When to dig up winter garlic in the Leningrad region?

Garlic is a frequent visitor to summer cottages, and more often the crop is planted for the winter. Garlic harvesting depends on the timing of planting the crop and the region of residence. Properly harvested garlic is stored for a long time and does not deteriorate. Until spring comes, it will be just as delicious as after harvest.

When to plant winter garlic?

Autumn planting garlic has more advantages than summer. A good crop also grows in summer, but it is the bulbs planted in winter that grow large and fragrant. In spring garlic, the cloves are small and arranged in a chaotic manner.

Before we start preparing the beds and planting garlic for the winter, we decide on the planting site. It is better if the garlic bed is located in place of potatoes, legumes, cauliflower, lettuce, pumpkin and eggplant. It is not recommended to plant garlic after tomatoes and onions.

Prepare the soil 2 months before planting winter garlic. Humus, manure, liquid mullein and superphosphate are introduced into the soil. It is undesirable to use s altpeter for top dressing. It is only suitable for spring plantings.

Planting begins in late October - early November. It is best to navigate by region of residence and climatic conditions. If the weather is warm at the end of October, then the landing is postponed to a later date. It is easy to determine the time of planting by the temperature of the soil. It should be warmed up less than 12 degrees.

Proper care and cultivation features

Following the rules of agricultural technology, it will be possible to grow a rich harvest. Before winter, it is better to plant only winter-hardy varieties. For example, Alkor, Novosibirsk, Podmoskovny, Lyubasha or Dobrynya. Winter beds must be covered so that the frost does not spoil the bulbs.

Before planting, the cloves are divided into separate parts no earlier than 1-2 days before. It is not advisable to peel the bulb before. The teeth should be well dried for 2-3 weeks. If the bulb is poorly dried, then there is a high risk that the plants will suffer from fungal diseases.

1-2 days before planting in open ground, the cloves must be disinfected. To do this, prepare a solution of potassium permanganate or preparations such as Tiram or Maxim. Soak the garlic for about 1 hour.

The soil is prepared in advance. The earth is dug up, all weeds are removed and fertilizers are applied. If the soil is too poor, then fertilizing should be done a few months before planting. Light loamy or medium loamy soils are best suited for cultivation.

Peat and fresh manure are not suitable as dressings. If these fertilizers are applied, then the garlic will actively increase the deciduous mass, and the fruits will be small.

Growing a plant on acidic soils is not recommended. The garlic will quickly turn yellow, and the heads will form underdeveloped and small. To deoxidize the soil, lime, dolomite flour or fluff is used. The action of these substances does not begin immediately. We'll have to wait a couple of years until the soil deoxidizes. It is important not to forget that lime helps to leach potassium from the soil, so potash fertilizers are regularly applied.

In the spring, when all the snow melts, you need to start caring for garlic. First of all, remove the shelter that protected the sprouts from winter frosts. It is recommended to remove it in the morning so that the frost “freezes” the soil and a crust forms on it. Several times a week, the beds are loosened, watered and weeds are removed. You can not do without top dressing.

Loosening is carried out after each rain to a depth of 2-4 cm. It is important not to damage the bulbs at this point. Each subsequent loosening is carried out 1 cm deeper than the previous one. Bulb formation depth - 10-14 cm.

Water garlic beds rarely. This plant is drought tolerant. But if the garlic does not receive moisture, then the heads will be small and dry. Watering should be moderate. If the spring turned out to be dry, then their number is increased. In moderate heat, 2-3 waterings are needed per week. In extreme heat, the beds will have to be watered every other day.

Auspicious time - evening after sunset. If you water when the sun's rays are very bright, then the stems will get burned, and the plants themselves, along with the fruits, die. Early morning watering is not advisable, especially in summer.

When to dig garlic?

There are two types of crops depending on the timing of planting. These are spring (which is planted in summer) and winter (planting occurs in late autumn).

As a rule, harvesting of winter garlic in the Leningrad region takes place at the end of August - beginning of September. To understand that plants need to be harvested, you just need to look at the bushes.

Signs of ripe garlic are:

• The skin of the inflorescences begins to crack.
• The leaves are turning yellow.
• The stems become very soft.
• The husk near the underground part of the garlic has become dry and separates well from the fruit.

The presence of all these signs suggests that the timing of garlic harvesting in the Leningrad region has come. After the signs of maturity are clearly visible, it is not recommended to delay harvesting. Of course, you can eat fruits, but they will already be tasteless and will not be able to retain nutrients. In overripe heads, the husks quickly crumble, and the cloves themselves do not adhere well to the stalk.

Collection is carried out only in dry sunny weather. It is desirable that the earth be dry at this moment. You need to harvest winter garlic before the onset of prolonged rains.

The second important point is to properly dig the garlic. If the plant grows on light soils, then you just need to pull it out. And if the heads are firmly stuck in the ground, then it is better to use a shovel.

After the bulbs have been removed from the ground, they must be cleaned from the ground by hand. It is not recommended to knock them against each other so as not to damage the fruits.

When to harvest spring garlic?

The time of harvesting spring garlic in the Leningrad region is practically the same as winter. To understand that the time has come for the collection can be understood by the same signs that were given earlier.

The best time to harvest is the end of September. Provided that the whole of September is warm and dry weather. The difference between the collection of winter and spring garlic is 3-4 weeks. Garlic is pulled out by hand. If it doesn't work, you need to dig it.

When to harvest garlic and how to store it?

To preserve all the useful qualities of garlic, it is not enough just to collect it on time and prevent the bulbs from overripe. The storage conditions of the culture after harvest are also important.

Harvested garlic will lie through the winter and spring, if the necessary conditions are provided. The shelf life of dug out garlic depends only on the quality of storage conditions.

The bushes are carefully pulled out of the soil. If necessary, you need to take a shovel so as not to damage the bulbs. After that, they are laid out on the garden bed so that the cloves dry out in the sun. Every day you need to watch the weather forecast, and if it rains in the coming days, the plants are transferred indoors.

When the fruits dry out, their stems are cut off and sorted into three categories - for storage, for eating and for planting.

The largest and he althiest bulbs are left for planting for the winter. There are not many such bulbs. For storage, the remaining good fruits without damage are selected. And damaged and small heads are used for consumption. Such bulbs still cannot be stored for a long time and should be eaten first.

Storage bulbs are transferred to boxes with holes for air circulation. The air temperature in the room with the harvest should not be too high, but not close to minus values.

After harvesting and sorting the bulbs, the bulbs are sorted several times before they run out. The thing is that during storage, the bulbs begin to rot or become moldy. And this is where the fungus comes in. So that fungi do not destroy the harvested crop, damaged bulbs must be thrown out on time.

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