Garlic growing technology: winter and spring

Types of garlic

All the numerous varieties of garlic are divided into two main types according to the growing period: spring and winter. And winter, in turn, is divided into shooting and non-shooting. Spring is known to be planted in spring. It is perfectly stored until the next harvest, so it is grown with an eye to harvesting. The teeth in its bulb can be large and small, they are located in several levels or layers. It does not form an arrow.

Winter crops are planted in autumn, it is stored much less than spring crops, but it gives a larger yield. Its heads are usually larger, and the teeth are arranged in one layer.

The non-shooting species is stored better; under certain conditions, it can last until spring. Its disadvantage is that it gradually degenerates, multiplying by teeth, accumulates infections, and loses productivity. Then his shooting brother comes to the rescue. The fact is that infections and diseases, signs of degeneration are transmitted from generation to generation precisely through teeth. And garlic, which forms arrows, concentrates its entire varietal gene pool in air bulbs, but diseases do not penetrate them.

Bubbles allow you to restore garlic - healthy and productive. Two years later, full-fledged bulbs grow from them - large and healthy. In the first year, one-teeth are obtained, which can be eaten perfectly, they also become planting material, from which the variety is renewed.

Growing winter garlic

Winter garlic is planted in open ground in autumn and harvested in the second half of summer. Its bulbs and greens have been eaten since spring - just when the body really needs vitamins, and other greens are just beginning to grow. Just for the sake of this it is worth growing it. He does not cause a lot of trouble to the gardener, you just need to be attentive to his predecessors, plant garlic where legumes, pumpkin or cabbage used to grow.

When to plant

It is planted a month before the arrival of frost. It is best if the teeth have time to take root well, but the sprouts do not appear on the surface of the earth - then they will winter painlessly, and with the first heat, as soon as the ground thaws and the snow melts, they will grow. But with this moment (the correct fit) it is difficult to decide. Garlic is not very afraid of frost. If it has already sprouted, then it can simply be covered until the snow falls or even for the whole winter with sawdust mulch mixed with earth or non-woven material.

It is very important to prepare the garden 3-4 weeks before planting. It is dug up, fertilized, watered and the earth is left to lie down.

Garlic, especially in winter, loves high beds so that they are not flooded with floods. Excessive dampness, swampiness for its bulbs is worse than frost.

If winter comes at the end of November, then traditionally everyone is advised to plant winter garlic not earlier than October. But there is information that the garlic planted in August gave a much better harvest than the one planted a month or two later.Here, only experiment can dot the "and".

How to plant

The bulbs are disassembled before planting on the cloves, disinfected.

The cloves are planted in open ground in rows every 10-15 centimeters, it depends on the size. The larger the planting material, the larger the bulb will grow from it, which means that such plants need to be planted less often. Therefore, the teeth are calibrated before planting.

Up to 25 centimeters are left between the rows.

Planting material is usually deepened to 6-7 centimeters, but there is another alternative planting method. It was invented for lack of space on the principle of "craving for inventions is cunning." The bottom line is to plant two tiers - the first one is planted at a depth of 12 centimeters, they fall asleep, and another one is planted above it at a depth of 6-7 centimeters. The garlic of the lower tier feels fine, the frost will not get to it, the roots of the upper tier will not interfere with it - all the plants grow well. The main thing is to carefully dig out the crop.

Some gardeners prefer not to plant neatly in the holes, but simply sow the teeth. They claim that the result is the same, only the sown garlic does not look so even, it has leaves and arrows to one side.

Top dressing

As soon as the snow melts, the active growth of greenery will begin. At this time, the garlic is fed with a solution of vermicompost, mullein or bird droppings. Rotted manure is laid out between the rows of plants or ash is poured, which will help protect seedlings from pests. When the fourth leaf appears, top dressing is done with urea, and when the bulb is formed, superphosphate is added. Top dressing can be combined with watering. After mid-May, fertilizers are no longer applied, the growing heads draw strength from the greenery.

Growing spring garlic

For spring garlic, when grown in the open field, it is also desirable to form tall beds of fertile soil. If necessary, before planting (but better in autumn), the soil is fertilized with humus, rotted manure or compost. As a rule, the cloves of a spring vegetable are smaller than a winter one, and they are planted more often - after 6-7 centimeters, leaving up to 25 centimeters between the rows.

Traditional planting method

Usually, spring varieties are planted in open ground in mid-April. Before planting, the heads are disassembled, calibrated, planted to a depth of 2-3 centimeters. And then they loosen the aisles, remove weeds, water the plantings. If you mulch them, then you will have to water and weed much less often.

Sprouted teeth

Usually, spring garlic is stored at a temperature of about +20 degrees. In the last days of March, the heads are disassembled into teeth, soaked for 3 hours with water at room temperature, and then transferred to the cellar. There they need to be spread out in a thin layer (in one row), covered with film and cloth. Such conditions will provoke root growth. When they reach 2 to 5 centimeters, it's time to plant in open ground.

Garlic care

Planting spring garlic is fed in the same way as winter garlic: when shoots appear, then 10 or 12 days after the first feeding, then closer to the end of June. Use compost, mullein, bird droppings - make solutions and liquid turbulence. Ash is scattered between the rows.They make sure that the roots have enough moisture, in the absence of rain they watered. All the time you need to get rid of weeds and loosen the ground.

Winter garlic is harvested in the second half of July, and spring garlic - from late August to mid-September. In July, the signal for harvesting is a burst inflorescence in which the air bulbs ripen (not all arrows break out, in some plants they are left to be able to improve the culture). And the spring is harvested when the lower leaves dry out.

Vegetables must be picked out of the ground and laid out to dry.You cannot cut off the leaves before they are completely dry - up to this point, the growth of the heads still continues, and from the leaves they take useful substances for this.After the leaves are completely dry, they are cut off, leaving no more than 5 centimeters, and the vegetables are removed for storage.

After a few years, it is advisable to completely change the planting material in order to update and improve your garlic.

This is done with air bulbs. When the inflorescence bursts, the bulbs will acquire color, they are cut off and placed in a dry room for ripening, then they are sorted out. For further work, you will need air bulbs of at least 4 or 5 millimeters.

In early October, these air bulbs are planted in a garden bed and grown like winter plantings. By August next year, one-toothed teeth will have formed from them. They are then used for winter plantings to get normal garlic. But you can do it differently - do not dig them out in the summer, but leave them in the ground. In the spring, plantings are thinned out, while they get a wonderful vegetable for the table, and by the middle of summer or a little later they get full-fledged garlic.

There is another way, when air bulbs are planted in early June, let them grow until next summer. They winter well, and then by the summer they develop full-fledged heads.

Video "Winter garlic care"

See how the principles of organic farming are used in growing winter garlic.