Epic Garlic Harvest

[@masonkoller8962]

When Bruce says “Epic” you know it’s going to be EPIC

[@REDGardens]

Haha, I guess I’m not known for hyperboles!

[@kirawelty]

Your timing is perfect, I'm harvesting my garlic tomorrow. Thanks for sharing your experiences and knowledge.

[@bradcarby3765]

We have 36 poly tunnels that are 8mx80m. We are about to add another 20 9mx100m tunnels. We grow a range of fruits in them and in open pastures as well and it is incredibly obvious to us that the plants grown in the tunnels are vastly superior. We still have similar pest pressure, but far less fungus and weed pressure due to the lack of wind and wet leaves. This was ultimately confirmed by two tunnels that had their poly blown off in a severe storm and it has taken six months to beat down the weeds in these two tunnels.

[@VanderlyndenJengold]

I don't know if strawberres tase so good when forced in a tunnel. Soft and tasteless. Maybe it was that just grower though.

[@bradcarby3765]

@@VanderlyndenJengold Exactly right. Vastly superior in terms of size and quantity and no blemishes etc. Strawberries taste like shit though. Raspberries are pretty good.

[@Geo-Dome]

Wow they are massive, I thought they where elephant garlic

[@REDGardens]

Yeah, they are about as big as Elephant Garlic!

[@metamud8686]

Bumper crop! Great science to be found here. Amazing, meticulous, thorough. I so love this channel. Thanks for sharing!

[@REDGardens]

Glad you enjoy it!

[@lkhfun6575]

Garden economics - space for one crop means none for another. I am dealing with that in my container pots. Thanks.

[@REDGardens]

Garden economics - A very good way of describing it!

[@definitelyevan3974]

Last year I used an auger to dig 3 feet deep every 3 feet in 2 rows, roughly 100 ft long. I backfilled a mixture of coco coir, composted manure, mushroom compost, a blood meal/bone meal/fish emulsion mix and iron from chelate. I started in buckets by mixing all of them together and letting them sit over the winter. In the spring I filled the holes and trenched my compost on the outside of the 100 ft rows all summer. I received a tremendous amount of beets, sweet potatoes and our first successful harvest of Beni Emo or Ube. We are in Arizona ,USA. The planting zone is 8b arid. Pictures to come

[@caribbeanspice1693]

Those garlic Bulbs are monsters. Beautiful job.

[@REDGardens]

:)

[@olafwilhelm4684]

One of the best gardening channels out there! Thank you for sharing the results of your hard work! I learn a lot here!

[@REDGardens]

Wow, thank you!

[@xistacio]

WOW. Thanks for taking the time to share all that!

[@REDGardens]

:)

[@oscarherrera9049]

May you give us a garden tour please. Vegetables growing.

[@NashvilleMonkey1000]

Garlic has been grown in mediterranean and subtropical regions for several thousand years, and while ireland is coastal, it's pretty far north, so the greenhouse gives it the warmer climate it likes while cutting out the coldest part of your region, and the difference is indeed that much! We are mid continent and can keep garlic year round in the garden, and in the most favorable (warmer, sunnier, more protected) spots, it certainly does better here as well.

[@REDGardens]

Yeah, that makes sense!

[@tim1338]

Great video very informative. I’m very jealous seeing those massive bulbs!

[@sharonmcqueentorres2459]

Wow! Big bulbs. Congratulations 🎉 Enjoy your presentation

[@REDGardens]

Thanks!

[@yevpt]

That is some outstanding garlic! The size of those cloves is something

[@alyssanapoleon877]

Wow! Those are awesome looking bulbs! I just harvested my patch of Garlic and my bulbs were still very tiny, definitely not fully developed. I planted them late October, mulched over them with straw, and had worked several wheelbarrows full of composted horse manure and compost into the bed. I also fertilized with fish emulsion in the spring and still got very small bulbs! Does anyone know what I could do better this fall? Oh I also bought the “seed garlic”? from a local farm and garden store.

Awesome video as usual and not so usual results. I planted a lot of garlic this year. One particular spot is griwing the largest leaves and that spot where I chucked worm castings from a dead worm farm.

[@alisonburgess345]

One of the BEST things to grow yourself. Wonderful crop! You’ll be using them all autumn and winter... Great vid

[@REDGardens]

I think so too!

[@Modeling0216]

Wow this is beautiful to see

[@meemo32086]

Very interesting!! Congratulations on your bumper crop!!!

