Kira Stoletova
All gardeners and summer residents grow garlic in their beds, because it is famous for its healing properties, and is also used in preparing many dishes. Get a harvest of this herbaceous plant won't be any hassle. Anyone who gardens can harvest garlic in small heads without any fertilizer. But not every gardener knows how to grow large garlic.
All that is required to obtain large garlic is compliance with growing technology and the right approach to the choice of planting material. These simple rules will help you get the largest and highest quality harvest compared to other gardeners.
The future productivity and quality of the crop depend half on the correctly selected planting material. Main indicators highest quality product is its hardness and dryness. Here are some secrets that will help you when choosing planting bulbs:
It is necessary to approach the issue of choosing planting material with all responsibility. With these tricks, you can choose the right garlic bulbs that will bring you a good harvest. The main thing to remember is the rule: if you plant large cloves, you get a big head of garlic.
There are 2 types of garlic, which differ in the timing of planting and the size of the heads: spring and winter. The spring type (another name for summer) is planted in the spring, and the winter type (another name for winter) - in the fall. Spring garlic grows in a non-shooting form, and winter garlic can also grow in the form of an arrow.
Experienced gardeners plant both types, because winter varieties form earlier. And after harvesting them, you can expect the appearance of an ardent variety. It is important not to confuse the planting dates, because then the plant will not grow. Spring garlic will produce a harvest only when planted in the garden in the spring; winter garlic can produce large and healthy heads, but only when planted in the fall. If you plant its cloves in the spring, it will also be able to form, but the harvest will be of poor quality and unable to be stored for a long time.
Outwardly, these cultures are similar, but their structure is slightly different. Winter garlic has a rod in the center of the head on which teeth usually grow in even numbers. When they are separated, the stem remains bare. But the spring variety does not have a stem, the number of cloves may vary. They are more curved in shape because they fit tightly together. WITH outside The largest teeth are located, and the small ones are in the middle.
The productivity of the winter species is much higher. In addition, winter garlic is larger compared to spring garlic. But the downside is that it doesn't store well. By mid-winter, its teeth begin to dry out and need special care to be suitable for future sowing. Experts recommend planting bolting varieties.
The advantage of spring varieties is that they can be stored for almost 2 years without changing their shape and qualities. Therefore, when you decide what kind of garlic to plant, you need to consider for what purpose you are doing it: for the purpose of selling or for personal use. For sale, it is better to grow a winter variety due to its high yield. For personal purposes, it is recommended to use spring, because it will last all winter and is quite large in size.
To grow summer garlic healthy and large, you must adhere to planting dates and growing technology.
The growing season for this variety is much shorter, so it should be planted very early. The most the right time for planting in the ground is the first half of April. The garlic bulb will have time to form correctly.
It is very important that the air temperature is no higher than 10˚C, since high temperature the roots stop growing. Optimal temperature regime for the root system is from 5 to 10˚С. Healthy roots are the key to large heads. If you plant the cloves later, the yield will be much less.
There are a few things you should know simple rules to grow garlic large:
Crop rotation is of great importance. You should not plant spring varieties after crops such as potatoes, tomatoes and onions. You need to choose a place for sowing that is sunny and where water does not stagnate. In the fall, fertilize the soil with compost, humus and Not big amount ash. Before planting, the soil should be loosened.
In order for the plant to develop well and receive the necessary nutrients, you need to pay attention to planting density. The distance between the beds should be about 30 cm. Each clove should be placed in the ground at a distance of 7 cm from each other. Do not push the slices too deep into the ground, this will slow down their development. After planting, you can cover the ground with straw or peat.
In order to winter varieties garlic has grown with large and high-quality heads, you need to know the characteristics of this species and the basic rules for growing and caring for the crop.
Cloves should be planted in the ground before the onset of frost, namely 40 days before the first significant drop in temperature. This could be early or mid-October. Make sure that the air temperature at night is about 10˚C. At this temperature, the root system will have time to form without sending green shoots out.
It's not that difficult to grow large garlic in your own garden. To do this, it is enough to know some secrets of growing large heads of garlic in the garden, which will help you get big harvest.
There are also 2 large groups: shooters and non-shooters. In the first, instead of seeds, small single-toothed bulbs are formed - bulbs, often used for planting. Mostly arrows produce winter crops, but sometimes this feature is also found in spring plants.
