeks ! But, oh dear after that the stems go black because of the lack of air round them. Hope you guys are happy and well. Thanks for your vlogs 😊

[@LBurnsy]

Love your videos!!!! Good vibes your way 👩🏼‍🌾💕👨‍🌾

[@creativeideas012]

Before watching the video: 'braiding, what's there to learn about that' Midway through video: ......... Thank you for posting all the information, tips & tricks It's very beneficial

[@scottfranson4215]

5 Years. Did time Bend . That was Fast ... Glad to see you`ll doing so well. sending you some Sunshine from Florida. God Bless.

[@cut--]

Good stuff! It's my first year growing garlic and things seem to be coming along very well. I subbed to your chan. It's helpful to find someone from 'neck of the woods' (Maine.🌲) So many YT gardeners are from the lower part of the US and much of the content doesn't really apply to my zone of 5a.

[@pepademasson6128]

Thank you - I love your videos and your presentation style. :)

[@gravychipplease]

Great video - and I learnt a bit more about garlic - I only planted a dozen this year but next year I’m going to plant enough for the village!!!

[@LisaMagoulas]

What a great, detailed video. Thank you.

[@triciaarchie3860]

Thank you this video. It is very helpful.

[@justintr4888]

Ever since Derrick and Paula mastered garlic braiding, the B2R homestead has been comfortably vampire-free.

[@jeshurunfarm]

Respect from Africa 🇿🇦

[@deborahcochrane2432]

Nice to hear from you! It's been so long and just the topic I am interested in! I received my seed garlic last in the mail last week and hope to get it planted by the weekend. thanks for the inspiration!

[@harveyhaines5383]

We had our first garlic harvest this Fall, from bulbs we planted in the early Spring. They weren't huge, but it was lovely, all things considered. Made me hopeful that we'll have a nice harvest next year! Can't wait to try braiding ours when the day comes.

[@stonedapefarmer]

Huh. I grow hardneck here and would have loved to braid it, though they may have been a bit too puny with the wicked drought we had this year. Only ever heard of people braiding softneck, so I'm happy to see this.

[@robertcasellas4751]

I learned this technique by myself last spring after my garlic harvesting. Thanks for sharing this information and for the tips.

[@autumn8849]

I really like your explanations of… EVERYTHING. Your scientific information is intriguing and I love it. I just wish you made videos more often but I’ll take what you can accommodate. Thank you for expanding our knowledge!

[@lizzie1897]

Thank you so clear. Good info

[@theallotmentkitchengarden3694]

Loved this! I never braid my garlic, just store it in a basket, but I always fancied learning to French braid my hair (I normally wear it in a simple braid) - but never seem to find time to get my head around it, now it all makes sense 💚🧄

[@BackToReality]

My "covid hair" is still growing strong, so maybe I'll try a french braid as well! lol (or maybe not...)

[@theallotmentkitchengarden3694]

@@BackToReality I say go for it! 👍

[@ginnyd3389]

Every video is a true gem. Thank you.

[@ericdee2525]

missed you guys :)

[@CITAP1]

Next time I French Braid Sweeties hair, I think I may have to slip in a couple heads of garlic. It is close to Halloween after all...

[@bellydancingdog]

Don't think Ill ever grow garlic, but I plan to have kids someday and I appreciate the simple and broken down explanation on how to braid! As always you guys are amazing! P.S. I love garlic and knew different kinds existed, but I didn't know much about the differences, I live in Maine (cold state a lot of the time) and I now plan to look for some hardneck garlic since you mentioned a stronger flavor!

[@bobg5362]

You need to post more often; my blood pressure drops 10-15 points after watching one of your vids.

[@sthlm20]

Thanks for another great video, love the simplicity in the design. Got inspired by your previous videos and planted around 40 cloves in my greenhouse 2 weeks ago. Using no til and no dig method inside the greenhouse. Worked wonders with the cucumber and tomatoes. Having high hopes for spring and a garlic harvest 😁

[@divawarrior6402]

Thank you! Clear and concise! I will review next year after my harvest. After years of jumbled up messes of garlic, this year I just trimmed and placed in netted bags. I like the braided look but just couldn't get it right. This is a big help! :D

[@RachelWarren66]

Thank you!