[@REDGardens]

Thank you!

[@billastell3753]

It has been my observation, as you speculate Bruce, that garlic seems to get better as you grow and select the best to replant year after year in the same place. I'm not sure there is a scientific basis for that but it has been my experience. 20 years ago I began growing garlic in central Ontario Canada. It was shortly after the soviet union had opened up and many varieties, previously unavailable to the west, became available. I grew several types and in a few years narrowed down to my two favorites . One is a rocambole type that can have up to 10+ cloves of various sizes. It has a lovely taste and earthy smell. The most endearing feature though is they are very easy to peel. The down side is they begin to sprout or go brown mid march. The other variety is a porcelain (music) type with 4-6 large cloves that are hard to peel but keep right up until it is time to harvest new garlic in late July. The point I am trying to get to is, both these varieties have gotten better each year in the past 20 years. They never die in our harsh winters and required no mulch or protections in the -30 celcius winters. They tolerate being wet right through our wet springs and grow green and strong producing a large 2-2.5 inch bub consistently. I like to try new varieties each year but they never come up to the standard of these old favorites. In time the new varieties may get better with selection but it is hard to justify that when the old varieties are simply better as is.

[@REDGardens]

Thanks for sharing your experiences with diverse types of garlic, something I would like to explore as well. I don't know what the mechanism is that produces this kind of improvement, but it does seem to work.

[@MeandYouHello]

thanks for sharing your videos

[@JordanBeagle]

I love this project

[@gailwarrington3841]

Wow exellent garlic 👏 will be trying this next growing season. Thank you so much for your videos, get very excited when a new one comes out 👍

[@joburgerer4127]

For your wind issue - maybe plant a lane of trees on the edges of the gardens? I am not familiar with the weather in Ireland but here in South Africa wind breaks do the trick to protect exposed gardens in open feilds

[@timetree4155]

Great video, just getting into garlic on my farm on vancouver island. Looking forward to filling a greenhouse bed with garlic!

[@REDGardens]

I really do love this crop in the polytunnel, thought does seem a it of waste of valuable space.

[@joshmann7587]

Be interesting to see a side by side comparison of taking saves blubs from the poly tunnel and another one of your outside gardens, planting them both in the outside garden. Then seeing which one did better, if there is any acclimatization to the poly tunnel enviroment or weather bigger bulbs make more of a difference.

[@REDGardens]

That would be an interesting experiment. I'm also thinking that large and small cloves from both inside and outside would make an interesting set of 4 different variations to compare.

[@joshmann7587]

@@REDGardens Yes would be very interesting, i would be wary of doing that all in one year myself because there becomes so many variables to account for. I was also thinking a low tunnel with poly plastic on would be pretty good if you didnt want to take up space in yuor actual poly tunnel. By the way that garlic did look epic, makes it seem much more worth growing it to my mind after seeing that harvest.

[@Grown-in-Tyrone]

Excellent video, very concise and informative. I've being doing a bit of experimentation myself in Tyrone. Conditions are slightly different I guess. Must watch more of these!

[@REDGardens]

Thanks. Hope you like my other videos!

[@danielfisch655]

Great yield, beautiful looking garlic and thank you for sharing. I only have one question, how do they taste?

[@REDGardens]

Thanks. They taste great, very strong garlic flavour.

[@jeffmartin693]

Awesome! That was amazing to jump productiom so much in a single year.

[@REDGardens]

Yes it was! I was pleasantly surprised, though the health and size of the foliage was a good indicator of things to come!

[@cpnotill9264]

Good lord they're HUGE! WELL DONE!!!!

[@REDGardens]

:)

[@bevkrieger3615]

Very interesting experiment. However, I am in Canada, B.C. and have never heard of any of the varieties of garlic that you planted. I personally just planted two varieties, Porcelain, Georgian Fire and red Russian. Both are hardneck varieties, and I get good results with both of them outside. Next harvest I will way them and see how they compare to your experiment. Peter

[@REDGardens]

Yeah, the varieties available in different places seems to be completely different.

[@mundanestuff]

Yes! Data! Thanks!

[@REDGardens]

You bet!

[@lukasstober4920]

Thanks Bruce for another awesome video. Are you planing to give us an update about your composting system. That would be great!

[@REDGardens]

Yes, soon.

