Spicy in taste and very healthy garlic is at the same time a vegetable, an essential spice, and an effective medicine. Even on the smallest personal plot there is always room for a garden bed for this vegetable. An unpretentious vegetable crop will not require abundant watering, and you can even grow garlic using the winter method. Technology proper cultivation growing winter garlic involves several stages on the way to a good harvest.
Features of winter varieties
Without understanding which garlic is winter and which is spring, you can waste time and effort growing it. At the head of anyone winter variety in the middle there is an arrow, on the top of which bulbs - small seeds - gradually ripen. Winter bulbs are usually larger than spring bulbs, in which the cloves often grow in two rows, as if superimposed on one another. The only downside of this vegetable crop is poor shelf life - you should try to use such a product before the beginning of next year. Therefore, fresh winter slices are often spent on canning and pickles.
Selection of seed material
Before learning how to grow this vegetable, it is important to choose the right seeds. To plant in winter, you need to take seeds from the current year. To do this, in the spring we plant and grow garlic from bulbs that ripen only in winter varieties. The heads obtained by autumn will become seed material in winter. When choosing winter seeds of grown garlic from aerial bulbs, use the following rules:
- Choose the most beautiful and dried heads.
- Be sure to check the planting material at the market. Free one head from the scales - the cloves should be clean, not dried out, without plaque, yellowness or dents.
- Do not separate the cloves from the head until planting, otherwise the rhizomes of the cloves will dry out, leaving no chance for a harvest.
- The most popular varieties among gardeners are the large-tooth varieties Kiselev, Mestny Danilovsky, Parus, Gribovsky 80, Yubileiny Gribovsky, Komsomolets, Otradnensky.
Choosing a landing site
Before planting garlic for winter cultivation, it is important to choose for him appropriate place in the garden. This vegetable cannot be planted for 5 years after any bulbous plants so that the remaining pest larvae do not harm the crops. Growing any winter garlic in open ground will be successful after the following predecessors:
- legumes,
- zucchini,
- pumpkins,
- cereals,
- winter grasses,
- cucumbers,
- early varieties of cabbage,
- greenery,
- tomatoes.
According to the technology for growing garlic bulbs, it is not recommended to plant it after potatoes. Plot for winter planting must meet the requirements:
- Good lighting and ventilation of the soil, but not on a hill where the winter wind will blow away all the snow.
- A dry place where water does not linger in spring.
- The soil must be fertile - neutral in the presence of acids or slightly alkaline.
- The soil must be “rested”, that is, the predecessor crop must be harvested before the end of July.
Preparing the bed
10 days before planting the cloves, start cultivating the soil. Dig up the area for the garden bed. Dig carefully, to a depth of 15-25 cm, without leaving large lumps of earth.
Remove weeds and roots from predecessors. Agricultural technology for growing winter garlic involves basic soil preparation rules:
- Immediately after digging, apply fertilizer - approximately 6 kg of rotted manure, as well as 1 tbsp per 1 m 2 of soil. potassium salt and 30 g of superphosphate.
- If the soil is very dry, water.
- Cover with film, which must be removed a couple of days before planting.
- After removing the film, add ammonium nitrate to the bed - 10 g per 1 m2. Cover with film again.
Under no circumstances should you bring it into a future garden bed. fresh manure! This will lead to the proliferation of fungi and infectious diseases.
When to plant
According to the technology for planting winter garlic, it is important to plant it in the soil in time. You can use seed lunar calendar, but it’s more logical to focus on climatic conditions your region. The best option The period of time is considered to be from the beginning of September to October 10.
IN warm regions planting can be delayed until early November. There should be about a month to a month and a half left before the onset of stable frosts. This is important so that the roots of the cloves have time to take root. If you sow winter garlic ahead of time without following the planting technology, the cloves will sprout. However, if winter vegetable managed to emerge in the fall, don’t be alarmed. Garlic that has managed to take root and sprouted by winter will also bear fruit. To do this, the bed must be well mulched - with corn stalks, branches, sawdust, leaves.
Seed preparation
Both spring and winter garlic heads are plants that disinfect the soil for further use. bulbous plantings. But also myself winter garlic susceptible to some infectious diseases. Helps protect him from illness correct processing seeds immediately before sowing:
- First, separate the cloves from the head.
- Not suitable as seed material double, as well as cracked or double-topped cloves. Such seeds are considered degenerate.
