Most summer residents prefer to plant winter garlic in the winter, spring - in the early spring. When to remove garlic from the garden? When to dig it out for storage? How to determine the timing of garlic harvest? We will deal in more detail. After all, this healthy and spicy taste of vegetable can be found in almost every garden. It is extremely undesirable to overexposure garlic in the ground: it can grow again, overripe heads will decay into separate cloves, long-term storage of such a crop will be a big question. If you remove the garlic from the soil ahead of time, then it will be soft, immature and loose. The shelf life of this vegetable depends on the degree of maturation and proper drying, so you should remember a few simple rules, which I will tell you about in this article.
Signs of ripening garlic: when to harvest?
How to determine the maturity of garlic? The surest signal is the drying and yellowing of the lower leaves of the plant. This process, of course, is affected by air temperature (sunny summer or rainy), the type of garlic, as well as the territorial location of your site (region). Among other things, gardeners have their own "signs" indicating the ripening of the crop. Someone in the process of growing garlic does not break all the arrows, but leaves a couple of pieces on separate plants. When the initially curly arrow becomes flat, this is a sure sign that garlic can be dug up.
Another summer resident looks at the flower heads: if they begin to burst and show "bulbs", then it is time to harvest.
There are a couple of tricks (folk) for increasing onions and teeth:
- when you break off the arrows on the garlic, then stick a burnt match in their place (take away the remains from the gas stove). A match burnt juice stops - the teeth become juicier and larger.
- greens from garlic (feathers) after the arrows break off, tie into a knot - the head of garlic will form faster and become larger.
You should be aware that only winter varieties give the arrow, spring ones do not shoot, a rare exception is the Gulliver variety.
Winter and spring varieties, photo:
Plant winter garlic in September or early October (in the Kuban it is better to do this later, for example, in early November), spring - in late March or in April.
And the timing of garlic harvesting depends on how hot the summer turned out to be. Most often they vary between the 20th of July / the first week of August - this applies to winter varieties.
Spring varieties of garlic always ripen later than winter crops because they need more time to germinate. Around the 20th of August / in the first half of September, you can start harvesting summer (spring) varieties.
In any case, with the appearance of the above external signs of maturation, you can always carefully dig out a couple of heads and visually verify the degree of their maturation.
How to find out that garlic is ready for harvest? The ripe head is always tight to the touch, the film covering the teeth is easily removed, the teeth themselves are easily separated.
There is another effective technique: in order to accelerate the ripening of garlic, gardeners use one effective technique: approximately 5-7 days before the proposed digging, they slightly rake the soil from the bulbs (top layer).
The harvesting time for winter garlic in the Kuban is approximately mid-July. Again, look at the outward signs of maturity and be sure to consider the grade of garlic. The fact is that different winter varieties will have different ripening dates. Often, summer residents confuse different varieties and plant them all together in the same garden. To avoid confusion, always pay attention to the shade of the outer shell of the head, as well as the shape and number of teeth in it. Thus, representatives of individual varieties can be planted in separate beds.
I would also like to focus on the question that is often asked by beginning summer residents - do I need to wallow, trample garlic before harvesting? This method is sometimes used in the cultivation of onions to accelerate its ripening and stop the growth of the feather. As for garlic, then this is not necessary! In order for the heads to finally ripen, you should stop watering the beds about 10 days before harvesting - let the land dry.
Harvest photo:
How to dry garlic after harvest so that it is well stored
Garlic must be harvested on a dry and sunny day. Plants should be previously dug up, best with a fork-shaped tool, carefully remove the heads and shake them off the ground. Of course, it is better to spend more time and remove the earth with your hands, so you will be sure that the heads are not damaged and they are suitable for further storage. If during the harvesting process you accidentally damaged the head, then set it aside or use immediately for food. Next, put the garlic on a blank paper or wooden table located under a canopy - if you are going to dry the heads on the street. A well-ventilated room is also suitable.
Drying garlic after harvesting lasts about 7-10 days. Some gardeners prefer to dry garlic directly in the garden, in the same place where the crop was dug. You can do this too, but it’s better to put the garlic in a dry place at night, it can be an attic or a summer terrace. Complete and final drying of the heads is also carried out indoors (an additional 10 days), after which the residual roots are necessarily removed. The roots need to be cut carefully so as not to injure the bottom! An interesting point is garlic pruning after harvesting, in which experienced gardeners strongly recommend leaving the stem and leaves intact.
The fact is that in the terrestrial part of the plant there are many nutrients that “go” to the head during drying. From this it follows that uncircumcised tops positively affects the preservation of the healing properties of garlic. By the way, one of the most useful ways to store this vegetable is to braid, for which you will need the ground part of the plant, which you did not cut during the harvest of garlic. This ancient, but not lost relevance, method has been successfully used today. In one such bunch can be up to 15 heads. A tight braid is woven from the stems, into which twine is woven for reliability, a loop is made from it for further convenient suspension of the bundle. Leaves can be removed before weaving.
Garlic braided, photo:
In this form, garlic will perfectly remain even until the next harvest. The pigtails are hung in a dry, dark and cool room, and they can also be used as a decorative decoration in the kitchen. If you prefer a different storage method, after completely drying, leave about 6-8 cm of the stem (cut the rest), and then sort the heads by size and transfer to the store.
What can be planted after garlic?
So that the land doesn’t “walk” in vain, after harvesting the garlic, you can always sow greens. Parsley, cilantro, arugula, lettuce, dill, spinach grow quite quickly and are especially good if their predecessor was garlic. Many gardeners successfully grow radishes, beets, radishes, carrots - after garlic they grow much faster, and their taste properties only get better. Even early ripe cucumbers can be planted in the Kuban, and Peking cabbage, as well as kohlrabi, generally grow very well (they have a short growing season). Also, after garlic, asparagus beans and early ripening varieties of sugar peas will grow well.
After harvesting garlic, what can be planted for the next season? It is important to remember that you cannot plant garlic in the same place for two years in a row. This also applies to onions, which also should not be sown after garlic. Not only do the representatives of the same family have common diseases, they also have the same pest parasites. Potatoes or strawberries will feel great in their former place of residence of garlic. The same can be said about tomatoes, zucchini, eggplant, white cabbage, pepper, corn and gourds.
Follow the rules of agricultural technology, follow the appearance of the stems - no matter in which region you live, the signs of ripening of this vegetable crop will always be the same. Now you know when to remove garlic from the garden, how to do it best and what to plant after harvesting it.