When to collect garlic bulbs, how to store and prepare them for planting?
Almost all gardeners who grow vegetables plant garlic in their gardens. However, some of them also grow garlic bulbs, which will be used next year for planting.
Before you start growing this plant, you need to familiarize yourself with when you can collect the bulbs of garlic and how to grow them correctly.
Planting material: procurement and storage
Many are interested not only when it is necessary to collect garlic air, but also how to store it correctly. Indeed, the quality of the future harvest depends on the competent collection and storage.
It is recommended to harvest planting material when arrows appear on the bulbs of garlic. Previously, it is not recommended to harvest the plant, since only 5-10 teeth will form on it. This number of cloves is not enough to get a good harvest. When arrows appear, the number of forming teeth increases to 50–70 pieces.
All harvested planting material must be properly stored. There are several common storage methods for garlic.
In flour
Some people prefer to store the finished one-clove onion in flour. This storage method is used to protect the planting material from high humidity. When using this method, a small layer of flour is poured into the bottom of the saucepan. Then heads of garlic are placed in it, which are sprinkled with flour on top.
In ash
For long-term storage of very small bulbs, you can use ash. To do this, a layer of ash 2-4 cm thick is poured into a small box, after which a layer of garlic heads is tightly placed on top. When all the heads are in the container, they are re-sprinkled with ash. Bubbles equipped with this method must be stored in a room with a temperature of at least 20 degrees.
Right time
When the bulbs of garlic are ripe, they can be planted in the ground. Most often, gardeners do this in the fall or spring. At the same time, experienced people prefer spring planting, since in autumn the soil can be frozen and this will negatively affect growing garlic... However, sometimes it is impossible to plant a plant in the spring and you have to do this in the autumn. In this case, the beds are covered with dry leaves and branches. To better retain heat in the upper soil layer, the beds are mulched with straw or sawdust.
If it is decided not to plant the plant until spring, they collect all the garlic bulbs, sort them out and transfer them to plastic containers in February.When examining the bulbs, one should pay attention to their condition. Among them there may be empty and small heads of garlic, which are better to get rid of, as they will not germinate.
Soil preparation
Having figured out when to remove the bulbs of garlic from the garden, you can start preparing the soil. First you need to figure out where it is best to plant garlic. The plant is not recommended to be planted in an area where potatoes or tomatoes were previously grown. The fact is that the next year after these plants, spores of fusarium remain in the soil, which lead to the death of garlic. Also, you cannot plant bulbs in the beds where onions have been grown for several years.
The best choice for planting a vegetable will be an area where cabbage or legumes were previously grown.
Having chosen the most suitable site, you can start fertilizing it. The garlic plant does not like an overabundance of organic fertilizers, and therefore, a lot of chicken manure or manure should not be added to the soil. This will lead to deformation of the teeth and seedlings.
If the soil has neutral acidity, then 5–7 kg of humus is used to fertilize a square meter of land. If necessary, add 50 grams of superphosphate and 40 grams of calcium to the ground. Lime is additionally added to a site with a high acidity level in the amount of 400 grams per square meter.
After fertilizing the soil, you can learn more about how to plant garlic.
Winter planting of bulbs
To get a good harvest of garlic, you need to familiarize yourself with the peculiarities of planting this vegetable.
Before planting the garlic bulbs, you will have to disinfect them with a manganese solution. To do this, small and large bulbs are placed in a container with manganese for 20-30 minutes. After that, the planting material is washed with warm water and dried.
Having prepared the garlic heads for planting, they are preparing the site. To do this, the bed is divided into 2-3 rows with a width of about 70-80 cm. The distance between the rows is not very large - 20-30 cm from each other. Before planting, we provide moisture in the ground, which is very important for the rapid germination of seedlings. To do this, each row is thoroughly watered with warm and settled water.
Prepared planting garlic bulbs are planted only after watering all rows. During planting, the garlic heads are carefully laid out on the bottom of the rows. The distance between each air bulb should be at least 5 cm. When all the bulbs are planted, they are covered with a thin layer of soil on top and carefully tamped with a board. To retain moisture, the beds are sprinkled with a layer of peat 2-3 cm thick.
Care
When the bulbs of garlic are planted and ready to grow, you need to take care of their care.
Watering
In order for the head, roots, stem and leaves of the plant to be strong, it is necessary to water it periodically. For irrigation, it is recommended to use cool well water or tap water, which must be allowed to stand before use.
You can moisten the soil with an ordinary bucket or a hose with a special water gun. Watering is carried out carefully so that the liquid does not get on the leaves of the plant. This can cause the garlic to turn yellow and dry.
Top dressing
To protect the crop from diseases and pests, you need to take care of plant immunity. It is for this that plants are fed. For the first time, such a procedure is carried out one month after the emergence of seedlings. During fertilization, each square meter of the plot is treated with 20 grams of superphosphate and nitrate.
The next time, fertilizers are added in two weeks. In this case, the amount of added superphosphate with nitrate decreases by 2–3 times.
Weeding
When growing garlic, the soil is periodically loosened. Experienced vegetable growers advise doing this three times a month.This procedure is carried out to improve the supply of oxygen to the upper layers of the soil after heavy rains.
Harvest
Harvesting garlic from the air is carried out in August, when the stems of the plant begin to turn yellow and dry out. However, sometimes the timing of harvesting garlic bulbs may be different. It all depends on when the plant was planted.
During the collection of the garlic heads, the plant is carefully dug out of the soil with a shovel, cleaned from the ground and dried in the sun. During drying, the heads are periodically turned over for better drying.
Many are interested in when to cut the stems of the garlic bulbs. It is necessary to do this after they are completely dry. In this case, the stems must be cut along with the husk.
Conclusion
Many gardeners are engaged in the cultivation of garlic bulbs. To grow and plant them correctly, you need to familiarize yourself with the main features of storing and planting garlic heads.