- Plant only the healthiest and preferably large seeds.
- To prevent diseases, soak the selected cloves in Fitosporin, leave for 5 minutes and plant without rinsing.
- According to the technology, instead of Fitosporin, you can use a solution of one liter of water and 0.5 cups of ash boiled for 30 minutes. Keep winter seeds in this solution for about 2 hours.
- The third option for protection against diseases is to soak the cloves in a 1% solution before planting. copper sulfate within 30 minutes.
Planting correctly
The peculiarities of growing winter garlic are not difficult. On the day appointed for planting, remove the film from the soil and carefully level the area with a rake. The following actions:
- Divide the bed into rows with an interval of 25-40 cm.
- Place the garlic cloves in the marked grooves, roots down.
- The distance between the seeds is 10 cm, the depth is 8-12 cm. Be sure to follow this point in the technology for growing winter vegetables, otherwise the sown will freeze.
- Level the bed with crops well.
- If the fall has been very dry, water. But most gardeners do not advise watering garlic.
With the beginning of the first frosty days, according to technology, it is advisable to cover the garlic crops with mulch - stems tall plants, peat, compost - 5-7 cm high. This will protect the sown slices even from the most severe frosts and winds. This is where the sowing work ends. If the winter turns out to be little snow but frosty, cover the beds with snow if possible.
Spring care
When the snow melts from the soil, remove the mulch. Many gardeners cover in the spring garlic bed chopped straw. It will protect young feathers from drying out in the sun and protect them from weeds. To grow a good harvest, use the following rules:
- When the first feathers hatch, feed the growing plants with special fertilizers. This can be an extract of vermicompost or infused horse manure.
- According to technology, you can start fertilizing the land no earlier than mid-May, but no later than the end of June. Fertilizing is not necessary if fertilizers were applied in the fall.
- If the spring and summer are not dry, do not water the garden bed.
- In the spring, it will be useful to sprinkle ordinary ash between the rows, which will protect against dangerous pests.
To properly grow any winter garlic, it is important to cut off the flowering shoot in time, otherwise it will draw a lot of nutrients from the head.
Start trimming the arrow when it has reached a height of 10 cm and has formed a ring. Leave a couple of arrows so you know when to harvest.
Harvesting ripe garlic
Winter garlic usually grows by mid-July. More precisely the date The arrows left until they ripen will tell you - when their tops burst, it’s time to dig up the bulbs. Technology quality cultivation winter garlic also implies another way to determine maturity - this is the time when the leaves at the base of the stem turn yellow. According to technology, bulbs can only be pulled out of the ground in dry weather, otherwise the crop will begin to rot.
How to dig correctly:
- Try to pull out ripe vegetables without damaging the roots.
- For convenience, use a fork or a small spatula, a hoe - pry the head with the tool and pull the onion up by the tops.
- Along with the leaves and roots, leave the heads, carefully spread out, in a well-ventilated place.
- When the tops and roots are dry, trim them. Following the technology, the arrow is not cut completely, but leaving 10 cm.
We store it correctly
According to the technology of growing garlic, it cannot be stored in synthetic bags and plastic bags. Leave the garlic bulbs in a wicker basket over the winter, wooden box or a fabric bag. This vegetable does not tolerate high temperatures and unventilated places. It can be stored in the cellar, refrigerator, pantry and even on the balcony - at a temperature not lower than zero degrees.
Periodically sort through the product and throw away painful and dry heads. Knowing the secrets of growing winter garlic bulbs, you will definitely get a rich harvest healthy vegetable for the whole family. A proper storage will allow you to enjoy aromatic seasoning until the middle of next spring.
Winter garlic does not need advertising. Almost every summer resident has tried to grow this vegetable, but not everyone succeeds. It is even more difficult to grow selective, large and healthy heads that delight others. Growing garlic has its own tricks and subtleties. Having learned them and applied them in practice, you will be able to grow real miracle garlic for everyone to enjoy.
Guess optimal time planting winter garlic is an art. It is planted in September. The exact timing depends on the weather.
The sooner you plant the cloves in the soil, the larger the heads will be next year. Knowing this, gardeners try to plant garlic early. But if you do this too early, it will have time to sprout before the snow falls, and then the crop will die.
To plant garlic on time, you need to remember what spring it was like this year. At early spring autumn cold will come earlier than usual. In such a year, winter garlic can be planted in the first ten days of September.