[@Blackhuf]

Great to hear from you! Hope you are doing well :) Would love to see more videos from you, but of course that depends on your motivation and time ;)

[@fadetounforgiven]

Nice to see a video of yours again. My mother used to do that but with onions, garlic not so much, pretty much the same as anyone else around here. BTW, I told you I went and planted one simple garlic a (bit long) while back. Well, it grew, and it had its scape and all, which I cut off as you mentioned in another video, and let the plant mature or something. However, when I decided to pull it off the ground, there was nothing there. The plant just broke at ground level and though I looked for the "garlic itself" underground, there was nothing there. I think it rotted away, as it was close to some lettuce that got watered on a daily basis. I'll see next time. Oh, and it was just today that I picked my crop of butternut squash. About one year ago I bought one to make some "vegetable cream" (just a soup made with some different vegetables, boiled and then you mix them with a hand blender). I kept the seeds until spring when I did pretty much the same as you with your tomatoes: plant them inside and put them outside when they are big enough. I must say the grow up very quickly, although they didn't like being put outside for a few days. I didn't care too much about them, I just watered them a little bit when it was too hot in summer. Today I picked 16. I plan on collecting all their seeds and plant them all next season somewhere else. But first I need to find some new recipes. Thanks for your videos, they are really nice to watch, listen to and learn.

[@BackToReality]

Thanks for sharing these little tidbits from your own garden. I love to hear about the squash plants just mostly taking care of themselves. Nature is so resilient. :) We've been wanting to save more of our seeds from season to season. Hope to try more of that next year!

[@fadetounforgiven]

@@BackToReality this year, despite climate change and whatever, was relatively more humid than usual, so they didn't require much attention. I've read they would do better if I went and help with polinization using some kind of brush, but I didn't bother. What I did use with them was some fertilizer a couple of times (some 15-15-15) that I had for something else, but just a fistful or so, as the soil had not been fertilized in many years. Ah, I forgot, I did something similar to (/inspired by) one of your methods when I got them to their final place. It was a 1x1 meter square, I removed about 10 cms of the top soil with grass and whatever and put it aside. Then I kept digging another 10 cms or so of "pure soil", meaning no visible roots, and put it aside as well. Then I put back the first layer of soil with grass but, of course, upside down, and finally I put back the "pure soil" on top of that. It was after this that I planted the little squash plants there and, mind you, since there were no grass roots near the surface and these plants (once they went back at it a few days later) grow fast with big, big leaves projecting a nice shadow on the ground, it was weeks, I'd say a couple of months, until grass showed up again, meanwhile I had already mowed the grass in the rest of the garden at least twice. It's usual around here to save seeds from some plants, though not all, tomatoes being one of them (at least my mother used to).

[@namAehT]

Had an interesting thought, you could probably make a sort of "garlic rope" with the bulbs hanging freely. Rope is _insanely_ easy to make out of just about anything flexible and would make a pretty neat feature to hang around a kitchen. Plus, the garlic would always be handy.

[@hopechannelcat5462]

well done

[@JINNYJIN888]

Like it! 👍 😆

[@robertrennie6517]

The "see you soon" is a bit ironic

[@BackToReality]

Yeah, fair point. I guess it would be more accurate to say "we'll see you as soon as we can". But that doesn't have as nice of a ring to it.

[@rachelhansen9098]

Soon is in the eye of the beholder ; )

[@adamgrout7313]

Just started getting into your channel and love your content. Im on year two of trying to grow garlic from scapes to bulbs. Have you, or anyone reading comments, tried this? I haven’t been able to find too much.

[@shihtzusrule9115]

Thanks, I've got some garlic I need to braid up. I actually planted my "grocery store garlic" late. I didn't do it in the fall, zone 6b. I planted it in April and harvested it this summer. They are small but they are garlic. I actually have 2 that are growing again. I thought they died. So, I guess I'll wait until I pull up my voluntary cherry tomato plant in December and get those and try to transplant them in a pot and keep them on my front porch. I'm supposed to be making a little green house on my south-facing front porch for the broccoli rabe, pak choi, tomatoes and pepper plants I have left...we'll see if I get that done.