You can grow large garlic from winter varieties. However, such a harvest does not last long - by the end of winter the vegetable begins to deteriorate.
Summer garlic, whose bulbs are rarely large, can have a shelf life of up to two years.
Everyone decides which variety to choose depending on their needs: winter varieties are planted for sale, but spring varieties are planted for long-term use.
Planting dates depend on the variety:
Garlic needs to be planted and grown properly to produce large heads.
Garlic is a light-loving crop that does not tolerate wetlands.. Without knowing how to grow it correctly, it is difficult to achieve good results.
Several factors influencing the size of the future harvest:
One of the secrets to getting a good harvest is preparing beds for future plants. For winter crops, the site is carefully dug up 2-3 weeks before planting so that the soil has time to settle. If this is not done, then gradually, as the soil moves, the garlic cloves will become buried. This will negatively affect the size of the harvest and its shelf life.
For spring planting, the bed is also prepared in the fall so that the introduced elements have time to transform into a form digestible for sprouts. The soil is dug up to the depth of a shovel and fertilized if necessary. It is important to loosen the soil well so that there is enough oxygen in it. After digging, the area is leveled and disinfected with a manganese solution. Then cover with film and leave until planting.
Fertilizers need to be applied if the soil quality is not optimal for the crop. The soil should be:
Reduce soil acidity by liming (a glass of lime per 1 m2). Loosen the structure with peat, sawdust and sand. They increase fertility by adding fertilizers: 5–6 kg of humus per 1 m2, for the same area - 1 liter of manure and ash. Organic matter is replaced with complex mineral fertilizers in an amount of 30–40 g per 1 m2.
It is important that the soil in the garlic bed is fertile, air- and moisture-permeable.
The secrets of growing large garlic include preparing the heads for planting. It is possible to confuse winter tines with spring varieties. It's easy to distinguish them:
To increase the immunity of future plants during preparation seed material must be observed following points:
Special preparation requirements for the spring variety:
To speed up growth, spring varieties are germinated. To do this, the teeth are placed in a moistened fabric bag, which is wrapped in polyethylene for two days.
In order for garlic to grow large, certain rules must be followed when planting it.
Features of spring planting:
Autumn planting rules:
Compliance with certain rules for growing crops will help increase productivity. Garlic grown in open ground, will be large if:
If you plant the crop next to tomatoes or peppers, the harvest will be larger.
You should not sow a garden bed for several years in a row with the same crop, so as not to reduce the yield. Large garlic will only be produced if the planting location is changed annually.
Caring for growing garlic after planting involves mulching the soil. It allows:
After the shoots grow to 20 cm in length, they are shortened to 5 cm: they can be cut off with a sharp tool or broken off, leaving a stump of the required length. The main thing is to remove top part- the rudiment of the future inflorescence. This will increase the supply of nutrients to the bulb.
20–30 days before harvesting (winter varieties - until mid-July, spring varieties - in the first week of August), the soil is raked away from the heads. This is done to redirect some of the nutrition to the bulb and thereby increase its size. The soil is removed with a special device so that the cloves are half visible from the soil.
Since garlic is a moisture-loving plant, it grows well in moist soil. That's why important point In crop care, proper watering is important.
The basic rules are as follows:
Under no circumstances should overwatering be allowed, as in such an environment fungal diseases develop and the bulbs deteriorate.
If you feed the plants in time, you can grow garlic with large heads. The winter variety is watered with urea in the spring after the snow melts and then fertilized as needed. Poor soils are enriched nutrients 1–2 times a month until the end of the growing season.
When growing spring garlic, fertilizing is applied twice:
The gardener must follow one important principle: the amount of fertilizer applied should be in moderation. Excess organic matter contributes to yellowing of the foliage and cessation of bulb growth. A large amount of minerals will negatively affect their taste and quality.
A number of pests and diseases can ruin the pleasure of growing a crop. Garlic is attacked by nematodes, mole crickets, centipedes, onion moths and other insects.
Help save plants from pests traditional methods:
The plant is susceptible to the following diseases:
To prevent the development of diseases, before planting, the seed is treated with a solution of ash, copper sulfate or potassium permanganate.
Winter varieties ripen in early August. When the lower leaves turn yellow, begin harvesting. You cannot delay this, otherwise the heads will begin to dry out and crumble. This product may have a reduced shelf life.
