When to Plant Garlic in the Fall

Contents

When to plant garlic
Where to plant winter garlic in the fall
How to plant garlic in autumn
- Planting diagram for garlic
Winter planting care

Garlic is a cultivated plant of the onion family. They began to grow it a long time ago, and garlic appeared in the middle part of Asia. This culture is eaten in almost all countries, and not only heads are eaten, but also stems, leaves, flowers. In Our Country, it is customary to season dishes only with cloves of garlic. This culture is completely unpretentious, but in order to get a good harvest, you need to know how to plant and how to care for the plant.

From this article, you can learn how to plant garlic in the fall, when it is best to do it, and what fertilizers for garlic to apply in the fall to the ground.

When to plant garlic

This crop can be grown both spring and winter. Usually, bulbs are planted in the spring, but before winter, the culture is often grown with teeth.

Bulbs are the seeds of a plant that ripen in arrows and flowers. If garlic bulbs are planted in the spring, then in the fall the gardener will be able to collect single-toothed young heads. Such heads are not yet full-fledged, they will have to be planted again, the real harvest will be harvested only in the next season.

Important! It is recommended to renew any variety of garlic when planting, that is, planting seeds with seeds every 3-5 years. This will keep the yield at a high level, contributes to an increase in the size of the heads.

Basically, garlic is planted before winter, thereby ensuring stable and high yields. This culture is frost-resistant, able to endure even the most severe frosts, but planting garlic in the fall must be done correctly.

To properly plant garlic in the fall, you must first determine the date of planting. Planting a winter plant should be 2-3 weeks before the onset of real frosts. In the middle zone of the country, this period falls on the end of September; under favorable weather conditions, planting can be postponed until mid-October.

Attention! There are times when the gardener “missed” a suitable planting date. It is allowed to plant teeth in early November, but in this case, the planting material will have to be buried more into the ground to protect it from freezing.

Before the first frost, the garlic should acquire about ten-centimeter roots, but there should not be greenery on it at all. If the teeth are planted too early, they will germinate – such plantings will inevitably freeze.

Too late planting of winter garlic can also lead to its freezing, because in this case the cloves will not have time to take root well, the plant will be weakened.

Planting garlic with seeds (bulbs) is usually done in April. In the spring, planting begins only after severe frosts have passed and the ground has thawed.

Where to plant winter garlic in the fall

Garlic is an unpretentious crop, it does not have to be watered often and fertilized many times during the growing season, bulbous plants rarely get sick, they are not damaged by insects and other pests. But still, To reap a good harvest, you need to grow plants correctly.

The site for autumn planting is chosen taking into account such facts about the culture:

The crop should be planted on rested soils.. After harvesting the previous crop, at least 1,5-2 months should pass, so they choose a place that will remain free at the end of July.
Winter garlic, as well as spring, loves loose, light soils with neutral acidity. If the earth on the site is too dense, during frosts it will push out the teeth, and the plantings will freeze. In too light soils, the seeds may go too deep – the cloves will fall into the ground under the pressure of snow, after the water melts, and so on.
For crops, when planting, choose a place well-lit by the sun.located on a hill or on a flat area. Low-lying areas are often flooded in the spring, there is a greater likelihood of freezing of onion plants, infecting them with fungal infections. If it didn’t work out to pick up a fully lit area for planting garlic, they stop in partial shade. In this case, it is better to increase the distance between landings.
It is important to consider after which you can plant garlic. To grow a decent crop, crop rotation should be observed – this rule also applies to garlic. It is recommended to plant a winter variety in those places where cucumbers, peppers, eggplants, zucchini, pumpkins, berry bushes grew in the previous season. He does not like the garlic of the neighborhood of root crops, because they, like the onion culture itself, need potassium. Soils after potatoes, carrots or beets, for example, are too depleted, they are unsuitable for planting onion crops. They also do not grow a crop after onions or the same garlic (a crop can be planted in the same area after 3-5 years).
You can not grow garlic in manured soil, because of this, the culture grinds, the heads will be loose and unsuitable for storage. Onion crops feel best in soil that has been fertilized with manure for previous plants. At the same time, garlic needs some fertilizer, so during the planting of cloves in the fall, the soil is additionally fed.

