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When growing winter and spring garlic in the Urals, it is important to understand the climate, the breeding nuances of the variety, and also know when to plant and dig it in order to get a healthy harvest. Spring garlic is preferred because it grows faster, produces more cloves, and can be stored for a whole year without a hint of spoilage. However, when it is necessary to prepare the seed, they still use winter varieties that form bulbs. The topic of this article is the timing of planting and harvesting garlic in the Urals, orienting according to the lunar calendar of 2022, as well as secrets and tricks when storing the crop.
When garlic ripens in the Urals
Taking into account the climatic features of the Ural region, the ripening time for winter garlic is the last days of July, while spring garlic lasts until mid-August, or even early September. The summer period is very important for the maturation of the culture: if it is excessively dry, then the cloves will be small, shriveled, but if, on the contrary, the summer turned out to be rainy, then it will most likely rot. Winter garlic is removed from the garden when 100-110 days have passed since germination, spring – 15-25 days later.
In addition to general information about when garlic ripens, varietal characteristics of ripening should be taken into account. For example, the growing season of the Alcor variety is only 94 days. At the same time, he himself is resistant to fungal diseases, the yellow dwarf virus. The Novosibirsk variety ripens even earlier, it takes 85 days for it. Delayed maturation can also be caused by disease, lack of minerals or organic nutrients. Therefore, do not rely blindly on book knowledge – carefully monitor the condition of the plants in your area.
Hybrid varieties have not only an accelerated growing season, but also a higher immunity to the harmful activity of fungal microflora.
Among other varieties suitable for the Ural region, it should be noted:
- Mid-season variety “Skif”, which propagates both with cloves and air heads. Differs in a lilac shade of a scale, a small bulb, dense and sharp pulp. Good resistance to bacteriosis, white rot.
- Variety “Gradekovsky” is also early and winter. 81-86 days pass before harvesting. The bulbs are small, covered with white-lilac scales. The teeth themselves also have a lilac tint. Air bulbs are rich lilac in color, oblong, oval in shape.
- Variety “Bashkir 85” is removed from the garden after 85-90 days. In the bulb collected 5-6 cloves with dense sharp pulp. The bulb is white with a slight purple tint, while the air bulb is deep purple. It has increased immunity against bacterial rot, onion flour, peronosporosis.
The lunar calendar for 2022 determined the favorable dates when you need to harvest the crop from the beds in this way: in July, you need to harvest spring garlic on the 15th-16th, 27th and 31st, for August the best days are 19, 23, 30, in September look at the site – 2nd, 3rd, 8th-12th, 15th, 20th-22nd, 26th-29th. Winter varieties in the summer of 2022 are suitable for harvesting on July 15-16, 27, 31, August 9, 10, 12, 13,16, 18-19, 22-24 August.
How to determine maturity
There are several ways to check if the garlic is ripe and ready for harvest. First, you need to carefully rake the ground around the bulbs and look at their husks; if it is dense and intact, the garlic is removed from the site. Secondly, the aerial part of the plant also indicates when to harvest: the leaves turn yellow and fall off, the neck of the false stem becomes soft, the feathers fall down. Among other things, the inflorescences begin to crack, and the head of garlic becomes hard. In mature cloves, the husk peels off easily. Check plants in multiple beds at once to make sure all bulbs are fully ripe.
To better control the ripening process, a few weeks (usually 2-3) stop watering the garlic beds. Firstly, in this way, you will save the culture from the active development of fungal microflora. Secondly, the bulbs will not rot. You can also remove the arrows and tie the garlic feathers that are starting to turn yellow in a knot. This helps to redirect nutrients to the root system and the bulb, which means that the culture does not have a chance to gain green mass that is absolutely unnecessary at this stage.
Collection
When all signs indicate that a plant is ready for harvest, it is important not to procrastinate or wait for some special moment.
Overexposed in the ground, this culture loses its ability for long-term storage and further planting. It does not matter what kind you grow – spring or shooters.
Gently pry the bulbs with a fork so that they are on the ground. It is very important not to damage them, so as not to cause the process of decay and not attract harmful insects. When all the garlic heads are on the surface, move them under a shed and leave to dry for at least 5 days. This must be done so that the bulbs do not rot during winter storage.
It is best to dig the bulbs in dry, calm weather, preferably in the morning or late evening. An important factor is the absence of scorching heat, which will damage the cloves. At this stage, you can not cut the roots and leaves, as this will lead to irreversible wilting of the plant. Carefully clean the ground from the bulbs, try not to break off the roots. After the primary drying has passed, you can lay out the garlic heads on a grid or hang them for further storage.
Another option for preparatory care for freshly dug garlic is rinsing in cool water. In this case, it is necessary to leave the bulbs to dry, so that the water flows into the pan or onto the ground, but does not accumulate under the fruits. When the bulbs dry out, they cut off the roots, stems and leave to dry under a canopy for another 7-10 days. The spring species tolerates this treatment especially well.
Storage
The 2022 crop would be nice to keep until at least next spring. Fortunately, over the years of growing and cultivating garlic bulbs, many ways have accumulated to do this easily, quickly, efficiently, sometimes even extraordinary.
After ten days of drying under a canopy, the garlic bulbs are cut off on both sides, leaving only 2 cm of roots and no more than 5-6 cm of the stem. This length of a dry stem is enough to braid a braid or tie dried heads into a bouquet. For such storage, choose the largest samples, as they retain their beneficial properties much longer.
1 way: wooden box
Build a box that suits your size, make holes in its walls, and fill the bottom thickly with salt. Lay out a row of garlic heads, sprinkle another layer of salt on top. Lay out the heads, alternating them with layers of salt, until you fill the box to the top. If this amount of salt bothers you, replace it with wood ash or sawdust.
2 way: oil
First you need to disassemble all the bulbs and peel each clove from the scales. Pour the resulting raw material into a large jar, shake so that the cloves are close to each other. Pour in sunflower, olive or corn oil so that it covers all the teeth. Close the jar with a lid with holes and place in a dark, dry, cool place. Subsequently, you can use this oil in cooking. You can store garlic in this way for only 3 months, after which it will lose all its beneficial properties.
3 way: bags
Prepare the required number of fabric or paper bags, place the bulbs in them and hang them in a dry, cool place. With such storage, access to fresh air is very important.
4 method: paraffin
Melt the paraffin, taking all precautions. Holding the head of garlic by the stalk, dip the bulb in paraffin, let it drain, and then place it in a dark, dry, cool place.
5 way: cold
After drying, put the garlic bulbs in a dry, cool place, such as a basement or refrigerator, and store at a temperature of +2-5 °C. In this case, it is very important that the air humidity is 0, otherwise the heads will begin to rot.
We hope the harvest of 2022 will be good!
Video “Record harvest of Ural garlic”
Watch this video and you will see that even in the Urals you can grow a rich harvest of full-fledged garlic.