The need for growing garlic due to the fact that its cloves are used in pickling and pickling various vegetables, mushrooms. Garlic also gives a special taste to soups, main dishes, just add one or two chopped cloves. In folk medicine, it is widely used to treat various diseases. Even small children know that garlic is the worst enemy of the flu.
So, you decided to plant garlic in your area. Growing and caring for him is a simple matter, but you will have to spend some free time. There are two types of garlic: winter and spring. They differ in planting time, clove size and shelf life.
Growing winter garlic
This type of garlic is planted in the fall. It tolerates frosts and harsh winters well, and in spring it produces green leaves that can also be eaten. During the period of active growth, and this is the June-July month, winter garlic can release an arrow, which subsequently forms a sac with small onions. These bulbs can also be used as planting material, only summer residents know that in order to grow strong and large garlic bulbs in the ground, it is necessary to tear off the arrows, and the sooner the better. If you want to collect a few onions for planting, then the strongest garlic plants are selected, on which the arrows do not break, but are left for ripening.
Winter garlic, cultivation and care begins with soil preparation. This is done in the summer, around the month of August. Pay attention to the fact that garlic is well planted in the place where green crops (but not onions), cabbage, legumes or potatoes grew before it. The bed needs to be dug well, to add organic (humus) and mineral fertilizers (nitrophosphate, superphosphate). It is necessary to add a little peat to heavy and clay soils.
Planting selected healthy cloves or small bulbs must be carried out a month and a half before freezing. Doing this before is not recommended, because plants can sprout and freeze. Most often, garlic is planted by pressing it into the ground. It is best to throw cloves into the grooves made in advance: 7-8 cm deep and at a distance of about 20 cm from each other.
Winter garlic, the cultivation and care of which will be properly organized, will give a good harvest. If you already figured out the landing, then it will be useful to know what the care consists of. As soon as the first seedlings appear in spring, the earth must be loosened, and with the appearance of the first leaves, fertilize with urea (1 tablespoon per 10 water). The second top dressing is carried out two weeks after the first (2 tbsp nitrophoski per 10 l of water), and the third - during the formation of the bulb (2 tbsp superphosphate per 10 l of water). Watering is moderate, stops three weeks before harvesting. Be sure to ensure that weeds do not interfere with the growth of garlic, they must be weeded out in a timely manner.
Spring Garlic Growing
The main features of this type of garlic are the absence of shooters, smaller cloves, a long shelf life of the crop and planting in the spring. April 20-25 - around this time and it is necessary to plant spring garlic. Growing and caring for him is almost no different from what was described above. When seedlings appear, they must be fed with nitrogen fertilizer at the rate of 1 tbsp of urea and 1 cup of mullein per 10 liters. This top dressing is repeated after about 10-12 days. Another top dressing is carried out during the formation of the bulbs: 2 tablespoons of double superphosphate and 1 tablespoon of potassium chloride (or potassium sulfate) are diluted in 10 liters. The fact that the time has come to harvest is evidenced by dry lower leaves and yellowed upper ones. Late harvest may cause the cloves to crumble.