Advice! If the gardener does not have the opportunity to often change the place of planting garlic, it is necessary to use green manure. For example, immediately after harvesting the previous crop in July, sow vetch (green manure of the legume family) on the plot, in September dig the soil along with the grass and plant teeth there.

How to plant garlic in autumn

Garlic planted before winter pleases with disease resistance, hardening and high yields.

It is important to observe onion planting technology:

the ground needs to be prepared. Immediately after harvesting the previous crop, the soil should be dug up, and, if necessary, fertilized. Fertilizer should be applied no later than 1,5-2 weeks before the intended planting of the teeth. If the soil is depleted, compost, humus, or wood ash can be used. These top dressings are applied to the soil, after which they dig the earth onto a shovel bayonet. Culture necessarily needs components such as potassium and phosphorus, so it is worth diversifying fertilizers with superphosphate and potassium salt. A solution of copper sulfate will help to disinfect the soil (a teaspoon of this substance is diluted in a bucket of water).
Preparation of planted material. The heads of garlic harvested this season need to be sorted out, inspected, and diseased, damaged or infected specimens identified. The largest and absolutely healthy teeth should be planted! Be sure to remove the maternal bottom before planting, otherwise it will prevent the growth of roots. The teeth must be intact, the peel cannot be removed from them. Before planting garlic in the fall before winter, you should material disinfection. You can do this in several ways: soak for a few minutes in a strong solution of salt (3 tablespoons of table salt are dissolved in five liters of water), immerse the seeds in a solution of copper sulfate for a minute (a teaspoon in a bucket of water), soak in a strong solution of potassium permanganate (about twelve hours ). A more affordable alternative to these products is an alkaline solution of wood ash. It is prepared as follows: 0,4 kg of ash is dissolved in two liters of water, mixed and put on fire, the mixture should boil for 30 minutes. The teeth are soaked in the solution only when it has completely cooled down.

Attention! If the soil on the site is not loose enough, it is recommended to add peat to the soil before planting garlic and dig it up.

Planting diagram for garlic

It is difficult for beginner gardeners to decide how deep to plant garlic, how much space to leave in the aisles and between the cloves themselves. Answers can be found below:

large cloves are planted in furrows, the depth of which is about 20 cm. The distance between the teeth is 12-15 cm.
Small teeth are deepened by 10-15 cm, at least 8 cm should remain between adjacent teeth.
Sprinkle garlic on top with dry soil, its layer should be about 2-3 cm.
There should be at least 25-30 cm between rows. It is more convenient to work with garlic, which is planted at an interval of one meter.
To prevent rotting of teeth in the ground, it is recommended to pour coarse river sand into the furrows, with a layer of about 1,5 cm.
It is not necessary to press the teeth to the bottom of the furrow, this can compact the soil, it will become difficult for the roots to break through it.
If the soil in the area is too dry, you can water it. But do it before planting garlic, and not after it.
The top of the planting must be mulched to prevent premature germination of the teeth and protect them from freezing. As mulch, you can use sawdust, peat, humus, autumn leaves, spruce branches and more. Mulch layer – about two centimeters.

Important! If snowless winters prevail in the region, winter garlic should be covered with roofing felt or film. When snow falls, the shelter is removed.

Winter planting care

Caring for onion crops is very simple:

in the spring they remove the shelter and remove the mulch from the beds;
fertilize plantings with nitrogen fertilizers when the first greenery appears on the beds;
it is necessary to water the culture in the active phase abundantly, when the heads grow, the amount of water is significantly reduced;
at the end of June, the arrows should be removed until they are longer than ten centimeters;
when the lower leaves turn yellow, the crop is harvested. Usually harvesting of the winter variety occurs at the end of July or the beginning of August.