How to plant garlic in spring

Let's talk about one of the oldest plants on Earth. It is famous as a healer that helps against many diseases, including respiratory viral infections. With its addition, a variety of dishes and even ice cream are prepared. One of the cities in the United States, Chicago, is named after him. Today we will talk about garlic.

We will learn how to plant it correctly, water it and store it, what and when to feed it, as well as other features of caring for the plant.

What is the difference between spring sowing and winter sowing?

The main advantage of planting garlic in the spring is that the planting material will be of higher quality. Cloves that have defects or diseases simply will not last until spring planting. This means that the future harvest will be healthier. In addition, there is no risk that winter plantings will die from autumn frosts.

The disadvantages of planting in the spring include:

• plants less resistant to spring colds and frosts;
• weeds appear earlier than seedlings, “clogging” them;
• later harvest ripening.

Winter and spring garlic

These types vary according to planting dates: winter crops are planted in the fall, spring crops in the spring. Some gardeners plant spring crops before winter and vice versa, but this method is not very popular.

About winter crops

The distinctive features of winter crops are:

• The winter garlic bulb is usually larger, divided into 6-10 cloves, also quite large;
• winter crops are not afraid of frost, as they are hardened in the fall;
• The cloves of winter garlic are even, located strictly around the arrow, which is cut off during the formation of the heads - a hard stem remains;
• The shelf life is not too long, although there are also shelf-stable varieties; it is recommended to use the winter spice before the onset of the new year;
• Winter garlic ripens and is completely ready for consumption and storage in July-August.

Spring brother

Spring varieties have the following differences:

• spring garlic is afraid of cold weather, low temperatures are destructive for it;
• the bulb of the spring crop is smaller, the teeth are also smaller, but there are much more of them - up to 30 pieces;
• the arrangement of the cloves is chaotic;
• Spring garlic does not have arrowheads;
• The shelf life, compared to a winter crop, is much longer; usually the vegetable lasts until the new harvest.

Is crop rotation important for garlic?

Let's figure out how to properly plant garlic cloves in the spring. In general, the cultivation technology for planting in winter and spring differs only in the time when field work begins. Otherwise the processes are identical.

Ideally, garlic should be planted after green manure or mustard plants. These crops will prepare the soil and saturate it as much as possible with nitrogen, potassium and phosphorus, necessary for the growth and development of garlic. Green manure is sown immediately after harvest, then dug up or plowed.

In addition to green manure, the optimal predecessors for planting spices will be zucchini, squash, cucumbers, and berry bushes. It is even allowed to plant garlic between the rows of strawberries.

Plant the crop after carrots, beets or onions are not recommended. Carrots deplete the soil, and onions not only “feed” on the same microelements as garlic, but can also infect the soil with diseases common to garlic, because they are from the same family.

Varieties and preparation of seed

It is advisable to select the variety based on climatic conditions. It is best that the seed material is collected within a radius of 100 km from the planting site - such varieties are usually optimally suited to the climate and soil.

When selecting seeds for planting, pay attention to the following:

• cloves are taken from bulbs where there are no damaged or spoiled cloves: there should be no rot or mold;
• degenerating garlic is not the best option for planting, even if it is well preserved (degeneration is indicated by teeth that are too large (there are no more than 3-5 of them), teeth that are spliced ​​or have two ends, or are too different in size).

Gardeners with enough experience advise placing the selected seed material in a damp cloth and then in the refrigerator or other cool place. To speed up germination, it is recommended to heat the prepared teeth for up to 10 hours in warm water. Its temperature should not exceed 42°C. Before planting, the seeds are treated with a solution of 1% copper sulfate or ordinary potassium permanganate. Soak the seed for a day.

A little about varieties

There are many varieties of garlic, both winter and spring. Let's look at the characteristics of some of them.

Winter varieties:

• Alcor is a shooting variety. Ripening time is 87-98 days, head weight is up to 40 g, has good keeping quality and a sharp taste;
• Titan is a shooting variety. Ripening period is 100-115 days. The weight of the head can reach 150 g, has good keeping quality and a sharp taste.

Spring varieties of garlic:

• Abrek is a non-shooting variety. Ripening period is 118-120 days. The weight of the head is 26-30 g, the shelf life is excellent up to 7-8 months, the taste is very sharp;
• Elenovsky is a non-shooting variety. EIts peculiarity is that it can be planted both in autumn and spring. Ripening period – 110 days. Head weight – up to 35 g. Can be stored for up to two years.

When to plant winter and when to plant spring

With any planting method, the main criterion is not the time frame, but the weather conditions. Beginner gardeners often have a question: is it possible to plant winter garlic in the spring in May? Everything depends on weather conditions. So, spring garlic is planted from March to May, depending on the region.

In the south, planting begins already in mid-March, in the middle zone - in mid-April - early May, in the north - in May. Garlic should be sown when the soil temperature is 3-5°C.

Winter garlic is also planted, depending on the climate, from September to November. Ideally, planting is done 1-1.5 months before the onset of the first frost. The plant must have time to take root and get stronger so as not to die in the cold.

The gardener must decide when it is better to plant garlic, in spring or autumn, taking into account the climate, soil condition and the chosen variety. Autumn varieties ripen faster, while spring varieties are stored better and longer.