Spring varieties are harvested at the end of summer - beginning of autumn, when the feathers turn yellow and begin to lie down, and the bulbs are already formed.
After collection, the plants are dried for 1.5 weeks, shaking off the soil. Next, cut off the roots and part of the stem, leaving the stem 5 cm long for winter crops and 2 cm long for spring crops. seed material The largest specimens are selected.
Storage conditions are as follows:
Garlic is considered a perennial (three-year) crop, but is often used as an annual, which is why it gradually degenerates. To avoid this, you need to regularly update the seed.
When planting winter bulbs, leave a few arrows on the sprouts grown from large cloves. Seeds are formed on them - single-toothed ones. When it is time to harvest, the plant is tied into a bundle and hung to dry. During this period, plastic substances flow to the bulbs from the green mass of the plant, promoting growth. After the stems have completely dried, they are carefully separated.
Bulbs are planted both in spring and autumn in pre-prepared soil. They are buried 3 cm, as they are very small. Dig out when the leaves begin to turn yellow. Then they dry it: first for a couple of days in the sun, then under a canopy. One-toothed trees planted in the fall will yield a good harvest with proper care.
Garlic is light-loving and prefers open, dry, sunny beds. Grows well in loamy soils rich in organic matter with a pH of 6.5-7.0. Acidic soils needs to be limed.
For garlic, allocate an area with fertile soil having a neutral reaction. The best predecessors for garlic green manure, pumpkin, cabbage, beans, peas, cucumbers, zucchini, under which they contributed organic fertilizers.
Garlic should not be placed after onions and garlic earlier than 4-5 years due to common pests and diseases. It is not recommended to grow after potatoes, since plants are affected by fusarium.
In the fall, after harvesting the previous crop, organic and mineral fertilizers(5-6 kg of humus or compost, 30 g of superphosphate and 20 g of potassium chloride per 1 m2). Then the area is carefully dug up using a full shovel, evenly mixing the fertilizer with the soil.
Growing winter garlic.
Winter garlic is planted in the second half of September - early October in a garden bed in a row at a distance of 20-25 cm row from row.
The cloves, depending on their size, are planted in a row at a distance of 5 to 8 cm from each other, the planting depth is 3-4 cm, counting from the top of the clove to the soil surface. Planted garlic is mulched with peat or humus in a layer of 1.5-2 cm (1.5-2 buckets per 1 m2).
In spring and summer, garlic care consists of feeding nitrogen fertilizers, watering as the soil dries, weeding and loosening the soil between rows.
With a lack of moisture, the garlic feather acquires a bluish-whitish tint, and its tip bends. With excess moisture, the feather turns pale green.
After planting, it is watered once a week in May-June (5-10 liters per 1 m²); in July, watering is reduced, because The bulbs are ripening, but if there is a drought, watering is acceptable to prevent wilting.
The arrows must be regularly removed at the beginning of their formation so that the bulbs are large. Leave them only on seed plants. Winter garlic ripens in late July - early August. You should not be late in harvesting garlic, as the heads will crumble when they become overripe.
Therefore, when the leaves of garlic begin to turn yellow, the plants are pulled out of the soil and dried for 4-5 days - in sunny weather on a ridge, and in rainy days under a canopy or in a well-ventilated dry room. After drying, cut off the roots and tops, leaving a “neck” of 4-5 cm long on the bulbs.
Growing spring garlic.
Spring garlic is inferior in yield to winter garlic, but has the ability to be stored for a long time.
It is grown in areas with highly fertile soil that has a neutral reaction, with the application of organic and mineral fertilizers of the same composition and in the same doses as for winter garlic.
Plant garlic in the spring after the soil has thawed, as early as possible (in April-May). The planting rate is 50-70 g per 1 m2, the distance between rows is 20-25 cm, in a row - 5-6 cm. The planting depth from the soil surface to the top of the clove is 2-3 cm.
The emerging seedlings are fed with urea (10-15 g per 1 m2) and watered as the soil dries.
During the period of bulb formation, 50 g of superphosphate and 15 g of potassium chloride per 1 m2 are added as top dressing.
Spring garlic is harvested when the lower leaves dry out, the upper leaves turn yellow and lodging at the end of August - the first half of September.
Prepare the bed under spring garlic
need about a month before sowing it. It is better to choose the place for the garden bed where carrots, tomatoes, peppers or cauliflower used to be.