For planting, choose large cloves without stains or signs of rot. A few hours before planting, the cloves are soaked in a slightly pink solution of manganese, and then, without drying, they are planted in loose soil, pressing with a finger or using a special planter device. The planting depth should be at least five centimeters.
Manual planter - most useful device, making it easier to plant not only garlic, but also tulips, gladioli and seedlings.
Planting depth depends on the composition of the soil. On the sandy loose soil the cloves are embedded to a depth of 7 cm. On heavy clay soil, 5 cm will be enough.
If you plant the cloves frequently, the heads will not be large. It is best to plant with a two-line tape, with a distance between the lines of 30 cm. Leave at least 10 cm in the line. The row spacing can be arbitrary, but not less than 40 cm.
It is better to grow planting material yourself. In Russia there are few varieties of garlic adapted to the conditions of a particular region, so it is difficult to buy planting material. You should not try to experiment and plant garlic bought at a vegetable market where they sell vegetables for eating. This crop does not adapt well to the new climate, so imported garlic dies.
It is safer to buy garlic for planting from friends or neighbors who know how to grow it. Even if the name of the local variety is forgotten or unknown, this is a common thing for garlic. The main thing is that this variety can grow in the local climate. On next year you can select for planting the largest heads from own harvest, and then engage in selective selection.
If you propagate garlic only by cloves, then after a few years it will degenerate. The fact is that nematodes and spores of microscopic soil fungi living in the soil accumulate in the cloves, causing garlic diseases. To get rid of the infection, you need to propagate garlic from aerial bulbs (bulbs) every few years. The bulbs are planted in the same rows as commercial garlic and grown using the same technology. In the first year, the so-called “single-toothed” bulbs grow from the bulbs, and in the second year - heads.
Garlic beds can be sprinkled with organic matter only before winter, but not in spring.
Garlic will not grow well after tomatoes, potatoes and onions. The best predecessors for it are legumes, cabbage, pumpkin and green crops.
Those who like compaction can grow winter garlic with dill. To do this, after identifying the cloves in the fall for their “place of residence,” later in the same bed you need to sow ordinary dill before winter, simply scattering the seeds on slightly frozen ground and walking along the surface of the soil with a shallow rake.
in spring dill will sprout at the same time as garlic. Weeding such beds will be more difficult; you will have to limit yourself to pulling out only large weeds. But from one bed it will be possible to harvest two crops at once. By the way, garlic really loves this neighborhood and grows extremely large and healthy next to dill.
Harvesting winter garlic
When to harvest winter garlic? Harvesting begins when the leaves turn yellow and the stems fall. In order to know for sure that it is time to harvest winter garlic, several garlic shoots are left on the plantings as an indicator. When the inflorescences begin to open and mature bulbs appear, begin digging out the heads.
If you delay, the heads in the ground will disintegrate into cloves and the garlic will lose its presentation, and it will be more difficult to remove it.
If you don't have enough time to care
If you dig up a head of garlic, you will immediately notice that it has short and unbranched roots. Root system garlic cover a very small volume of soil. Its roots never go deeper into the ground than 30 cm, so garlic is not able to obtain food and water from the lower layers of the cultural horizon and is very demanding in terms of watering and nutrition.
Garlic is grown on almost every summer cottage. But not everyone knows the intricacies of growing technology. Quality and quantity directly depend on this harvested. It is also important to distinguish spring garlic from winter garlic, because this directly affects the planting time.
Winter garlic is different high yield And large sizes. The disadvantages of winter garlic include short term storage
Winter garlic is suitable for canning or pickling with various vegetables.
Landing dates
Garlic is planted in the fall, after the first cold weather sets in, but before the soil freezes. As a rule, this is the beginning of October - mid-November.
As planting material It is better to buy the largest garlic bulbs. Over time this will produce its own supply of garlic.
Soil preparation and crop rotation
To prepare the soil for planting winter garlic, you need to add ash and sand to the soil a few weeks before planting. Garlic grows best in well-drained soil, as it does not tolerate stagnation of moisture and prefers soil with a high content of organic matter. High bed will become ideal place for growing garlic.