Place and bed are important

You should choose a sunny place for garlic, where water does not stagnate and snow does not linger. Both types of garlic love raised beds. When using them, the chance of the occurrence of fungal diseases from waterlogging is reduced significantly. The recommended height of the beds is from 20 to 25 cm and 1 m in width. It is better to prepare the bed in the fall (for any planting method).

Information on how to improve the soil is given in the table.

Proportions are given per 1 sq. m:

The composition for enriching the soil is evenly scattered over the bed, the area is dug up to the depth of a spade bayonet. Then the bed must stand for the soil to settle after the rains. If there is little rainfall, it is better to water the bed yourself. If you plant garlic in unsettled soil, the cloves will also sink deeper as the soil settles. This will make it much more difficult for them to germinate. This applies to autumn planting. In any case, the soil will subside before spring.

Before spring planting, it is advisable to level and loosen the ground. Plant garlic in holes or furrows. The distance between the furrows should be about 25 cm, and between the cloves - 8-12 cm, depending on the size of the planting material. The recommended distance between holes is 10 cm. The depth of spring planting will be up to 4 cm.

Then follows watering. Experienced gardeners advise covering the garden bed with mulch (sawdust, peat or straw) to a height of up to 3 cm.

Important! When planting, do not press the cloves into the ground - they will take longer to germinate.

Features of care

When spring garlic forms 3-4 leaves, it’s time to feed it (for winter garlic - a week after the snow melts). The second time the procedure is carried out two weeks later. The last one is in mid-July.

Untimely fertilizing in the summer can result in wasted fertilizer or overgrowing greenery to the detriment of the bulb.

Types of mineral supplements are given in the table:

The following are the types of organic fertilizers:

Watering garlic of both types is carried out according to an identical scheme:

• in rainy and cloudy weather there is no watering;
• in moderate heat with little precipitation, water once a decade or a week;
• in dry summers, watering is done once every five days.

After watering or heavy rain, be sure to cover the moisture: carefully loosen the top layer of soil when it becomes slightly grayish in color instead of black. In the case of winter garlic, moisture should be covered in early spring.

Important! Those plants that are properly cared for are least susceptible to diseases and pests. Garlic that has received all the beneficial substances rarely suffers from pests or diseases.

How to collect and save

Its keeping quality directly depends on the timeliness of harvesting. Garlic dug up too early quickly rots and is not as tasty. Late-harvested fruits are also poorly stored; the head crumbles into teeth. Taste qualities are also lost.

Collection time

How to recognize the degree of ripeness of garlic? There are several signs:

• the first sign of garlic ripeness is that the entire upper part of the plant or its lower leaves begin to dry out;
• It’s easy to determine the degree of maturity by digging up several onions: mature ones will have completely dry husks, purple-white in color. Garlic “wrapped” in three layers of husk stores best;
• the teeth of a ripe plant are elastic, separated from each other without difficulty, but they should not crumble;
• In non-shooting garlic, at the time of ripeness, the root collar easily separates from the teeth and becomes dry;
• To determine the ripeness of shooting garlic, a shoot is left on several plants. A ripe plant is characterized by unwinding of the arrow and full opening of the inflorescence itself.

We clean correctly

When harvesting, it is better to hurry literally 1-2 days before the garlic is completely ripe. This will make it easier to preserve its taste and beneficial properties.

Dig out the plant with a shovel, because the bulb is damaged during pulling out. Also, you should not clean it of dirt by knocking the plants against each other or with a shovel. Such fruits will also be damaged, and you can’t count on their long-term storage. Peel the soil by hand.

Afterwards, garlic, especially slightly unripe garlic, should be “finished” and dried. To do this, hang it, without separating it from the stem, in the shade. For example, under a canopy or in any room where there is good air circulation. This method allows you to improve the taste of the spice; all the beneficial substances from the tops go directly to the head. This onion contains more nutrients and better taste.

Saving the harvest

For storage, onions are selected that are strong, whole, and without signs of rot or damage. Even one slightly rotten garlic can nullify all the gardener’s efforts in winter.

The fruit should be stored away from light, in a dark and cool (from 2 to -2°C) room. A cellar, basement, dry insulated attic are suitable for this. There are many storage methods, for example:

• hanging in braids;
• in plywood boxes;
• in cardboard boxes;
• in fabric bags soaked in salt and dried;
• In oil;
• slices, dipped in paraffin.

Other methods are suitable for storage in apartments. One of them is placing garlic in jars, whole or disassembled into slices. There is no need to clean the husk. Storage containers are washed, well dried or sterilized, and then the bulbs are placed.

To sprinkle the fruits, use onion peels, ash, salt, flour, and expanded vermiculite. You can simply put it in sterile jars and roll it up. The longest and highest quality storage is freezing.

Read also:

What happens if you eat garlic every day?

How to properly plant garlic before winter?

Onion garlic or hair onion - what is Rocambole garlic?

Conclusion

Garlic is not only a useful plant, but also a delicious seasoning, without which many simply cannot imagine their kitchen.

Now you know how to plant spring garlic in the spring and what are the main subtleties of growing this spicy crop. Even a novice gardener can handle planting and caring. Garlic will not cause much trouble for its owner.