For one square meter soil for garlic you need to add one bucket of rotted humus and sawdust(you can also take them fresh), one liter jar each of herbal or wood ash, fluff lime and bird droppings.
After adding humus, the soil needs to be dug up and leveled. After the remaining components, simple harrowing is sufficient. After this, the bed must be watered heavily from a watering can and covered. old film or cardboard.
When growing garlic you should consider:
— raking the earth from the head of garlic in the second half of June contributes to the formation of a more even and larger head;
- if you tie garlic leaves in a knot two or three days before harvesting, this will speed up its ripening and improve its shelf life;
— to obtain a high yield of garlic, you need to fertilize it at least twice with mullein (1 kg per 8 liters of water) or chicken droppings(1 kg per 10 liters of water) per 5 square meters.
The first feeding should be done in the phase of plant germination, and the second - in the phase of formation of heads
To grow large garlic, you must first of all pay attention to the seed.
Slices of well-ripened garlic should be easily separated from each other, the skin of the cloves is dense, often pinkish-brown, not milky-white, and the bottom is dry.
Before planting, soak the planting material for several hours in a fairly strong manganese solution (the color is almost purple, not pink). If there is a spore or two of some fungus stuck there, manganese will disinfect everything.
Plant garlic at a distance of at least 20-30 cm from each other, make the beds so that you can walk through them when the garlic grows, take only the largest specimens for planting. This is the key to your success.
When the garlic grows, it is about to bloom. Don't give him this opportunity! All arrows must be removed regularly. Otherwise there will be no harvest. You can leave one or two arrows for reproduction, but that is a completely different story.
It is necessary to harvest only when the above-ground part of the garlic begins to turn yellow. You dig it up entirely, shake it off the ground and place your crop in the shade, without cutting off the roots or stems. They should dry out.
Periodically turn over and stir up the collected plants so that they dry evenly: the lower layers (this is when the harvest is large and you have to stack it in a thick layer) have the unpleasant property of getting warm.
When all the tops have become almost dry, carefully cut them by 10-15 cm, and at the same time the dried ends of the roots. This will allow you to save your harvest without loss!
A close relative of onions is garlic. Of course, it has peculiarities of planting, care, storage and preparation for planting, just like any other plant. vegetable crop. But there is nothing difficult about growing garlic. We'll figure out. There are bolting and non-bolting, winter and spring varieties of garlic - this depends on the biological characteristics of the plant. Non-shooting garlic reproduces only by cloves, while shooting garlic also reproduces by aerial bulbs (bulbs).
Shooting varieties are winter varieties. They give a good harvest when planted before winter. Among the non-shooting varieties there are winter and spring varieties. Planting spring garlic in the fall leads to poor rooting of cloves, thinning of crops, and crop shortages. However, there are varieties that grow well in autumn and during spring planting.
The main thing when growing winter garlic is to create conditions for a good overwintering. This is ensured the right choice places for planting, timing of sowing, depth of seeding. The culture should be placed on fertile lands With flat surface, clean of weeds, not flooded by autumn or melt waters.
The best predecessors are crops that clear the field early, under which organic fertilizers are applied: cucumbers, zucchini, early cabbage, salad, legumes. Garlic is a good predecessor for all crops except onions, since they are affected by the same pests and diseases.
The soil in the garden bed is cultivated in advance so that it settles somewhat. Directly under plowing or digging, you can add humus (40-60 t/ha) and mineral fertilizers. The rate of mineral fertilizers per 1 hundred square meters: 30-40 g ammonium nitrate, 50 g superphosphate, 15-20 g potassium chloride. Saltpeter is not applied in the fall, only in the spring.
To plant winter or spring garlic, three types of planting material are used:
Only garlic heads with healthy cloves are selected. All diseased, shriveled or sprouted bulbs are discarded. Large or medium-sized cloves are the most suitable material for planting.
Cloves prepared for planting are pickled and disinfected with a 1% solution of copper sulfate or a 3% suspension of TMTD for 10-15 minutes. If disinfection is not carried out, then it is useful to soak them for 12-24 hours in a weak solution of potassium permanganate. Such preparation promotes the health of planting material and protects it from diseases.
In order for garlic to take root but not germinate, it must be planted before winter two to three weeks before the onset of a steady cold snap. Optimal time planting winter varieties of garlic before winter is the third ten days of October in Kuban. When planted earlier, for example in September, the sprouted cloves go away into the winter with 2-3 true leaves. To prevent the leaves from being damaged by frost or cold winds, the plants are hilled, and in early spring transverse harrowing to free the neck of plants.
