How to grow garlic: practical recommendations

Garlic has been known to mankind since ancient times. Even at the dawn of civilization, primitive people already included in its diet its wild species, noting their health benefits. Although even now uncultivated plants are popular in the world, for example, wild garlic, which, like garlic, belongs to the onion subfamily. Wild garlic has also received folk names wild garlic, bear onions or forest garlic. Both in the wild and in the cultured form, garlic has remained an unchanged companion of mankind for several thousand years, strengthening strength and health as a medicine and as a food product.

Culture Description

Garlic has a pungent smell and a burning taste due to the content of allicin - an organic compound that works as an antimicrobial, antiparasitic and antifungal agent. The cloves of a garlic collapsible head are used for raw food and as an ingredient in a huge number of culinary recipes from all over the world. Especially a lot of garlic, up to 8-12 cloves per day, is consumed in China, Korea and Italy. According to statistics, China recently produces more than 12 million tons of garlic per year, while Russia - less than 300 thousand tons, and the United States - more than 200 thousand tons.

A clove of garlic contains almost all food minerals and vitamins known to modern science. The main ones are:

• iron; 100 g of garlic contains 1.7 mg of iron;
• thiamine; it is more in garlic than in any other vegetables;
• polysaccharides having great nutritional value;
• ascorbic acid is a powerful antioxidant;
• iodine, which is especially valuable for non-seaside territories with a lack of iodine in the diet;
• calcium, useful for the cardiovascular and skeletal system.

It is the complete set of all trace elements that a person needs that makes garlic a literally indispensable element of nutrition.

More than 70 varieties of winter and 14 spring garlic are cultivated in Russia - exactly so many varieties are listed in the State Register of Selection Achievements. Perhaps, in the vegetable gardens, old varieties with long-forgotten names are also grown, because the seeds of garlic - cloves and seeds, as a rule, are not bought anywhere, but transmitted, propagated from year to year, from generation to generation, and the beginning of this process lost in the depths of centuries, as well as the names of varieties.

Planting and propagating garlic

Mostly garlic propagated with cloves. Immediately after harvesting, in the Central region of Russia on July 10-20, the heads are cut and dried in the shade.

The exact time of cleaning is determined by the following criteria:

• the scales on the head dry out and become brittle;
• digging the head, you can see new roots - this is the beginning of a new cycle of garlic germination and harvest time;
• the teeth in the head break up easily.

Then part of the crop is taken away for storage and consumption, part is left for planting. Before planting, the heads are divided into cloves, selecting only healthy ones. One central clove attached to the stem is also rejected.. It is easy to distinguish it - it is always irregular in shape, usually flat and flattened. If you plant it, next year will not grow a completely normal head, divided in two or with separate underdeveloped teeth. But in food such teeth can be used to the full.

Important! It is undesirable to use for landing too small and, conversely, large teeth, of which there are only 2-3 in the head. Normal landing tooth of medium size.

The teeth are by no means peeled - this is protection. On the contrary, you cannot plant bare cloves. Healthy planting material is not processed. But if mold and rot, ulcers are present on individual samples, they are thrown away, and all clean planting material is immersed in a solution of copper sulfate at a concentration of 40 g (one tablespoon without top) per 10 liters of water and immediately removed. This is a treatment for fungal diseases and putrefactive bacteria. Tiny larvae of pests, such as thrips, onion flies, can settle in the cloves of garlic for the winter. In the spring, with the growth of the arrows, they will be removed and begin to devour the plant. In order to reliably get rid of pest larvae, sowing teeth are washed in saline - 200 g of table salt per 10 l of water.

The timing

When planting winter garlic, it is important to pay attention to weather conditions. Every fall can be completely different weather on the same day of the calendar.

If you plant the garlic too early, before prolonged heat, it will give roots and green shoots, which will then be broken by frost. The clove itself in this case will have time to take root well in the winter, but will be depleted by the growth of an unnecessary escape. If the garlic is planted too late, it will not have time to take root, in the spring it will be stunted and may freeze faster than the rooted one.

