How to properly shake off garlic
Garlic is a valuable vegetable, a welcome guest in every kitchen. Growing it in your own garden is a guarantee of a healthy and useful product. To preserve the harvest until spring, you need to follow the rules for caring for garlic. In this article, we will talk about how to shake off garlic and when to do it.
Watering a few days before digging
Forming heads
The yield, size and taste of garlic depend on the type and variety of vegetables. It happens:
- winter (planted in September-October) with a large head, with massive fleshy teeth with a lot of juice, more loved by housewives because of the ease of processing. Even the most sophisticated housewives keep it until February. When growing, it releases arrows;
- spring (requires spring planting), does not release arrows, has a small head, miniature teeth. If the storage conditions are met, they will "survive" intact until June. Has a milder taste, less juicy than winter.
Winter garlic is more productive, ripens 15-20 days earlier than spring garlic, and this must be taken into account when processing. The size of the head, its safety, depends on the correct agricultural technology.
Timely removal of arrows helps to form a large head due to the redistribution of plant energy; removing the ball of soil and exposing the bulbs allows you to form a strong and healthy shell of the head, to accurately determine the harvest time.
Method advantages
Raking is the cutting off of arrows in winter varieties; tying leaves in a knot; breaking the stem of all types of garlic.
This simple technique is not known to everyone, although it is highly effective and allows you to form a large head. Garlic is able to develop strong, powerful roots that resemble a bunch. This is necessary for successful wintering and plant growth in the first months of spring.
Knowledgeable gardeners plant the garlic in soft, well-fertilized soil. An actively developing plant seeks to go deep into the ground, powerful roots pull the head down. This allows the greenery and roots to grow, but not the cloves.
If you shake off the garlic from the ground, you can stimulate the plant not to grow into the ground, redirect the plant's forces to the formation of the head. This must be done at the right time - the plant must form a strong ground part. If the leaves are too large, do not worry - this indicates sufficient plant nutrition and the ability to form a large head.
Preparing for the procedure
Dry garlic
2-3 days before treatment, the plants stop watering, remove the mulch from the garden. You can remove the soil with any suitable tool with a short handle, open a third or half of the head. Gardeners, who do the raking off constantly, when planting, prudently increase the distance between the plants for the convenience of processing. It should be at least 10 centimeters.
The method of processing the heads is useful in that, in case of unfavorable weather, you can observe the plants and determine the need to dig out the garlic - its integumentary part will begin to collapse.
And here is another technique that allows you to enlarge the bulb and strengthen the integumentary skin: they do not rake the earth, but at the beginning of July they gently undermine the plants with a pitchfork in order to reduce growth and redirect the juices to the heads.
Determining the timing of cleaning
In order for the techniques to work, you need to know when to rake off the ground - opening too early will not allow the head to grow, belatedly will lead to cracking and loss of integrity
It is necessary to shake off the soil from the garlic after the plant reaches the desired level of development. The optimal period is one month before full ripening. For winter garlic, this is best done in early July. Ardent varieties ripen a month later, so it is better to bare the heads in early August.
Additional signs of the onset of the harvest time of the crop can be based on three main features:
- yellowing and drying of the lower leaves;
- straightening the control arrow in winter varieties;
- disclosure of bolls on inflorescences
Timely implementation of all agrotechnical techniques will allow you to grow large, juicy garlic, which will have an excellent appearance and can be stored for a long time.