When planting later, the cloves do not have time to take root - there is a greater sparseness of the crops due to the influence of cold winds and frosts.
Check the dates for planting garlic with.
Aerial bulbs are sown in autumn or early spring. From them grows the so-called sets - these are not cloves, but small roundish onions. If you plant aerial bulbs in the fall, then most of them will shoot in the summer, but when planted in spring, there is no shooting, but round one-toothed bulbs (apples) are formed. They are planted in the fall, as they do not store well until spring.
Spring varieties are planted in early spring, as soon as it is possible to go into the field, since they are very demanding on soil moisture and low temperatures at the beginning of growth. If there is a delay in planting, the growth and development of plants is delayed, the yield is reduced, and the commercial qualities products.
Garlic is usually planted in rows, the distance between which is 20-30 cm. The cloves are placed at a distance of 6-8 cm, but this distance depends on their size: for large ones - the distance is greater, for small ones - they are planted closer to each other. One or two days before planting, the heads should be disassembled into teeth. If this is done, for example, a week before sowing or even earlier, then they will lose a certain percentage of germination.
How many cloves will be needed to plant, for example, 1 sq. meter of vegetable garden, it’s hard to say. The planting rate depends on the size of the cloves you are planting. Typically, agronomist experts cite the figure as 130-380 cloves per 1 m2. They get the first figure based on their average weight of one clove of 3 g, and the second - if it weighs 7 g.
Larger teeth produce larger heads. It is not worth planting cloves weighing less than 3 g, as small heads will grow from them.
At what depth should I plant? This depends, firstly, on the size of the cloves, and secondly, on the timing of planting.
In autumn, before winter, winter varieties are planted. Large cloves are planted no deeper than 5-7 cm. Smaller cloves are no deeper than 4-5 cm. But whether planting in spring or autumn, you need to make sure that the layer of soil on top is at least 3-4 cm. You can cover the beds with a small layer (5-7 cm) of mulch - straw or dry grass.
Spring varieties are planted in spring. The depth of planting spring garlic is 4-5 cm. Also make sure that the layer of soil above the cloves is at least 3-4 cm. This will ensure optimal conditions for good rooting, for the formation of heads of the correct shape.
One of the secrets of growing garlic is feeding.
In early spring, after the snow melts, as soon as the first warm days arrive, it would be a good idea to feed the crops with nitrogen fertilizers, for example, urea (1 tablespoon/10 liters of water). Approximately 5 liters of solution should be used per 1 m2.
In April, when the seedlings have grown, fertilizing is carried out twice, for example, this is mid and late April. The first fertilizing should contain more nitrogen. Its composition can be as follows: half a liter chicken manure+ 1 tbsp. spoon of nitroammophoska per bucket (10 l) of water. The second feeding should contain more phosphorus and potassium. The composition is as follows: 1 tbsp. spoon of double superphosphate + 1 tbsp. spoon of potassium sulfate + 1 teaspoon of urea per bucket (10 l) of water. We also consume approximately 5 liters of solution per 1 m2.
Be sure to loosen the soil between the rows the next day after fertilizing, loosen it again after a week or a week and a half, if the soil is dry, water it. Garlic loves loose soil without - oxygen must necessarily reach the roots and bulbs of the plant, so loosen the soil between the rows after each watering or after rain. By the way, if there is no rain, then watering should be done at least weekly. Water abundantly - 12-15 liters per 1 m2.
Mulching between rows can make the gardener’s work easier. Mulch will retain moisture, and the soil under the mulch always remains loose.
In order for you to grow large heads, the arrows must be broken out in time. Try to break or cut them, and do not pull them up - this can inadvertently pull out the entire onion or damage it root system. Break the arrows when they have reached a length of 12-15 cm; the breaking point should be as close as possible to the rosette of leaves. If you break it at a shorter length, it will continue to grow - you won't get a large head.
Breaking out the arrows is a special agricultural technique that allows not only to increase the size of the head, but also accelerates their maturation.
By the way, do not throw away the broken arrows - they can be used when canning preparations, as a seasoning for food.