The timing of planting winter garlic depends on the weather conditions in the region

But, despite the fact that the weather is unpredictable, there are certain landing dates. This, as a rule, in Central Russia, the end of September - the first half of October. In warmer regions - early November.

The technology for growing garlic is basically the same in all regions, no difference, in the Moscow region, Belarus or Siberia. But there are differences related to climatic conditions. First of all, these are different dates of planting and harvesting. Also in Siberia and other frosty regions, special attention is paid to safe wintering, sheltering areas in frost with snow or mulch. Although rooted teeth tolerate frosts down to -25 ^aboutC. And in a cold climate there are fewer pests that can survive the fierce winters.

Garlic needs loose neutral soil. The plant suffers partial shading, but then seedlings need to be planted less often.

Soil preparation

The best precursors for garlic are solanaceous and pumpkin. Other precursors, especially onions, use the substances needed by garlic.

You can additionally feed the soil for plowing with wood ash at the rate of 0.5 l per 1-2 sq. m

Before planting, the soil should be loosened by a plow, a mill, a cultivator or a shovel to a depth of about 20 cm.

Garlic is planted with an interval of about 20 cm between rows and 6-8 cm between the teeth.

With small areas, grooves are made with a chopper or hand bend angle of 8-10 cm deep along the stretched cord. There is no consensus on the exact landing depth. Some believe that in such furrows, the teeth should be firmly stuck even deeper, 3-5 cm from the bottom of the furrow. As a result, at a depth of 10-15 cm, garlic will take root and not freeze better, which is especially important for the northern regions.

On a small bed, a recess is made with a small shovel along a stretched rope

But such a depth is fraught with the fact that garlic can rot in a warm rainy autumn or spring, without having time to break through to the light. Therefore, the optimal landing depth should be considered 7-10 cm from the surface.

The main dangers of wintering are decay during a warm damp winter and freezing in snowy frosty weather. Nothing can be done against the first, in spring you will have to plant spring garlic. From severe frosts, if there is no snow, shelter will save a layer of mulch: wood shavings, sawdust, straw, hay, peat, manure, compost, needles, foliage or factory covering material. But all this with the first warm will need to be removed in time, so as not to interfere with growth and not damage the shoots.

Planted garlic is covered with a chopper, holding it with its teeth up, a rake or a plane cutter. The main thing is not to bring down planted garlic cloves from their location. It is not necessary to compact the soil.

Variety Update

Over the years, under equal conditions and care, garlic can reduce productivity, often get sick. These are signs that the variety is degenerating, unwanted changes and diseases have accumulated. Then the planting material is updated, getting absolutely pure samples of the first generation, called super-elite, which are highly valued in all cultures.

For this, at the beginning of the appearance of the arrows they do not break off, and some of the most powerful are left for seeds, the so-called popular bulbs. They ripen at the same time as garlic. Collect them at the same time. In one hat there can be several tens of bulbs. Outwardly, they look like tiny cloves.

Up to full maturity of garlic 7-10 days

Further, the timing and technology of growing seed from bulbs is the same as growing garlic on the head, with one difference: they are not planted so deep, only 5-7 cm. There is enough distance of 5 cm between the bulbs (matchbox in length ) The distance between rows is the same as when planting adult garlic, at least 20 cm. Although you can plant with an interval of 5 cm between rows to save space, there will then be difficulties with passage between rows during weeding.

Most often, bulbs for planting material are planted next to adult garlic, highlighting several additional rows on the plantation for this. In the summer of the first year, a young head of the first generation grows from them. Separate teeth are well marked on it, fused into a single whole, and you do not need to separate them. Such a head is planted with the rest of the garlic the same fall and get a full head next year. The teeth from it also serve as valuable planting material of an updated variety, clean of diseases and genetic changes.

