When to dig garlic in the Saratov, Samara, Volgograd and Ulyanovsk regions?
One of the important products that improve the taste of meat dishes and salads is garlic, which in 2022-2023 will probably have to be dug up later. This agricultural crop is grown both in the Moscow region and in the Vladimir, Ulyanovsk, Volgograd, Samara regions, in Bashkiria. In the northern regions of Russia, garlic is sown for the winter in the last days of August, in the southern part it is planted until the end of October, which is why it ripens at different times.
The exact date of harvest depends on the climatic features of the area, but both late and premature digging of heads reduces the shelf life.
Types of garlic
Culture is demanding on soil and light. It is grown on loam and sandy soil, in sun-lit beds. The product, which is a natural antibiotic, contains many vitamins, organic acids and microelements. Spring garlic is planted after the snow melts in April, in early May, when the earth warms up to 5 degrees. It is not afraid of frost, but reproduces only by cloves, which require additional days for germination.
Winter garlic must be sent to the ground at a certain time. With an early planting, it sprouts and may freeze, with a late planting, the culture does not always have time to take root before the onset of frost. In order for the plant to endure the cold normally, the beds are mulched with peat, needles, sawdust or dry leaves, in the absence of snow they are covered with plastic wrap.
Winter varieties are propagated not only with cloves, but also with bulbs, which are formed on the arrows. This method of sowing allows you to update the material for planting, increase the heads, as they gradually become significantly smaller in size.
When to harvest garlic?
The time of harvesting the crop depends on its variety, climatic conditions. The weather accelerates or delays the ripening of the bulbs. Winter species usually ripen by July:
- in the southern part - by 10-12;
- in the central regions - by the middle of the month;
- in the northern regions - in the last days.
Dry and hot summer slows down the development of this plant, rains promote its growth. To know when to dig garlic, you need to look not only at the calendar, but also monitor the appearance of certain signs. Even if harvested 3 days later, heads:
- Disintegrate into teeth.
- Losing garlic taste.
- Will not be stored.
Unripe bulbs have a dense skin, a thick neck. They lose their healing properties, dry out quickly.
When it is impossible to give an exact date in the Saratov region, winter garlic is usually harvested at the end of July, in Volgograd - a week earlier, in Samara, Ufa - a little later.
Harvesting begins, if all the lower leaves have turned yellow and lay on the ground, the boxes on the arrows, in which the seeds are located, open. Hard heads must be dug up before they fall apart into cloves, otherwise the bulbs will become loose, lose their taste or sprout.
When to dig up spring garlic?
Signs that indicate that the bulbs are ripe should be known to all gardeners, regardless of the regions in which they grow this crop.Spring garlic, unlike winter varieties, does not have arrows and seed boxes, which serve as one of the landmarks for preparing for harvesting. The leaves can change color in adverse weather, and if they turn yellow from below, and the top ones remain green, but lay down, then the heads are ripe.
They should be firm, not fall apart in the hands, the husk is easy to separate.
The vegetation period of spring varieties is from 3 months to 120 days, but the cloves after planting need time to germinate, so you need to dig spring garlic two weeks later than winter. Varieties that are planted in the spring are better stored, they try to remove the heads until mid-September, and start at the end of August.
Preparation and collection of bulbs
When you have to dig garlic in 2022-2023 - later or earlier depends on the weather, spring is late, no one knows what summer will be like. Winter varieties ripen no earlier than 100 days after the sprouts emerge from the ground.With an excess of moisture, the bulbs can rot and will be poorly stored. Therefore, from the end of June, watering stops, the soil is raked. The harvesting process consists of several stages:
- The heads are dug up with a pitchfork or a shovel, cleaned from the ground.
- Garlic is laid out in rows on the open terrace for 5 days.
- Part of the feathers are removed, they cover the bulbs from the rays of the sun.
- The dried roots are cut off, leaving a couple of millimeters, the ends are burned with fire.
- The heads are sorted by size, from which material is selected for the next planting.
Arrows with inflorescences are harvested a week before harvest, tied in bunches. The seeds in them quickly ripen and are planted for the next season. Bulb digging work is carried out in clear weather. It is advisable to do this in the morning or evening.
If possible, garlic should be dried in the sun. The bulbs will not get sick, but will die:
- nematodes;
- pincers;
- fungi;
- microbes.
To clean the dirt from dug out heads, gardeners first wash them in water, remove the scales. This processing method is suitable for a small number of bulbs. After the water drains, the garlic is laid out on a burlap and air-dried.
Methods of storage
Culture is planted in different regions. Both Ufa and Penza can boast of new winter and spring varieties, which are adapted to the conditions of the local climate and give a high yield.
If the storage rules are followed, the ripe unpeeled heads of spring garlic do not dry out, do not rot until the next season.
The bulbs are placed in boxes or jars filled with sawdust, wood ash, sand or s alt so that there is no empty space. Due to the lack of oxygen, neither fungi nor microbes start.
In a sealed container at a temperature of 3-5 degrees, the heads of winter varieties are stored until January, spring varieties do not lose their quality characteristics even at 17-19.
In the country house, where it is dry and cool, bundles of onions are hung. Such wreaths or braids look original, fill the room with a pleasant aroma. If it is warm or humid, the heads will begin to sprout and become moldy. The cloves will become tasteless if the air is very dry.
Garlic is well stored with husks or moss in cotton or linen bags. Such natural ingredients absorb excess moisture.
The bulbs do not rot, do not lose their taste when their surface is treated with molten paraffin. A large number of heads are placed in vegetable nets, which are best hung on the walls. Wicker baskets, boxes made of cardboard and wood are suitable for storing garlic, if holes are cut in them for air circulation.
Peeled cloves are washed, put in a jar and poured with olive or corn oil. The container is closed and placed in the refrigerator. However, no storage method will give a positive result if the heads are not collected on time, they begin to crumble, they are poorly dried.
Farmers who plant entire fields with winter varieties of garlic for subsequent sale, the bulbs are treated with special compounds such as radioactive cob alt. Such a product is stored not for 4, but for 6 or 8 months, does not harm the human body. It will not be possible to grow a garlic crop by choosing seed from the heads, because the teeth do not sprout after processing.
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