The soil must be fertilized with rotted manure or high-quality compost. To do this, spread a layer of compost 3–5 centimeters thick over the entire planting area and dig it to the depth of half a spade bayonet. Like most garden crops, garlic grows best when the soil pH is between 6 and 7. If you fertilize the soil with rotted manure or compost before winter planting, further fertilization will not be needed until spring.
Crop rotation rules prohibit planting garlic in the same place more than once every five years. But often small size the site does not allow strict adherence to this rule. Therefore, it is quite possible to return garlic to its original place of cultivation, provided that an interval of 2–3 years is maintained and the correct predecessor plants are selected.
It is not recommended to plant it after onions, potatoes, carrots and other root vegetables, since their cultivation significantly depletes the soil. Not the best predecessors of garlic are nightshade crops, which can infect it with fusarium. And after legumes, cauliflower, cucumbers, zucchini and melon, garlic will feel good and delight you with a wonderful harvest.
When planting you should consider:
- The garlic bed should be illuminated by the sun at least 5 hours a day;
- Soil pH should be neutral to slightly acidic (6-7);
- Fresh manure should not be used to fertilize the soil;
- Planting material should be placed at a distance of 15 centimeters from each other, 5-7 centimeters deep.
Preparation of planting material
Additional processing of the cloves before planting has a positive effect on the quality of the garlic harvest. This serves as a preventive measure against viral, fungal and bacterial diseases.
To treat planting material, you can use special preparations sold in gardening stores (Fitolavin, Fitosporin-M, Maxim).
Using improvised means will be no less effective. For example, you can soak the teeth in a weak solution of potassium permanganate for 10 to 12 hours.
You can also soak the planting material in water for 3 minutes before planting. saline solution. To prepare the solution you will need 3 tablespoons table salt mix with 5 liters of water.
Good results are obtained by treating a head of garlic with a solution of copper sulfate.
Methods for planting garlic
Planting bulbs with cloves (lateral buds)
On the day of planting, it is necessary to form beds 1 to 2 meters wide. The teeth are planted at a distance of 15–20 centimeters from each other and deepened from five to seven centimeters. The weight of the cloves must be at least 4 grams. The planting site is sprinkled with a centimeter of humus on top.
Garlic should take root before cold weather arrives. That's why best time The planting period will be from early October to mid-November.
Garlic cannot be planted as a whole head. Before planting, the head is divided into single cloves.
Planting with aerial bulbs (bulbs)
To obtain a good garlic harvest, it is recommended to periodically update the planting material. In this case, small aerial garlic bulbs obtained from the peduncle - the arrows of a well-developed plant - are used as seeds. When the twisted arrow of garlic straightens, it is time to collect the seeds of the aerial bulbs.
They are planted for the winter in the year of collection, having previously been sorted and dried for a month.
The planting time and soil preparation process are the same as when planting winter garlic cloves. Before sowing, aerial bulbs are soaked in a solution wood ash for at least 12 hours. The seeds are planted at a distance of 4–6 centimeters from each other and deepened from three to four centimeters.
The covering layer of mulch should be about 2 centimeters. Spring care caring for plants coincides with care when planting with cloves.
In the first year, a single-toothed bulb (set) grows from the aerial bulbs, which will then serve as good renewed planting material. In this case, timely harvesting is very important, since ripe single-toothed bulbs are prone to self-burying. The harvesting time can be determined by the condition of the plant - the leaves begin to turn yellow and droop down.
After two years, the small aerial bulbs will grow into bulbs standard size.
Planting with single-pronged bulbs (sets)
If it is necessary to obtain very large single-pronged bulbs, sets of single-pronged bulbs are planted in the spring, in the second ten days of April.
To obtain regular heads of garlic, the sets are planted in the fall.
Before sowing, the largest, brightest and most even bulbs are selected. Seeds should be planted in rows at a distance of 10 - 12 centimeters from each other and 20 centimeters between rows. Pre-sowing preparation soil, choice of location, and planting time are the same as for aerial bulbs and cloves - from early October to mid-November.
Preparing for winter
After planting in the ground, it is necessary to cover the garlic with mulch made from a thick layer of straw or leaves. This will act as insulation, protecting the bulbs from the cycle of extreme freezes and thaws, thereby preventing the bulbs from freezing.
Care in spring and summer
In spring, you can remove the mulch to the side to warm the soil with natural sun rays and accelerate growth. Once the soil has warmed and small green shoots have begun to appear, some mulch should be put back in place to control weed growth and retain moisture.