Care

Garlic is easy to care for. The first and main thing that needs to be done in the spring, as soon as the earth dries up, is weeding. The land can be easily and quickly pulled out by a hand cultivator with a cutting bracket, simultaneously cutting off all weeds. A little harder to remove weeds between plants in rows. This requires a narrow chopper or hand weeding.

The second weeding is carried out at the beginning of summer. It is advisable 3-7 days after rain, when weed seeds germinate. On cultivated plantations, in which there are few seeds of weed, two weeds per season are usually enough, because winter garlic is harvested early. On clogged plantations, weeding occurs more often.

The labor-intensive operation of leaving can be considered the removal of young shooters in shoot varieties. As soon as shoots twisted into a ring with a white ovary of a seed cap at the end appear from the sinus of the foliage of garlic, they must immediately be completely removed. Except those that are left on the seeds.

Important! If the arrows are not removed, they will pull on a lot of nutrients and moisture from the entire plant, and garlic will not be able to grow a full head.

Garlic shooters break off or prun secateurs at the base

Today there are varieties of garlic that do not form arrows. As a rule, this is a separate group of varieties - spring garlic, which is planted in the spring. But the breeders of the old formation believe that garlic should be with an arrow, otherwise it is an abnormal plant. It is difficult to argue with this conservative view, especially since there are no comparative indicators for the total content of nutrients in different varieties.

Fact! Shooting varieties are more productive, sharper in taste and better stored.

The arrows of garlic themselves are a unique food product. Like cloves, they make up for the deficiency of biologically active substances in the body, help get rid of parasites, slow down aging, and so on. There are many culinary recipes for their preparation, but in any case it is simply impossible to eat a lot of this product, it is so full of useful substances and quickly gives a feeling of fullness. The taste of the cooked arrows of garlic resembles mushrooms. But, in general, the taste is for everybody.

Local Russian winter garlic is always with a purple-burgundy hue. It acquires a violet color just after a cold period.

Frosty winters make local garlic purple

White garlic - either spring or imported, southern.

After weeding, the second care when leaving is to ensure that the ground is always moist and does not dry out. With a lack of moisture, the feather of garlic turns yellow, first at the ends, then in the lower tier completely. If this happens on the eve of the harvest, then it is considered normal. If already at the beginning of summer, then garlic will not be able to pour a full head, and watering will be necessary.

Sometimes, not only drought can cause the pen to dry out. The same thing can happen when a feather is struck with an onion fly and other pests. And also the freezing of autumn seedlings, which managed to ascend in the autumn heat and fell in frost, can also affect. But often the partial yellowing of the feather does not prevent you from getting a good head of garlic.

Photo Gallery: Popular Varieties of Winter Garlic

Top dressing

Garlic is responsive to potash and phosphorus fertilizers. Nitrogen feeding, including organic matter (manure), can cause rapid feather growth with an underdeveloped head. Mineral fertilizers contribute:

• in the fall, before digging, applying complex fertilizers in an amount of about 40 g per 1 sq. km. m;
• during the growing season, with watering, dissolving fertilizers in the amount of 15-20 g per 10 liters of water.

The benefits of garlic from such top dressing does not become less. Firstly, not all phosphorus and potassium are in the cloves of garlic. Secondly, phosphorus and potassium in certain forms are not harmful, but beneficial for the body. But almost certainly such top dressing will change the structure, density, acid-base environment of the garlic crop, so it will be stored much worse.

Spring garlic

Spring garlic has smaller teeth, they are arranged as if in a spiral. Requirements for the soil, the depth of landing of the teeth, the methods of care for him are the same as in winter. But there are differences.

Distinctive features of spring garlic - small cloves, white skin color

They plant it in the earliest spring, as soon as the soil thaws and dries. At the beginning of growth, he is able to develop the root system only at soil temperatures from +3 to +10 ^aboutC. When it becomes much warmer, he will not be able to begin development normally and form a head.

Planting depth is shallower than that of winter, only 3-4 cm.

