Planting Garlic "before Winter" Is Easy

2024 Author: Gavin MacAdam | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:38

Do you regularly plant winter garlic or just want to try planting it for the first time? Then now is the time to start preparing the garden so that by the time of planting, our garden meets all the "requirements" of garlic

How to prepare the soil in the garden?

Soil preparation begins in late August or early September. So now is the time to get started. We measure the area of our beds, we can estimate approximately, since it is from these parameters that we will calculate the amount of fertilizer we need. For each square meter of land, we need one bucket of humus, the volume of the bucket is 10-12 liters, pour one and a half to two glasses of ash into it, about one glass of ordinary crushed chalk, then pour one tablespoon of superphosphate and potassium sulfate into the same container. Now we thoroughly mix our "magic potion" and evenly scatter it over the entire surface of the garden, without missing a piece of earth. Now we carefully dig up the ground, depth - on the bayonet of a shovel, or 20-25 centimeters. You can loosen it well with a walk-behind tractor, if you have one (I like the land after the walk-behind tractor, but, alas, we don't have it, and a neighbor "plows" on it once a year - in the spring, so I dig it in the old fashioned way - with a shovel).

The soil for planting is ready, now we give it time to rest so that the soil settles after loosening and digging. If there is little rain, then you have to help the earth to settle. To do this, you will need to water it well several times. Just do not overdo it so that the earth does not turn into a lump.

Why is it necessary to let the earth settle, because it would seem that it is better to immediately plant the garlic in soft, freshly loosened soil? Because if you plant garlic right away, then as the soil settles, it will be deeper and deeper underground. Accordingly, in the spring it will take him more time to break through the thickness of the earth. And this will ultimately affect the yield.

Shortly before planting, it is advisable to carry out preventive tillage so that our garlic does not get sick. For processing, we dilute 1 tablespoon of copper sulfate in one bucket of water. For each square meter of our garden, you will need about half a bucket of such a solution.

Before planting the cloves of garlic, urea can be scattered over the soil surface of our garden, about 15 grams per square meter. Everything, the garden is ready. Now let's move on to preparing the garlic for planting.

We prepare the planting material

Before planting, not every planting material is suitable. We will take only large, healthy, not rotten heads and teeth. You can squeeze the garlic not with cloves, but with small monocotyledonous heads, which are obtained after planting small seed heads of garlic obtained after flowering. If you plant slices from ordinary heads, then disassemble them into cloves, select strong, healthy ones, without the slightest signs of damage or decay. Then mark the one-year-old heads or cloves of garlic in any disinfectant solution and leave them there overnight. That's it, the garlic is ready for planting. Now the most important thing remains - to "stick" it into the ground.

Planting garlic

First of all, we prepare the holes. We make rows at a distance of about eighteen to twenty centimeters from each other, the distance between adjacent teeth in a row is ten to twelve centimeters. Gently lay the garlic into the prepared grooves without sticking it into the ground. If the soil is dry, then we must water it, you can use a weak solution of potassium permanganate, if you still have it in stock. Now we start digging our holes. For the best result, we will do this not with soil from the garden, but with nutritious compost, light peat or high-quality humus. After planting, in order to avoid freezing of the garlic, we mulch the beds with any materials.