Garlic does not require a lot of watering unless the soil is very dry. How less water when watering, the more concentrated the aroma of garlic.
In summer, spring and winter garlic produces arrows that need to be removed, since they do not allow good harvest.
Growing spring garlic
Spring garlic differs from winter garlic in the size and number of cloves. It is smaller and less convenient when preparing dishes. Its advantage is more long term storage, which allows you to use garlic throughout the cold season.
Landing dates
Spring garlic is planted after the frosts have stopped, towards the end of April, starting in the second decade.
Co-cultivation
In addition to following the rules of crop rotation, it is equally important to choose good neighbors in the garden. Neighboring plants will help resist infectious diseases and protect against pests.
Good neighbors garlic will be in all types of salads, as well as spice crops. They can be planted in one bed alternating rows.
Garlic has a beneficial effect on the growth of nightshades - it repels Colorado potato beetle and minimizes the harm of late blight. Garlic planted next to strawberry or wild strawberry bushes increases their productivity and saves them from aphids and ants.
Garlic should not be planted next to cabbage, peas and legumes. This will slow down their development and minimize yield.
Caring for spring garlic
Caring for spring garlic involves timely feeding, regular watering, weeding and loosening the soil.
Mulching a bed of garlic allows you to reduce watering and protects the soil from drying out in the heat.
Watering and fertilizing garlic
The most active growth of the green mass of garlic begins in May and lasts until mid-July. During this period, it is necessary to water the garlic beds 3 – 4 times a month. In case of heavy rain and high humidity soil, watering should not be done, since excess moisture leads to the development of fungal and bacterial diseases of the bulbs and yellowing of the leaves. In the second half of summer, watering should be significantly reduced or stopped completely.
Fertilizing should be carried out 2 times during the growing season. The first fertilizing is carried out immediately after the appearance of green shoots. To prepare the solution, add 2 cups of wood ash to 10 - 12 liters of water. You can also feed the plants with any nitrogen fertilizers. The second feeding is carried out at the beginning of the formation of the bulbs. For the second feeding, humus or any mineral fertilizers are used.
Diseases and pests of garlic
To collect high yield To grow garlic, you must follow all the rules for planting, crop rotation, care and prevention of plant diseases.
Fungal diseases of garlic include peronosporosis, black mold, black neck rot, rust, green mold, black moldy rot, white rot.
Garlic bulbs can be affected by fungus even during storage. Affected fruits infect healthy ones. The main symptom of the disease is the appearance of wet dark spots and lethargy of the bulbs. A white coating is noticeable on the surface of the heads, which turns green over time. Further development the disease leads to a hollow bulb. Contributes to garlic head disease elevated temperature and humidity in the storage room.
Exist fungal diseases, capable of affecting garlic not only during storage, but also in the beds.
Symptoms of the disease are:
- rapid yellowing and drying of leaves from top to bottom;
- education white plaque at the base of the bush.
Gradually the plant dies.
Prevention of fungal diseases will include compliance with crop rotation, correct predecessor plants, and periodic renewal of planting material by collecting and planting aerial bulbs.
To combat an existing disease, fungicides are used - chemicals, intended for treating seeds and combating plant fungus. Fungicide concentrate is toxic to both humans and animals.
If preference is given to an environmentally friendly product and there is no desire to treat plants with chemicals, folk remedies are used.
You can treat the plants with an infusion of calendula and yarrow. To do this, pour 50 grams of chopped plant greens into 1 liter hot water. Insist for seven days. Before spraying, the infusion is diluted in water at the rate of 1 liter of infusion per 10 liters of water. The soil is cultivated before sowing and again during the period of abundant development of green mass. This treatment will be effective against white rot.
Not less problems delivered by pests of bulbous crops. Among the most common pests of garlic are onion fly, onion hoverfly, onion borer, onion thrips, onion stalker, onion moths, onion stem nematode, root mites, four-legged garlic mite.
To protect the harvest, you need to take timely measures when the first signs of pests appear. It is recommended to treat plants with well-proven insecticides (chemical preparations designed to combat harmful insects), such as Actellik, Neoron, Dimethoate-400, Calypso and others. Each product comes with detailed instructions by application.
It is important to know when breeding bees in a summer cottage that the use of insecticides can be harmful to insects.