[@tomasbakker4059]

cool cool cool

[@sharimuhamad5905]

❤

[@rakithalakruwan82]

❤️❤️❤️

[@AnyKeyLady]

The braid is so pretty and well explained and thought out! I am waiting for my garlic to arrive as i am going to try and grow it for the first time, here in London. I have learnt that it can stunt strawberry growth. My rhizomes are in separate strawberry planters. Is that ok or do they mean move the pots well away from the garlic? I will be planting the garlic so it grows in between the tomatoes, when they eventually get planted next year. I am also going to grow "Green Manure"/ cover crops in the rest of my bedding over winter as i didn't know such a thing existed. I used to just chuck the tomato plants in the composter and leave the rhubarb, oregano and rosemary in the bed over winter. I have learnt so much this year about gardening from YT videos. Such a lovely community too and just as in to it as i am!

[@CrankyBubushka]

Thank you ! So informative. Have not watched a video from you for awhile. How is your homestead going??

[@forgottenperson1605]

♥♥♥

[@timeflysintheshop]

Great tutorial for braiding garlic! I have thought about it, but I figured it would not keep as well in a braid if it was hung up anywhere that light could reach it. I always keep mine in a cardboard box with the flaps loosely closed. That way they can breathe, but not get any light that might encourage growth. Does you braided garlic keep as well as any you store in a box or basket?

[@bennutting3158]

Have you thought about confiting the garlic, it will last forever and tastes so much better than raw or roast garlic, and you get confit garlic oil as a by product

[@lightdark00]

I would hope washing the bulbs before curing was an option too.

[@BackToReality]

We've always been told not to wash them prior to curing. Sort of like potatoes. But I wouldn't be surprised if it would still work just fine most of the time.

[@doinacampean9132]

Also, if you go to Canadian Tire, you can have the chance to spend a steep $5.99 for 2 heads of Transylvanian garlic (softneck) - which is on about the same parallel. Combined with the weather forecast from theweathernetwork, it would make an interesting experiment...

[@maibonomo5681]

Thanks so much! I might have missed it, but how long will garlic hold this way?

[@TheRoyalManbird]

Could you skip the rehydrating step by doing the braiding before you hang the garlic to dry? And then just dry the garlic already braided?

[@bulkvanderhuge9006]

It's easier to braid TOWARDS yourself, instead of AWAY

[@DodieSimonite]

Instead of drying garlic, then needing to rehydrate it to make the stems pliable, do you think you could take green garlic and braid it? Beat it to break the hardneck, braid and hang to cure. Thanks in advance for your response.

[@lisaeldridge5269]

I wonder this as well! Seems like it would be a bit easier to braid before it’s dry.

[@aryan1956]

Is there a reason braiding doesn't happen before drying?

[@johnmirbach2338]

😁✌🖖👌👍😎

[@doinacampean9132]

Why not roll the pin on the stems when they're greener and not so brittle?

[@BackToReality]

This is a really good suggestion... maybe 'tenderize' the cellulose prior to drying, so that they are more pliable once it came time to braid. Something to try next year! :)

[@doinacampean9132]

@@BackToReality - yeah, and then blame it all on me when all the garlic is ruined :)

[@dhawthorne1634]

Unfortunately, I can only grow about a dozen bulbs every year and they only last about 2 weeks.

[@BackToReality]

Braiding them is a fun if you have a lot, but EATING them is still far better ;)

[@sifonjericno]

Best subscribe i ever make :)

[@BackToReality]

You are far to kind, but I appreciate it nonetheless! :)

[@sifonjericno]

@@BackToReality your voice is such a peacefull,videos is such a good animated and interesting...best wishes and regards from Serbia :)

[@md.abutahersagor8180]

Guys, could you please publish your videos a bit frequently? It's really hard to wait 2 months to get a new video in your channel. TIA

[@timeflysintheshop]

Since you seem to have some free time now. Have a look at what grows in our Yarden in Ohio! kzbin.info/www/bejne/ZoLGg5hui5l1hrM

[@robertrennie6517]

1st

[@Denpachii]

I see you got one thumbs down. Typical vampire.

[@Your-Least-Favorite-Stranger]

They're sneaky. Someone invited them in but we cant seem to get them out now.

[@suuzq02]

Hard neck 4me!!!!!!

[@ambeegaming76]

Honestly I found it cheaper to just buy Garlic Powder in bulk.

[@BackToReality]

Yeah, for better or worse, it's often cheaper to just buy things these days. We still prefer to do it ourselves whenever possible though. The quality and satisfaction is still priceless. :)