Spring garlic is harvested 30-45 days later than winter, in mid-late August. The signs of maturity of spring and winter garlic are the same.

Photo gallery: popular varieties of spring garlic

Garlic storage

In large agricultural holdings, garlic for storage is treated with preparations that destroy the entire microflora, causing the development of mold, rot and fungal infections, and also stop the germination of the heads. The composition of such drugs is not advertised, and for home storage they use many different methods. Among them there are very laborious, costly and inefficient, for example, immersing the heads in molten paraffin or wax to create a protective film.

But garlic is not worth it, although a valuable product. However, among the accumulated popular experience, there are valuable tips:

1. Well-dried heads are placed in a glass jar, sprinkled with flour to reduce humidity, and rolled up with an airtight lid.
2. When stored in damp rooms, linen bags are impregnated with brine and the garlic is stored in them.
3. In dry rooms, garlic is stored in nets or bags, sprinkled with absolutely dry sawdust or onion husks.
4. In small quantities, garlic can be stored in the refrigerator, wrapped with cling film.
5. With any method, garlic is stored in the dark.
6. The roots of the head are burned on the fire of a gas stove, it sterilizes, dries and prevents germination.

A significant amount of garlic in an apartment is stored in two ways:

• cold way. At temperatures from 0 to +5, for example, on a loggia or balcony, with low humidity;
• a warm method for winter varieties, at room temperature, but not in the hottest place, at 18-20 degrees.

After harvesting, the garlic is cut differently based on the storage method. Sometimes it is stored by weaving in wreaths or sheaves.

With this storage method, the garlic is well ventilated and stays dry

In this case, the tops are left with a length of about 30 cm. For sale in the markets, a stalk with a length of 7-10 cm is left. For normal storage, they are cut short, leaving 2-3 cm of the stem.

Garlic in greenhouses

Sometimes garlic is planted in greenhouses. But this is done extremely rarely, exclusively for receiving a green pen in the early stages. It turns out, and there is little demand for it in the market, although very limited. And growing garlic per head in greenhouses is a strange occupation. Firstly, why should he occupy expensive meters of greenhouses if he grows well on the street. Secondly, by weight the yield of garlic from 1 square. m. ten times less than, for example, a crop of cucumbers or tomatoes. Thirdly, garlic begins to germinate at + 5-10 ^aboutC and normally grows at a temperature of + 20-25 ^aboutC, and in summer in greenhouses on sunny days the temperature rises above +40 ^aboutC, when the garlic can just burn.

Gardeners reviews

Dates of planting and cleaning can be different. It all depends on the climate. At our place (Central Ukraine), we plant one-tooth teeth on Pokrov, October 14, and put away on Peter and Paul, July 12.

buevski

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If a person plants garlic for 8 hours in a row, then the next day he will not get out of bed. I never paid attention to productivity, since I do not use hired labor, for me the main quality. In addition, the weather makes its own adjustments, they plant garlic in the fall. But. for example, last year the four of them made 10 acres in a day and a half, 3-4 hours a day.

Vladimir G

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In Soviet times, the record of our family: on 20 acres (0.2 hectares) we planted 750 kg of perfect teeth and took 3 tons. 15 tons per hectare is calculated per ha. But then it was difficult with fertilizer. The store was not. They planted it very often, between the rows it was only 10 cm, between the teeth 5-6 cm. Landing by hand. weeding 4 times. Watering all summer 40-60l m2. Arrows broke off the bags threw.

Ashot

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Video: autumn planting of garlic

If the family consumes garlic in medium quantities, then, as a rule, a harvest from a small plot of 7-10 square meters is enough for food and seed next year. m. The head of garlic can grow small and non-competitive for sale on the market, but it does not matter for its kitchen. In addition, the cloves are large and in a small head, but there are fewer of them. The most painstaking work when growing garlic is manual autumn planting, and spring-summer care, as we see, is quite simple. Especially in a small area. So your garlic is a good thing.