If you don't want to use chemicals, then you can use traditional methods of pest control. Among them, we can highlight the treatment of plants with shag infusion - add 250 grams of shag and 1 tablespoon of hot red pepper to 2 liters of hot water. Leave for 3 days. Then strain the tincture and dilute in 10 liters of water, adding 30 grams liquid soap. This treatment will save garlic from onion fly.
Garlic storage
A cellar or basement is the best place for storage.
Winter garlic is stored in a cool room. The temperature should be from +2 to +4 degrees Celsius and air humidity should not exceed 70 percent. The shelf life is from 3 to 4 months.
Spring garlic is stored in a warm room at an air temperature of +16 to +20 degrees Celsius and a humidity not exceeding 70 percent. The shelf life is from 5 to 7 months.
Before storing garlic, you need to take care of processing the storage in advance. One of the treatment methods is fumigation of the room with sulfur dioxide. It is also necessary to remove all plant remains from last year's food supplies. This will help avoid contamination of the bulbs during storage.
The storage room for garlic should be clean and dry, with a good ventilation system. Boxes, thick cardboard boxes, finely woven baskets, old nylon stockings, fabric bags, that is, any breathable material or container, are used as storage containers.
Before placing the garlic in a container, it is important to sort through the bulbs, removing those damaged during digging. Clear the soil and leave it on the bed to dry or place it under a canopy for 4 to 5 days. Then cut off the root and stem, leaving a stick about 10 - 12 centimeters long.
During storage, periodically inspect the bulbs, selecting spoiled ones. Make sure that no moisture gets into the storage area.
If there is no special storage space, it is recommended to place the garlic in the vegetable compartment in the refrigerator.
Under no circumstances should garlic heads be placed in plastic bag, as it will begin to deteriorate quickly. It is better to place the garlic in a paper bag and put it in the refrigerator.
To store in an apartment, take a plywood box and place garlic in it, sprinkling layers with dry sawdust. Also suitable as containers glass jars. In this case, the garlic is sprinkled with salt and the jars are left open.
Paraffin from a melted candle allows you to extend the shelf life of garlic. To do this, dip each onion in hot paraffin. This will create a conservation effect.
Basic criteria for storing garlic:
- Room temperature;
- Air humidity;
- Pre-treatment of the room.
If you need to store garlic not as planting material, but for the purpose of using it as food, then pickling, canning and salting are widely used.
In conclusion, it can be noted that garlic is not only useful product for a person, but also a good opportunity to receive monetary profit without making high costs material and labor resources.
This plant does not require a large area to grow. land plot and already in the first year, if you follow the growing technology, you can get a good harvest.
No garden is complete without a bed of garlic. This is not only a necessary seasoning, but also an invaluable assistant in the fight against flu and colds. Growing garlic and caring for it can be done by any gardener; you just need to know its preferences well and follow all agricultural techniques.
Basic growing rules
To get a good harvest of this crop, not much is required:
- high-quality and healthy planting material;
- loose fertile soil;
- timely landing;
- proper watering and fertilizing;
- compliance with cleaning deadlines.
Selection of planting material
If you are planting cloves from your own harvest from last year, then you need to select only the largest heads for seeds. They should not have double teeth or double tips - these are signs of degeneration. Teeth with external damage and traces of disease are not suitable for planting. Before planting spring garlic cloves, they need to be prepared: vernalized and germinated.
- vernalization - kept in the refrigerator (not in the freezer!) for a month;
- germination - place in a damp cloth, wrap in a bag and keep in the vegetable section of the refrigerator until the beginnings of roots appear.
The yield from prepared planting material will be higher. To disinfect it, the heads with the rudiments of the roots, disassembled into cloves, are soaked in an ash solution or in a solution of potassium permanganate. For cooking ash solution 400 g of ash is boiled in 2 liters of water for half an hour. The teeth are placed in the cooled solution for 2 hours.
To prepare a solution of potassium permanganate, a teaspoon of the drug is diluted in a ten-liter bucket of warm water. Exposure time – 10 hours. The prepared cloves are planted on the beds.
Planting spring garlic in open ground
Prepared and germinated seed of spring garlic is planted in the ground in early spring.
Soil and site preparation
Growing garlic begins with preparing the soil. This procedure is carried out in the fall. The place for the plants needs a sunny place; in the shade the leaves will also grow, but you won’t get a good head. Spring garlic prefers loose, fertile light or medium loamy soils with sufficient humus content. The soil reaction should be neutral or slightly acidic.
