Rainfall results in 'giant' garlic bulbs

Unseasonably low temperatures and high levels of rainfall over the summer have given one Isle of Wight grower a bumper garlic crop.

Colin Boswell, garlic grower and proprietor of The Garlic Farm on The Isle of Wight, has just completed his harvest of Elephant garlic, and he says individual bulbs are the biggest he's ever had.

He said: “Most crops, even regular garlic, have suffered due to the conditions while Elephant garlic has prospered in the wet, with record rain levels just before harvest swelling the bulbs to enormous proportions.

“Basically, the Elephant garlic outgrew itself and some of these giant bulbs ended up splitting as the cloves inside them were so enormous. This is a great problem to have as it means our Elephant cloves are gigantic and the biggest that we’ve ever seen. Our customers love this type of garlic as it’s milder and more subtle than some of the other bulbs.”