For example, add finely chopped garlic arrows to boiled potatoes, after you have drained the water, lightly dry them. Add butter or sour cream, stir and serve. Once upon a time, a long time ago, I read this recipe - it was called “Phytoncidal Potatoes”. Since then it has been one of our family's favorite dishes.
Finely chopped arrows can be added to boiled hot pasta or noodles - this is also tasty and healthy, especially in the spring, when vitamins are so lacking.
Usually at the end of July, garlic leaves begin to turn yellow. This means it's time to clean up. There is an unwritten rule among gardeners: it is better to remove sooner rather than later. Even a 5 day delay matters. When harvesting earlier, it is left outdoors under a canopy to ripen. Don't pick off the leaves yet. At the same time, nutrients from the leaves enter the bulbs, which increase their mass. In this case, the heads are dense, covered on top with dry integumentary scales, and have a good attractive appearance. And if you are literally 3-5 days late with cleaning, then the scales covering the heads burst, the teeth crumble, and the head itself becomes loose. This garlic will not be stored for long.
But I would like to say separately about the timing of cleaning. There are many varieties that have different terms maturation means they should not be removed all at once, but one by one. No matter how many times I talk to gardeners I know, almost no one knows what variety they grow. By the way, me too. But the differences in the variety can be seen by the color of the outer shell of the head and the number of cloves in the bulb. I try to sort the heads before planting in order to at least approximately plant the varieties separately.
How do you know when it's time to remove garlic from the beds?
Very simple. I always leave a few arrows, I don’t cut them all off when they start to grow. At first, during growth, the arrows bend bizarrely and are curly. But as soon as I noticed that the arrow had straightened and was standing vertically up, this was the first sign that it was time to dig up the garlic.
There is another sign - the flower heads, which have already formed bulbs, have burst - remove them for now.
Thus, knowing these signs of ripening, no matter where you live, you will never be late to harvest garlic on time. Although everyone's cleaning time will be different.
So that next year you have your own garlic for planting, leave some part of the plants with arrows in the garden, do not break them out. These plants with the arrows left should be left in the garden for another one to two weeks after harvesting the main crop. Then the arrows with air bulbs are cut off. You can tie them in small bunches and hang them under a canopy (not in the open sun) to dry. This is how garlic arrows with air bulbs are stored for 20-30 days. During this time, nutrients flow from the arrows into the bulbs, they become covered with dense scales and become light straw or purple in color (the color depends on the variety). The bulbs become very large and the shell bursts. If you are going to plant them in the fall, before winter, then clean them and sort them by size. And if the bulbs are intended for spring-summer planting, then it is best to continue storing them in bunches until spring, since when cleaning and sorting in the fall, the bulbs are injured, can dry out, and lose their germination capacity. They should be stored in a cool, dark place.
Ripe, mature, well-dried heads with intact scales are selected for storage. The best temperature for storing at home is +18°C. It is better to store garlic in mesh bags, braids or cardboard boxes.
To obtain one-toothed bulbs, aerial bulbs can be planted in autumn or spring. It should be remembered that when sowing in autumn, some of the bulbs freeze and rot. Therefore, sparse seedlings are obtained. With early spring sowing, seedlings appear on the 10-20th day, usually amicable. Sowing scheme: distance between rows is 20 cm, continuous planting of bulbs along the row. Care consists of watering followed by shallow loosening and fertilizing with complex fertilizers. Single-toothed bulbs are removed as soon as the leaves begin to lie down. After ripening (10-12 days), drying, cut off the roots and dried leaves. Single-toothed mushrooms are stored at a temperature of 16-18°C, relative humidity 70-75%.
One last thing... Avoid planting garlic from greengrocers or supermarkets, as in the process of growing garlic you risk introducing serious viral diseases into your plot.
The nutritional and medicinal value of garlic is difficult to overestimate. By adding this vegetable to your dishes, you can once and for all get rid of problems with digestion and assimilation of food. In addition, it is a preventative against many diseases. Knowing the basic rules, you can get it at any time of the year. The vegetable feels great personal plots, in gardens, vegetable gardens and even on the windowsill. It can be planted in open ground both in autumn and spring. Garlic is also very good at controlling numerous pests that attack currants, tomatoes, and strawberries. Therefore, it is recommended to plant it next to fruit, berry and vegetable crops.