In the fall, when digging, they add it to each square. m:
- 0.5 buckets of humus or well-ripened compost;
- 2-3 cups of ash;
- 15 g of complex mineral fertilizer.
Immediately before planting, the bed is loosened, but not dug up. She must have flat surface so that all planted teeth are at the same level.
Then plant garlic
The correct precursors for spring garlic are very important. Plant health largely depends on them. It is best to plant spring garlic cloves after any pumpkin crops. They do not have common pests and diseases, and after harvesting the beds remain well manured, the soil is loose and fertile. Good predecessors are grains, greens or legumes. But you can return garlic to its original place or plant it after onions only after 4 years. The proximity of beds with garlic and peas and beans is undesirable. Their secretions do not like each other, and the yield of all crops will be low.
How and when to plant
Spring garlic is planted only in spring. When planted in winter, it can easily freeze. However, this representative of alliums is not afraid of frost, so it is planted as soon as the earth has warmed up to 5 degrees, but has still fully retained moisture after the snow has melted. Spring garlic grows roots better at low temperatures, so you can’t be late with planting dates. They depend not only on the growing region, but also on the weather.
Gardeners grow garlic in their dachas not only because the proximity of this plant is useful for other garden crops, but also to improve their health. Depending on the type of garlic, planting time may vary. Even novice gardeners know that planting winter and spring garlic occurs in different time, but there are other differences. More details about the cultivation of these two species will be discussed in this article.
Garlic - photo
This light-loving plant is usually grown in a separate bed. Garlic can also be planted densely with other garden crops or berries if there is not enough space on the plot. The plant feels best next to black, and. You can also grow the following next to garlic: flower crops like roses and gladioli. In this case, garlic repels various pests from plants.
Garlic - description, composition
But there are also plants that cannot be planted next to garlic because of its negative impact on these crops. It's about about legumes and cabbage. But at the same time, cabbage is best predecessor garlic, which needs to be taken into account when choosing a place in the garden. The same can be said about pumpkin crops.
Optimal time for planting
Growing spring garlic involves planting in the first half of April, but during this period the soil is still quite hard, so digging is very difficult. As an option, site preparation for spring varieties occurs in the fall. If we talk about winter varieties of garlic, then they need to be planted in the fall - from the beginning of September to the end of October. The time period is selected in such a way that before the onset of frost, the plant has time to acquire a strong root system that will penetrate 9-11 cm into the ground. The plant can overwinter under the snow, and with the onset of warmth, produce a good harvest.
Variety selection
There are many different varieties garlic - both winter and spring - and they all differ from each other in decorative, taste or yield qualities. Let's look at the most common winter varieties in Russia.
Popular spring varieties of garlic include the following.
Growing garlic in spring
As noted earlier, it is advisable to grow garlic in those beds where beans, zucchini, cabbage, and so on used to grow. Gardeners also plant this plant next to certain types of flowers to protect against diseases and pests. The process of growing garlic is not much different from that of any other garden crops, with the exception of some nuances. Every gardener can cope with this; the main thing is to follow some recommendations to create optimal conditions.
Preparing the bed
As practice shows, narrow beds are best suited for growing garlic, regardless of its type or variety. Soil preparation involves adding ash or lime to reduce acidity - such conditions are most suitable for garlic.
On a note! It is also advisable to fertilize the soil mineral fertilizers or humus. This is done at the rate of 10 g of phosphorus and potassium, 8 kg of humus per 1 m² of bed. You should be careful with fertilizers so as not to harm the plants.
Preparation of planting material
Not everyone prepares garlic before planting, believing that it is a useless process. In fact, this is not so, because soaking the cloves in warm water about 3-4 hours will speed up the growth of the plant. After this, the cloves should be sprinkled with moistened sawdust or moss, and then placed under a radiator or other warm place. After a few days, root rudiments form on the cloves in the form of small formations white. This indicates that the plant is ready for the next stage - planting.
Planting garlic
By selecting suitable variety garlic and having prepared the bed, you can start planting. The process is simple if you follow the instructions below.