[@lukasstober4920]

@@REDGardens That's good news

[@RobertMiller-mq6jb]

Could you make space in the garlic bed for summer crops by harvesting every second plant as spring garlic and then planting the tomatoes and peppers, etc. into those gaps? I don't know if that will still be too much competition but it seems like a possible strategy and could also make use of garlic's properties as a companion plant

[@wheelbarrowfriend2035]

Looking good. Thanks

[@fransiedutoit7338]

What an amazing crop!! Well done! I tried growing garlic in my polytunnel once but it was attacked by black aphids so not doing that again.

[@REDGardens]

Thanks. I am glad I haven't had any pest problems like that.

[@TheBlockUniverse]

This is unrelated, but have you ever tried using your chickens to help with the compost? EdibleAcres youtube channel has shown great examples of doing that. Thanks for great video :)

[@PaleGhost69]

Damn, I was just about to ask if you've ever considered trying a deep mulch no irrigation garlic bed but I realized that slugs would probably love the conditions. It's a shame, though. I've seen good stuff about the method and would love to see you try it out. Oh well.

[@dfbess]

Try it in a sealed grow house?

[@PaleGhost69]

@@dfbess That would defeat the purpose of never having to water

[@fxm5715]

That's pretty much how I grew my garlic and onions this year, with a layer of compost, then several inches of shredded brown cardboard much. I just had a great harvest a few weeks ago, and hadn't watered them at all this season. One caveat: this bed is on the drip-line of my garage roof, so with even a moderate rain, it gets well watered. This is zone 7a, mid-atlantic.

[@allonesame6467]

Blessings Abound!

[@REDGardens]

:)

[@saulblatt]

Great video. But surely garlic bulbs are just clones of the original plant so you wont get any local adaptation over the years?

[@achoo4595]

You must have some excellently labeled BRoll by now.

[@vossierebel]

Great harvest - good to follow your experiments and research results! One question please, where do you source your crop protection materials? Thanks!

[@REDGardens]

Thanks. I get the material from fruithillfarm.com

[@vossierebel]

@@REDGardens Thanks for that, I'll investigate! Keep up your great work... happy harvesting!

[@abhaybhatt4286]

I feel like the size of bulbs are dependent on the size of the cloves planted. My garlic plants were great and healthy, but their size was small.

[@itsrachelfish]

HOLY CRAP! The thumbnail did not do it justice... those garlic are HUGE!

[@REDGardens]

:)

[@Marcustokis]

Inspiring. I really like your content. All of it. From Sweden, gothemburg. I live on a windy mountain. In the city. Is the conditions similar to yours?

[@REDGardens]

Hey there in Sweden! It is windy here, though I suspect it is colder there.

[@hairybass480]

Absolutely epic.

[@REDGardens]

:)

[@teatimetraveller]

great video and a great crop... what was the harvest date for the tunnel garlic and how did that compare to the outdoor date? can you remember the variety as well? thanks,

[@bonniebon5378]

Sir, we are windy here. I notice your hoops holding the floating row covers up are dense. Do you mind revealing what they are?

[@OrtoForesta]

I believe those are MDPE blue pipe, 25mm in diameter

[@bonniebon5378]

@@OrtoForesta thanks!

[@chrisfryer3118]

cracking polytunnel garlic, mine were about 4 weeks early this year

[@chantallachance4905]

Nourrish the leaf and soil with 4ml sugar and rice vinaiger for 1 litre rain water (korean Natural Farming M. Cho) it works so well

[@titanlurch]

What varieties of garlic are you growing? Have you done a comparative analysis between hard and soft neck? I grow hard neck mostly because we enjoy cooking with the scapes.

[@Dawoodchaiwala]

inch distancing, and now it’s been 15 days since we have transplanted the tomato to field beds, can I now plant 3 garlics in between each tomato plant and along with it can I prepare Basil flat bed to plant it later with garlic in octagonal design spacing of 12 inches and along with garlic planting can 2 plants of marigold be planted on the side borders in between tomato gaps ?

[@REDGardens]

Sorry, I don't know, I have never tried that kind of interplanting.

[@dfbess]

I have been having issues finding fresh garlic lately.. wish I had a place to grow some..

[@karlfoley5221]

When do u plant the garlic in the outside gardens?

[@MartinMMeiss-mj6li]

Garlic reproduces clonally, with the offspring genetically identical to the parents. If all of your garlic is descended from a few starting cloves from when you began, it is unlikely that your selecting of large cloves to use as seed has produced a strain that is better adapted for your conditions. More likely it is as you surmise, that the larger cloves just gave plants a better start in life and allowed them to grow bigger faster.

