Garlic is a vegetable crop that has a huge range of beneficial properties for humans. Garlic is often used in cooking, some dishes are simply not enough without it, but this is not its main advantage.
Garlic is valued for its healing properties, it is used not only in folk but also in official medicine. According to some reports, garlic helps in the treatment of 94 diseases. Let's see how to grow such a valuable culture.
What are the dates of planting in the fall?
It is better to plant garlic in the ground before the first expected frosts, or rather, approximately 2-3 weeks before their occurrence. This contributes to its rapid and strong rooting.
Most often, garlic is planted in late September - early October. Garlic planted at this time is enough time to form a strong root system, which is a significant reason for the presence of a large crop. Do not be afraid that garlic will not stand the cold. If he has time to strengthen his roots - he is not afraid of winter. But if garlic meets frosts with underdeveloped roots, this factor increases the risk of its death.
Cooking garlic for planting
In order to make a large garlic freak, for planting it is also necessary to select the largest and healthiest, cloves without any damage.If the bulbs have gray or greenish spots, such garlic is better to postpone.
Garlic can be divided into two categories: garlic, which lets "arrows" and which does not let. For fall planting it is better to choose the switch, it is more frost-resistant.
If the actual garlic does not remain, then purchase garlic for planting is better than the one that was grown in the same region in which you are going to plant it.
So that the young garlic doesn’t get sick, before planting it should be dried, divided into cloves and dipped for 2-3 minutes in a solution of sodium chloride (per 1 liter of water, one tablespoon of salt).
Choosing winter varieties of garlic
Garlic, which is planted for the winter, is called winter, and which is planted in the spring - spring. There are many varieties of winter garlic, for example: Gribovsky Jubilee, Polessky, Komsomolets, Otradnensky, Garpek, Skiff, Petrovsky etc.
One of the best varieties of garlic, for planting in the fall, is a purple-striped, so it is called by the people, because of its color. It is winter-hardy and unpretentious, and its onions can grow up to 150 grams.
Properly prepared place - an important factor in a good harvest.
Before you plant garlic, it is necessary to prepare the soil. What does this mean? This means that it should be loosened, while the earth should not be too loose, but too dense is also not suitable, remove all weeds and fertilize. For fertilizer it is better to use organic fertilizers, such as ash, compost, peat, superphosphate. Do not fertilize the soil with manure, due to the fact that it acidifies the earth and nourishes it with nitrogen, and garlic loves a neutral and well-lit area. If the ground is too dry, then it should be watered before planting.
Further, the already prepared soil should be marked for the beds. The depth of the hole, in which you want to plant a clove, is about 10 cm., At a distance of 20-25 cm from each other, the distance between the rows is about 50 cm.
Experienced agronomists advise zamulchirovat (protect) the holes with garlic with peat, sawdust or fallen leaves, on top you can further expand the brushwood, to hold the snow.
Winter garlic is like sandy soils. Used as a fertilizer humus, superphosphate, potassium salt.The norm is as follows: from 5 to 6 kg of humus (stale manure) per square meter. meter of soil, superphosphate - 30 g, potash salt - 20g.
A couple of days before landing on the ground lay out ammonium nitrate. Calculation of such - 10-12 g per square meter.
And most importantly: planting garlic
Garlic loves to grow in a new place every time. It is advisable to change the place for the garden with garlic once a year. But if there is little space in the garden, then at least once every two or three years. It is not worth planting garlic in the place where onions, peppers, tomatoes, eggplants grew. And, on the contrary, it is worth planting it after legumes, zucchini, pumpkins, cabbage. Garlic grows well in the place where the horticultural crop was grown, carefully fertilized with manure. But, planting it on fresh manure is unproductive, garlic grows painful, prone to pests. Garlic also likes to grow next to strawberries.
When planting, do not get carried away by pressing garlic cloves into the ground; such actions will inhibit root germination. And, in addition, from the compacted soil garlic can climb to the top, where it will freeze. But, at the same time, the ground should be slightly rammed, so that the cloves do not drown in the soil and the garlic does not give birth to small, inconspicuous.
The type of soil, of course, affects both the depth of planting and the size of the teeth of the future crop. From the planted clove to the surface of the soil, the required distance is from 3 to 4 cm. There will be a fine landing - the garlic will freeze.
In conclusion, it can be said that garlic is an unpretentious crop and it is not difficult to grow it, even for the beginner agronomists.