Garlic is today one of the most common garden plants that is found in every suburban area. It is included in the recipes of many dishes, in addition, it is an excellent medicine that can fight many microbes in the human body.
Garlic care, especially in the spring, does not require much effort. This plant is cold-resistant, able to begin the process of its growth at zero or even low sub-zero temperatures. Teeth in bulbs form at five degrees of heat, and ripen at twenty or more.
The first weeks after planting, garlic care consists of frequent watering. During this period, intense root growth begins. The next day after watering, you need to loosen the aisles at a depth of two or three centimeters in order to break the crust formed on the surface of the earth and improve soil air exchange.
In addition, with growth, garlic care consists in weeding the beds from weeds and watering as the soil dries. Experienced summer residents, who do not have enough time to often go to the site, know that in this case you need to loosen the soil around the roots and sprinkle them with sawdust. In this case, garlic survives even with sparse watering.
Garlic care before harvest is reduced. At this time, watering stops, but in order to get large heads, the plant needs to be broken down in about two or three weeks at a height of about fifteen centimeters from the top leaf. Thus, the yield increases by about a quarter.
In early November, such care for winter garlic is needed as mulching with a two-centimeter layer of well-decomposed dry peat or humus.
As a mulch, the fallen foliage also needs to be well suited, which must be laid out on the garden bed. In early spring, when the shoots of winter garlic are just beginning to emerge from the ground, the mulch is removed. This is done in order to prevent the plant from heating up.
In spring and summer, during the period of growth and development, garlic care includes the mandatory feeding of mineral fertilizers. During the growing season, the plant needs nitrogen supplementation, and after mid-June, when the formation and growth of the bulb begins, it needs phosphorus-potassium. However, you need to know that an excess of nitrogen fertilizers can cause increased growth of vegetative masses and lower yield of bulbs.
The first feeding is carried out after the appearance of two or three leaves. For this, a tablespoon of urea is diluted in ten liters of water. The beds are watered with this solution from a watering can (five liters per square meter). After two weeks, top dressing is repeated. The third and last time fertilizers are applied at the end of June.
However, the most important stage of garlic care consists in constant watering. The plant does not tolerate excess moisture. With rare watering, its bulbs become smaller. It is best to feed the water in the beds in the morning or in the evening. Moreover, if the temperature is below fifteen degrees, the plant does not feel the need for moisture. In June, winter varieties form their flower arrows, at the end of which air bulbs develop.
Today, spring garlic is gaining popularity , planting and care for which are basically not very different from winter.