[@REDGardens]

That may we’ll be the case. It would be interesting to split a bulb of garlic and grow each half in two quite different climates/contexts for a number of years, and then to bring the ‘strains’ together for side by side trial. That might show some interesting results, or nothing. But I am open to the possibility that there is a kind of adaptation mechanism I am not aware of, that works within the clonal reproduction process. There could be something going on that we just don’t understand yet.

[@MartinMMeiss-mj6li]

If you discovered something like that you would become famous in genetics circles. Of course, there is still the chance that your original stock of cloves were not all of the same clone, and so you could still be selecting among that original diversity.

[@MATFarm22]

Simply amazing! I want to grow garlic this year but im stuck. Do you just plant garlic bulbs to the garden or do you use chemicals to wet the garlic and then plant it? Thanks for sharing your experiences.

[@REDGardens]

Thanks. I just plant the garlic cloves - no chemicals involved.

[@ciaranosullivan7791]

Thanks Bruce, I'm going to plant mine in the tunnel from now on! When were they ready to harvest then from the tunnel in comparison to the outside grown crops?

[@REDGardens]

They were ready about 2 weeks before the ones outside. Hope it works out well for you.

[@ciaranosullivan7791]

I did it and it worked very well for me, definitely better than the ones outside, which had no protection. I planted in October and harvested in mid July. Thanks again I will be doing this every year from now on. A great use of the space over the winter. Do you have a video on how best to store it?

[@marctorrades1760]

Never grew garlic in a tunnel In sligo But i should have Amazing results

[@REDGardens]

I have been delighted with the results!

[@mrkdavys3498]

This'll be my first year growing garlic in a tunnel (asking with onions)... It just doesn't get big enough outdoors (NE of Manchester), even under plastic. Good luck with the 2021 season...🙏 (Saddleworth Orchard on Telegram)

[@REDGardens]

Thanks. Hope your crop works well.

[@Mordusia]

Can you let me know garlic variety please

[@REDGardens]

I have been replanting saved cloves from the the same garlic that I first bought about 15 years ago. I think it is called Messidore, but I could be wrong about that.

[@AgenteAdhd]

how many acres of land do you have?

[@jungle6201]

seeing as garlic like potatoes is grown by vegetative reproduction rather than seeds meaning each clove planted produces a bulb that is genetically the same can it truely acclimatise to an area?

[@REDGardens]

That is a really good question, and to be honest I don't really know. I have heard that there is a possible 'shift' in the plants over the seasons that allows it to adapt, though not in the way reproductive processes work, but I haven't seen any solid description of it. I do know that the garlic I grow in the polytunnel is substantially larger and more robust than the garlic cloves I first bought many years ago, but this could be just my improving experience in growing, better soil, and planting bigger cloves.

[@jungle6201]

@@REDGardens possible experiment for you to try in the future mabey? Would be very interested to see the results and thank you for making such interesting content.

[@mrkdavys3498]

What variety (ies) do you grow?

[@REDGardens]

I have been using the same seed/variety sinceI first bought a few cloves about 15 years ago. I think it is called Messidore, but I could be wrong about that.

[@cpnotill9264]

I must have missed why the farm is called Red Gardens.....?

[@REDGardens]

Originally short for Research Education Development Gardens

[@Myxlplyk]

Is that variety Red Toch?

[@REDGardens]

No, i think it is Messidor, but I bought the original bulbs so long ago I may have that mixed up.

[@mrkdavys3498]

Stunning, I put up a polycarbonate tunnel (3*12m) at the beginning of June. I've always had small bulbs outside. I thought I'd try them in the tunnel this/next year. You've convinced me... Incredible... Well done 🙏 (Saddleworth_Orchard on Instagram)

[@REDGardens]

Thanks. Hope the experiment works out well for you.

[@steveneason893]

You leave your garlic in the ground much longer than I would. I harvest while the top three leaves still are a bit green. This gives me clean, superior quality wrappers. See: facebook.com/cedarspringfarmofenumclaw/photos/a.2201970526534133/3274138862650622/?type=3&theater

[@REDGardens]

Yeah, i tend to leave them in the ground a lot longer than I really want to but it is always a busy time of year for me. I used to be concerned that the lack of wrapping would prevent the cloves from lasting in storage, but I have always had lots of firm cloves left by the time the new batch comes in.

[@summermucha5207]

Great video! Informative and helpful!