Winter garlic: my rules and secrets of planting for a rich harvest

Garlic is a plant, without which more than one household farm does not do. Grow a large, dense fruit, suitable for long-term storage, and can beginner gardener, observing certain rules. As a rule, they plant it before winter in order to wait for the harvest faster in the spring.

Secrets of the preparation and processing of seed

Preparation of planting material includes the following steps:

• culling - select only large heads with dense teeth, which are free from mold and rot;
• Before planting, seed should be disinfected - immerse garlic cloves in a solution of potassium permanganate (1%) or copper sulfate (1%) for 20-30 minutes. You can also use the ash solution - 300 g of wood ash per 2 liters of water (boil for 10-15 minutes and cool). Immerse garlic cloves in this liquid for 1 hour;
• after the garlic is disinfected, it must be decomposed in air in one layer so that the upper skin dries out (for ease of planting).

Soil fertilizer before planting

For winter garlic, beds are prepared 2-3 weeks before planting. If the preparation is carried out just before planting, the teeth will shrink when the soil shrinks, which will negatively affect the time of germination, yield and keeping quality of the crop. The soil should be neutral, loose and sandy.

To reduce the acidity of the soil, you need to make 1 square. m of soil 200 g of quicklime. To loosen the soil, sand, peat, sawdust and humus should be added under digging, which increases soil fertility. Humus is introduced in such rates - 5-6 kg per 1 square meter + 1 liter of ash.

Organic matter can be replaced by mineral fertilizers - their dose is 30-40 g per 1 sq. Km. m

Landing rules and further care

For a good harvest, you must comply with agricultural technology:

• watering the beds during the autumn planting is not necessary;
• It is necessary to plant the garlic in time so that the slices can have time to take root before the winter, but do not germinate;
• the depth of sealing garlic cloves in moist soil - 5 cm;
• in order to prevent bulbs from rotting during the winter period, ashes or sand should be poured into the wells;
• after disembarking the bed, mulch with peat, sawdust;
• in the winter, beds should be covered with foliage (before snow), and at the time of thawing snow from the beds must be removed.

Care for garlic during the growing season - timely watering and mulching, weeding and pest control.

After the arrows have grown 20 cm on the plant, they need to be shortened with a knife to 5 cm. Such shortening of the inflorescence allows all plant nutrients to be redirected to the formation and growth of the heads. 3-4 weeks before harvesting (beginning-middle of July) it is necessary to remove the ground from the heads (so that they are half out of the ground), this will increase their size.

Systematic watering is carried out as follows (frequency depends on weather conditions):

• in spring, during the period of intensive growth, it is necessary to water the beds every 5-7 days;
• at moderate humidity - on 1 square. m - 10 liters of water with an irrigation interval of 7-10 days;
• in hot weather, 1 to 15 square meters of water should be poured 15-18 liters of water every 5-6 days;
• after watering, sprinkle bare heads with soil;
• watering is carried out with warm water, and to prevent overmoistening of the soil in order to avoid the development of infections

Top dressing for winter garlic is made in the spring after the snow melts - urea or ammonium nitrate or organic matter (bird droppings or mullein - 1 kg per 8-10 liters of water). During the growing season, plants can be fed ash solution.

Excessive use of organic and mineral fertilizers reduces the taste of the vegetable and its keeping quality.

Most often, garlic is attacked by such insects - centipedes, nematodes, bears, onion aphids and moths. To combat insects, you can use the following folk and purchased products:

1. 2 times a month you need to spray the plants with a solution of tobacco (250 g) or ground black pepper (2 tsp). The solution is prepared as follows - tobacco or pepper pour 3000 ml of boiling water and insist 3 days. Strain and add water to 10 liters. Add 2 tsp to the solution. liquid soap (for sticking solution to the plant). Insecticides can also be used.
2. Fungicides or copper preparations - Kuproksat, copper sulfate.

It is up to you to buy garlic or grow it yourself, but it is clear that homemade vegetable will bring much more benefit without requiring much effort for cultivation.