At the end of October or beginning of November, when the gardens are already more or less harvested, summer residents begin to new job- preparing areas for new residents. Not knowing how to properly grow winter garlic, novice gardeners are afraid to plant the crop for the winter. Although seedlings planted in autumn are stronger and more resilient. The most important thing is to guess the weather. The cloves need to be planted about a month before prolonged frosts. If this is done ahead of time, the garlic may germinate and lose its cold resistance. When planted late, the vegetable does not have time to create a reliable root system.
To get a good harvest, it is important not only to know how to grow garlic, but also to choose the right seed. The bottom of the cloves should be free of suberized crust, because it retards the growth of the crop. There are several of the most popular varieties of garlic that can withstand low temperatures well. "Komsomolets" and "Otradnensky" are suitable for planting in cold regions. They taste sharp and throw out arrows. The Komsomol bulb weighs up to 30 g and forms about 8 cloves. "Otradnensky" refers to large varieties, its scales are purple.
It is also worth noting the excellent taste and cold resistance of “Gribovsky Jubilee”. This garlic forms an onion with a large number of cloves, its weight reaches 40 g. Also among summer residents, the “Poretsky” and “Danilovsky local” varieties are very popular. They form a large number of cloves, sharp, cold-resistant.
To get a good harvest, you should choose a suitable area with fertile soil. About a month before planting, the soil needs to be dug up, organic matter added and complex fertilizers However, you should not use fresh manure, because it is a source of fungi. The width of the beds should be about 75 cm and the height - 8 cm. It is recommended to change the planting sites for garlic annually. Large bulbs will grow in areas where zucchini, cucumbers or cabbage grew.
Beginning gardeners do not know how to grow good winter garlic. There is a little trick here - you need to calibrate the teeth. Too small, rotten, soft ones should not be taken at all. It is also not recommended to plant specimens with double fruiting bodies or several vertices. Planting material should be disinfected in a 1% solution of copper sulfate. The cloves need to be planted to a depth of 5 cm, with an interval of 10 cm, the distance between the rows is recommended to be 20 cm. Garlic does not like density, because otherwise it will have to fight for space and will not be able to gain the required weight.
In autumn, it is recommended to cover the area with the crop with agrofibre, leaves or spruce branches. As soon as the snow melts, the shelter should be removed. In early spring, it is important to make two fertilizings with urea; they are necessary for active vegetation. If the soil itself is poor, then for the bulb to grow, fertilizer should be applied 2 times a month throughout the growing season. As soon as the height of the arrows reaches 20 cm, they need to be pinched at a level of 5 cm. In order for the garlic to ripen faster, you need to scrape a little earth away from the bulbs.
There is no need to delay harvesting the crops; it should be done as soon as they turn yellow. lower leaves. It is very important to know how to properly grow winter garlic, because if you do not have time to dig it up in time, the scales will come off and expose the cloves, and this will affect the quality of storage of the vegetable. The bulbs should be placed under a canopy for natural drying for a week, and when the root lobe begins to crumble into dust under your fingers, you can transfer them to permanent place storage
Fertile loamy and sandy loam soils are most suitable for planting bulbous crops. Knowing how to grow onions and garlic, you can achieve good harvest. These vegetables are not demanding, but still have some growing features. Garlic is a light-loving plant, so it should not be planted in the shade of trees. It can be given a separate bed or placed next to fruit and berry crops or vegetables. Garlic feels good near strawberries, potatoes, raspberries, tomatoes, cucumbers, black currants, onions, gooseberries, roses, gladioli, tulips. It can be planted in areas where cabbage and legumes used to grow, but it is not recommended to combine them in one bed.
Beginning gardeners do not know how to grow healthy and large summer garlic. To do this, you need to choose good planting material, remove diseased and small teeth. It is worth updating varieties from time to time because they can degenerate. To make spring garlic grow faster, it is sprouted. The teeth are placed in a wet fabric bag and placed in a plastic bag for a couple of days. But it is not at all necessary to do all this.
The crop must be planted in the spring, as soon as the soil warms up to +7 °C (somewhere in early or mid-April). Dry soil requires abundant watering; if it is wet, then watering the beds is not necessary. The garlic is planted to a depth of about 6 cm, it should be twice the height of the clove. Germinated seed must be planted carefully, without damaging the root system. The beds need to be mulched. The rows should be made about 20 cm wide, the cloves are planted at intervals of 10 cm. Spring garlic is not afraid of frost, its shoots appear at +3 °C. The initial growing season for the crop takes place at +10 °C, the bulb is formed at +15 °C, and it matures at +25 °C.
