Spring planting of garlic in open ground
Garlic is not only an indispensable spice in the kitchen, but also a plant that perfectly protects fellow gardeners from dangerous pests. In addition, this is a real storehouse of useful vitamins, and they are contained both in the cloves themselves and in the green leaves of the plant. Are you planning to grow a plant in your garden? Please note that planting garlic outdoors should begin in early spring. Today the vegetable is actively cultivated for industrial purposes. Due to its beneficial properties, it is successfully used in many areas, from cooking to medicine and cosmetology.
Spring planting of garlic in open ground
Preparing planting material
Planting garlic in the open ground in spring begins with the selection of material. Please note that only spring varieties are suitable for these purposes (as opposed to winter ones), which can only reproduce with cloves. As a rule, you can buy planting material in specialized stores, on the market or via the Internet. First, examine the available assortment. Stop your choice on the materials of domestic or foreign selection - it does not matter. The main thing is to carefully study the biological characteristics of the presented samples, and how they are suitable specifically for your region.
Start the process of preparing the planting material by dividing the garlic. Be careful not to break or damage the skin. Then the prongs should be wrapped in a wet towel and placed in the refrigerator for two to three days. These measures will help to adapt them to possible changes in weather conditions. It is best to do this three weeks before planting in open ground. After that, carefully sort through the material, separating the healthy and strong teeth from the sick and soft ones.
Don't forget to disinfect them. This can be done with ash diluted in water, treated with weak solutions of copper sulfate or manganese. The next stage of preparation is germination for several days, preferably in a wet napkin or towel. The garlic that you have grown yourself for planting should also be sorted out. Large teeth should be planted in the main garden bed. Small ones can be planted between carrots or potatoes, so that in the future the plant will protect these vegetables from insect pests.
Planting timing and soil preparation
In spring, planting garlic in open ground should be started after the air temperature rises slightly above zero. For a spring variety, the most optimal mode is from 5 to 10 ºC. The right time is the end of March or the beginning of April, otherwise the vegetable simply does not have time to ripen by the summer season, it will be small and not of high quality.
It is important to properly prepare the soil before planting the garlic. Do not be discouraged if you cannot plant all the harvested seedlings in one place. There is nothing wrong with that. The plant perfectly coexists with other crops.In order to grow a good harvest, use the secrets of the professionals.
We select the soil
The best option is loam, on the one hand, fertile, on the other - fairly neutral soil. You cannot plant a plant in the lowlands, since with the arrival of winter this area is intensively flooded, and in the spring an earthen porridge forms there. The place where you will break your future beds should be located on a hill, be sunny and at the same time protected from drafts.
To grow a good harvest, the site should be prepared in the fall (dig up and fertilize with humus). If you carry out these works in advance, then in the spring you can only harrow the soil.
Then you can plant the garlic
The most successful place is the area where cabbage, legumes, pumpkin, and zucchini grew before. In no case should you plant a vegetable in those parts of the garden where tomatoes, carrots, onions and garlic itself were previously grown.
The plant will become a beneficial neighbor for many fruit crops (strawberries, raspberries and gooseberries). Also, this vegetable is an excellent bodyguard for delicate and quivering flowers growing in the garden next to it.
Planting rules
Please note that the cloves should be planted in a row, no deeper than 4 cm. If the soil is hard, you must mix it with ash. Plant the cloves 5 cm apart, the most suitable distance for rows is 35-40 cm.
Never press the seedlings deep into the soil, as this can damage the sprouts that have hatched. The soil must be moist, so if it hasn't rained for a long time, be sure to water it to get a good harvest.
Care methods
Large garlic with proper care
Growing garlic in the open field includes watering and loosening the soil, fertilizing seedlings with mineral fertilizers. Let's look at these grooming methods in order below.
- Watering the vegetable should be done as needed. If it rains all the time in spring, you can skip this procedure. The plant will have enough moisture that the soil has already absorbed. Is the winter season over and the weather is dry? In this case, the seedlings need abundant moisture (at least 10 liters per 1 square meter of land).
- Keep a close eye on the cleanliness of your garlic patch, as weeds can cause significant damage to your crop. It is very important to loosen up the soil immediately after the first shoots sprout. As a rule, this happens 14 days after planting the planting material. At this time, it is imperative to mulch the earth.
- Nitrogen (for active growth), phosphorus and potassium (for obtaining useful minerals) fertilizers are best suited for feeding the plant. The procedure should be carried out three times per season. For the first time, substances are introduced shortly after the cloves have been planted. The second time feeding should be organized no earlier than a month later. But the third time it is carried out when the vegetable is almost ripe.
Interestingly, growing winter garlic outdoors is practically no different from caring for a plant in spring.
Pests and diseases
As a rule, garlic planted in open ground is susceptible to the same diseases as onions. Most often, the plant suffers from diseases such as:
- gray rot;
- helminthosporiosis;
- fusarium;
- jaundice;
- powdery mildew;
- mosaic;
- rust.
At the heart of all these diseases is a fungal infection that affects the vegetable. All parts of the plant suffer from it: the cloves, and leaves, and the stem. First, small dark spots appear, which begin to spread rapidly, from which the seedling deteriorates and rots. Special preparations - fungicides - will come to the aid of the gardener. One of the main methods of preventing the development of the disease has been and remains a scrupulous selection of inoculum.
Dangerous for plants and insect pests, so from time to time, carefully study your seedlings.You will immediately notice that the plant has been attacked by insects. Most often, this vegetable is attacked by an onion fly. The easiest way to combat this pest is to rub the plant with a mild saline solution.
Cleaning and storage for the winter
Harvesting garlic planted in open ground lasts two months: from August to September. Remember, the spring variety often does not produce arrows. Therefore, to understand that the vegetable can already be harvested for storage for the winter, study its leaves. If they turned yellow and began to shrink, then the time has come. It is better to dig out the crop rather than pull it out with your hands. Then vegetables should be carefully cleaned of excess soil and transferred to a well-ventilated area so that they can ripen if necessary. Remove dried stems before storing them in the cellar.
By the way, the spring variety is stored much longer and better than the winter one. The most suitable temperature regime for this is 16-20 ºC. Most often, in the winter, the vegetable is stored in the form of woven braids. In this case, the stem of the plant is not cut off, but is used for weaving. At the end, a loop is necessarily made, for which vegetables are then hung. If you don't want to waste time braiding, you can simply tie the garlic together by combining the stems into a single bunch. The vegetable is perfectly stored in nets and baskets, and if you sprinkle it with salt, then it can be placed in wooden boxes. However, more often than not, housewives prefer to hang vegetables in a dry, warm and quickly accessible place (barn or attic).
All the above tips on how to plant garlic in open ground in the spring will surely help any gardener grow and harvest an excellent and tasty harvest. However, do not forget that the care and cultivation of this plant must be carried out correctly so that you can reap the benefits that you expect.