Garlic is an unpretentious culture and it is not difficult to grow it. Planting can be done both in spring and autumn. The winter method allows you to get higher yields. Therefore, it is used by gardeners much more often than spring.
Winter garlic, the cultivation of which involves the appearance of the root system before the soil freezes, is planted in September. If autumn is warm, you can wait until the end of the month. Otherwise, it is worth doing in mid-September. Before the onset of winter, the bulbs should grow roots at least 10 cm long. The timing of planting garlic may be different for different regions of Russia. The main thing is that at least 40-50 days pass before the onset of frost.
Planting winter garlic begins with the preparation of bulbs. They are brought into a cool room for 2 to 3 weeks. The air temperature in the place of storage should be approximately +3 - +4 gr. Celsius. The day before planting on the beds, they need to be divided into cloves, which are distributed by size. At this time, they also begin to prepare the garden. The earth must be dug very deep, at least two bayonets of a shovel. This can protect plants fromstem nematode lesions.
The cloves are planted to a depth of about 9 cm. Winter garlic, which should be grown using mulching, is covered with a layer of humus 2 cm thick. This will not only allow the cloves to winter better, but also prevent the formation of a crust on the surface of the garden bed in spring period. The distance between the teeth during planting depends on their size. Large ones are planted at the rate of 15 pieces per 1 square meter, medium ones, respectively, - 20 pieces. and small ones - 25. Before planting, they can also be soaked in a solution of potassium permanganate. This will be a good prevention against various pests.
Winter garlic, planting of which, as already mentioned, begins in September, gives the first shoots in late April or early May. During this period, he needs to be fed. It is best to use ammonium nitrate.
The second feeding is carried out somewhere in the middle of June, and the third - after the appearance of the seventh leaf. It is necessary to remove the arrows, because if you leave them, the crop will be three times less. Leave only a few pieces with inflorescences for seeds.
When is it better to harvest winter garlic? Cultivation is completed at the end of July. At this time, the leaves of the plants begin to turn yellow and fall to the ground. The protective film of the inflorescences bursts. For harvesting seeds, arrows with inflorescences about 25-30 cm long are cut off. They need to be tied in several pieces and brought into a warm room for ripening. Cleaning should only be done in dry weather.
After the work related to the harvesting of seeds has been carried out, they begin to collect the bulbs themselves. To do this, plants are dug out of the ground and laid out in rows around the perimeter of the beds. Here they need to be left for a while to dry. Then the stem is cut from the bulb in such a way that a stalk of one cm in size remains. The roots are also carefully cut, trying not to touch the bottom.
Well, now you seem to understand how to get winter garlic. Growing it is absolutely nothing complicated. Even a novice inexperienced gardener can cope with this task.