Many people wonder how to grow large garlic, especially if the summer is hot and it is not possible to constantly water the beds. In this case, it is necessary to mulch the soil, and it is better to choose light mulch. During the growing season, you need to try to provide the garlic with plenty of water, because at this time it is actively growing. When the bulbs ripen, moisture is needed in smaller quantities. IN rainy weather There is no need to flood the area with water at all. Overmoistening should not be allowed under any circumstances, because it provokes the development of fungi and damage to the bulbs.
For spring garlic, it is recommended to carry out two feedings: in early spring, water the ground with a solution of bird droppings or rotted cow manure, and in mid-summer - with a solution of ash. Mineral fertilizers are not used for crops; they do not benefit either vegetables or human health. Recommendations on how to grow garlic also include weed control and periodic loosening of the soil. Thanks to mulching, you can make caring for the crop much easier, avoid weeding the soil and reduce the number of waterings.
Crop varieties are divided into two large groups: bolting and non-bolting. Before growing garlic, you should decide on the variety and its type. Gardeners claim that only winter varieties produce shoots, but in some cases they can also appear on spring crops. It all depends on the climatic characteristics of the region. Winter garlic has large cloves located around the stem. The spring variety is smaller, its bulbs are dense. Winter crops are frost-resistant and their yield is extremely high, but in terms of shelf life they are significantly inferior to summer crops, which are preserved intact throughout the year.
This is an incredibly cold-resistant plant, withstanding temperatures down to -45 ° C, so residents of temperate latitudes have nothing to worry about. The bulbs are perfectly preserved under snow cover, and in the spring at +3 °C they begin to grow. The culture develops normally at +18-25 °C. In the question of how to grow large garlic, the quality of the soil plays a big role. The plant feels best in loamy and sandy loam soils, but does not tolerate sour and salty foods.
Garlic responds well to fertilizing, but mineral fertilizers and fresh manure should be excluded. Loves moisture, but waterlogging can have a detrimental effect on the bulbs. For spring garlic, the site must be prepared in the fall, and for winter garlic, a month before planting. The bed should be dug up and about 5 kg of humus added per 1 m2.
You need to immediately decide which crop to plant - winter or spring. There are several secrets to the question of how to grow large garlic. Larger bulbs are easier to obtain from the winter variety. Depending on the climatic characteristics of the region, it is planted at the end of September or in October. The teeth should take root before the onset of frost, but not grow. Spring garlic is planted in early spring, as soon as the snow melts. It is not afraid of frost, the main thing here is to gain time, because before the heat sets in, the bulb must form. Otherwise, the garlic will turn out small.
In order for the vegetable to grow large, you need to make wide rows (25 cm) and plant the cloves at a distance of 12 cm from each other. It is important to guess the planting depth; it should be equal to twice the height of the planting material. This rule does not apply to spring garlic; its cloves are buried 3 cm. The soil should not be made too loose, but it is not recommended to press the planting material into the ground. After planting, you need to cover the beds with mulch.
Many housewives worry in advance about the availability of greenery during the cold season. If everything is more or less clear with onions, because they sprout incredibly quickly, then few people know how to grow garlic on a windowsill. And garlic greens are required in many dishes. If you simply plant the cloves in a pot of soil, they will germinate closer to spring. It's very easy to speed up the process. To do this, it is necessary to place the containers with garlic outside late in the fall so that it can undergo cold treatment. Then you should take the boxes home and water the soil warm water. At a temperature of +17 °C, greenery will appear within a week. Even those who did not know how to grow garlic at home can easily get it in the cold season. Fragrant greenery on the windowsill when a blizzard is raging outside, what could be more cozy?
Despite the undemanding culture, it can still be affected during the growing season various diseases. The most common is bottom rot; the fungus causes the bulb to rot, the roots to die, and the leaves to turn yellow. If a gray coating appears on the leaves, it means that the garlic has been attacked by downy mildew. This disease threatens the under-ripening of the bulbs. White rot provokes the death of leaves and the formation of mycelium on the roots. The disease leads to tooth decay. K very unpleasant consequences Bacterial rot also leads. Because of it, brown ulcers with a rotten smell appear on the teeth. To protect the crop from pests, it is necessary to treat the garlic with an ash solution before planting. You can also plant the plant next to calendula and chicory, they save you from nematodes.