Table. Instructions for planting spring garlic.
| Steps, photo | Description of actions |
|---|---|
| To begin, loosen the bed with a hoe or hoe. There is no need to dig up the bed, since it is prepared in advance - during the period of fertilization. |
| Make shallow grooves (about 5-8 cm) at a distance of 30 cm from each other. Deep furrows are needed only when growing winter varieties of garlic, when winter cold may harm the plant. |
| Carefully plant the garlic cloves, deepening them into the soil with the sprouts down about halfway. The distance between the cloves is 3-5 cm. Since the cloves of spring garlic are much smaller compared to winter varieties, it is not advisable to plant it very rarely. |
| Fill the grooves with planted garlic using a hoe. It's okay if a little mulch or dry grass gets in with the soil. There is no need to compact the bed after planting, otherwise the plant may not sprout. |
| This is what a bed with spring garlic planted looks like. At the end, you can walk through the soil with a rake. If you are planting large cloves of garlic, then you need to plant them at a greater distance - up to 10 cm. Now you just have to wait for the harvest. |
Aftercare
Planting alone will not be enough to produce a rich harvest of garlic. Needed proper care, which is based on regular feeding, watering and loosening the soil. Gardeners will also have to face problems such as garlic pests (although there are very few of them) and diseases.
Top dressing
The first fertilizing should be carried out immediately after emergence. The best way to do this is to use nitrogen fertilizers such as mullein or complex fertilizer called "Fertika", which can be purchased at any gardening store. After 14 days, fertilizing should be repeated. During the entire period, you need to feed garlic no more than 4 times. Excess fertilizer can have a negative effect on plants, so you need to be careful with this - do not overdo it.
Watering
You need to water the garlic regularly, not allowing the soil to dry out. If the weather is dry, then you need to water abundantly, approximately 11 liters per 1 m². In case of frequent rains, it is advisable to avoid watering, because waterlogging can cause rotting of the root system. As the head increases in size and weight, watering gradually stops. As a rule, this happens in early August.
Common diseases and pests
If you previously grew onions, then there should be no special problems with garlic, because both of these crops are subject to the same diseases. As a rule, this is tracheomycosis, powdery mildew, helminthosporiosis and different types rot (gray and white).
Speaking about pests of garlic, it is worth mentioning the centipede, mole cricket, sprout fly, cabbage cutworm, tobacco thrips, and so on. There are many pests, but this does not mean that they all constantly attack plants. The best prevention against various ailments - this means compliance with basic requirements (treatment of the plant, or more precisely, the storage location, with a bleach solution, replanting the crop in its original place after at least 3 years). There are also a lot various drugs against garlic diseases - “Maxim”, “Fitosporin-M”, potassium permanganate solution and others. You can get rid of pests using various folk remedies, including ammonium sulfate, tobacco infusion and other equally effective compounds.
Yellowed leaves (about 70% of the surface) indicate that the garlic is ripe and can be harvested. Just make sure that at least 100 days pass from emergence to harvest. Otherwise, you may experience that the garlic will not store well. As a rule, gardeners begin harvesting spring garlic in the first half of September.
On a note! To check ripeness, you need to dig up a few heads of garlic - they should not hold the cloves. Also, the film that covers the cloves should come off easily. If fresh garlic meets all these requirements, which means it can be removed.
Harvesting is carried out as follows: using a shovel, garlic is dug up and pulled out of the ground by the tops, after which the plant must be dried under the sun, carefully laid out in rows. Clean the garlic from dirt after drying, and then place it in a well-ventilated and lighted area for storage. After 6-7 days you need to trim the tops and roots. Only after this is garlic eaten.
This process is similar, except perhaps for the time of planting and, accordingly, harvesting. But they still exist certain nuances, which should not be forgotten if you want to get a rich harvest.
Winter garlic, first of all, is too demanding on the soil, so only nutritious sandy loam soil is suitable for planting. In rare cases, it is necessary to add a little sand to the soil. If the soil fertility is insufficient, it is necessary to apply several buckets of fertilizer. Rotted manure or aged compost will do.
If you live in harsh, cold regions, then when growing garlic you should protect the plant from inevitable freezing. For this purpose, you can use a small layer of leaves or peat. With the onset of spring warmth, this layer will serve as an additional source of nutrition for the plant, and will also prevent the occurrence of weeds and diseases. Caring for winter varieties of garlic is no different from caring for spring crops. This applies to fertilizing, watering and mulching. Diseases in winter period much less, as well as pests, so in this regard, gardeners can be calm.
Video - Growing garlic (2 methods)