Cultivation of garlic does not present any difficulties for an experienced gardener. But, after a few years, excellent large heads grow smaller and are affected by various diseases. Planting material degenerates, and therefore requires renewal.
In order to get strong and healthy plants again, garlic is planted with seeds or bulb. In fact, garlic, which we are accustomed to eating, there are no seeds, although it blooms. In the inflorescences are formed the so-called "bulbochki" - the vegetative parts of the plant, intended for reproduction.
Preparation of garlic bulb for planting
To grow a new plant with good parental qualities, selection work should begin long before planting. Initially, planting winter wafers with garlic, it is necessary to put labels where the best planting material was planted.
After bloom and formation of planting material, such specimens are excavated neatly together with a flowering arrow. You can do this when the shells, intended for planting, slightly burst the shell, but not completely, so that they do not fall asleep and are not lost during storage.
After that, the plants are bundled up and hung upside down in a ventilated, shady place. Thus, the correct drying takes place, and by the time of planting all the necessary nutrients will be in the bulb.
When to sow?
Planting garlic from the seeds (bulbochek) is carried out for the winter, and so the next fall you will be able to plant your own selection planting material, and by summer get large and healthy heads of garlic.
The time at which the seeds of garlic will be planted will largely predetermine their survival and resistance to diseases. Sow bulbs are recommended for a couple of weeks before the expected frost, when the air temperature is already approaching the zero mark. In this case, the planting material will have time to take root before the frost and not freeze in winter.
And if you plant bulbs earlier than the seed calendar provides, then they will not only take root from heat, but will also intensively grow. The first strong frosts will kill young sprouts, and all work will be in vain. Some summer residents practice planting garlic with seeds in the spring, but this practice does not give such good results as winter sowing.
How to sow?
It is very important to properly prepare the site for planting garlic with bulb. This is done in advance, so that for a while he stood by the steam. In the ground, humus (but not fresh manure), ash, fertilizers are introduced, the weeds are removed, and the soil is deeply digested.
Too far to place a bulb in the ground is not necessary, it will be enough to be a half centimeter. The distance between them should be observed 3-4 centimeters and 40 centimeters spacing. After planting, the garden is watered and left alone until the next season.
As soon as young green plants appear on the surface of the ground in early spring, the soil will need to be gently loosened and untiringly to follow the beds. The fact is that such garlic very badly tolerates the neighborhood with weeds taking away moisture and nutrients. This means that the fight against the aggressors of the garden will have to be conducted until the garlic is gaining strength.
In addition, garlic beds with bulbocks require regular watering, since the plant is very responsive to moisture. Three times during the warm season, garlic will need to be fertilized with ammonium nitrate and infusion of ashes.