How To Grow A Good Harvest Of Onions And Garlic

2024 Author: Sebastian Paterson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:47

How I learned to grow guaranteed yields of onions and garlic

Five years ago, in my garden, I grew only family onions, as was customary in our village, and the untitled purple winter garlic of national selection, which grew well, was large, vigorous in taste, but, unfortunately, was very poorly stored - began to die almost immediately after harvest.

Over time, I learned that onions and garlic respond well to organically fertilized soil, so in the spring for onions and garlic I applied humus to the beds at the rate of 1 bucket per 1 square meter of the garden. This technique allows you to build up the feathers during the growing season, which is necessary for the formation of a large bulb.

In addition, I learned that acidic soil is not suitable for growing onions and garlic, and sodium chloride (table salt) is needed to exclude damage to the crop by onion fly.

With all these little tricks, I have been getting a great harvest of onions and healthy garlic for several years now, which is good throughout the winter.

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I will tell you in more detail about the agricultural technology I use for growing onions and winter garlic. Maybe someone has the same problems that I had a few years ago. And my advice, my experience will come in handy.

To the family onions, which, as gardeners know, are better stored in winter, I now add the Dutch onion sets Centurion and Stuttgarten rizen - the usual yellow, white and red salad. The variety of garlic I have remained the same.

I plant bulbs and sets according to the lunar calendar, around the 20th of May. There are many general rules when growing onions and garlic, so I will talk about my methods for both crops at the same time. When planting them on a garden bed filled with humus, I make transverse grooves with a plow at a distance of 12-15 cm. I sprinkle the grooves with ash and a pinch of table salt - without a strict dosage.

For onion sets, as well as for family ones, I preliminarily cut the neck and soak the planting material overnight in a strong solution of potassium permanganate. Then I wash it from potassium permanganate and plant it in grooves at a distance of 10 cm from each other. The grooves are leveled, and the bow is completely covered with earth.

In autumn, at the end of September, I plant the garlic in the same way as the onion, only a little deeper. After planting, I cover the garden with spruce or pine spruce branches for snow retention.

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In the first half of June, I feed the shoots of onions and garlic once with ammonium nitrate - add them to the rows and embed them in the soil or spill them abundantly with water. And once again in July I pour ash into the aisles after weeding and loosen the aisles with the same plow. At the same time, onions and garlic are well spud.

I water it as needed, while the feather grows, but I never pluck it in order to avoid infection, despite the very appetizing look of onion greens.

In the event of wilting of onion feathers - an onion fly appeared, despite the measures taken during planting (it was once in recent years) - it is necessary to spill the garden bed with saline. I use one pack of salt per bucket of water. You can also sprinkle the aisles with dolomite flour mixed with tobacco dust 1: 1. Helps.

I want to clarify that I observe the crop rotation, trying to plant onions after carrots. As the bulbs are tied, I do not free the onions or garlic from the ground. I harvest these crops in due time, taking into account the lunar calendar, weather and the state of the heads of garlic.

It is easy to determine the readiness for digging of an onion - its tops simply lay down. With garlic, as a shooting crop, everything is somewhat more complicated, since one must not miss the time when the hard trunk of the garlic tops becomes soft and, as it were, half-empty to the touch, but the head has not yet crumbled. I usually have this in the first decade of August.

After digging, I leave the onion to dry in the garden in the sun, and then move it to the attic of the bathhouse on foam trays, spreading the tops out in one layer.

My garlic on the river and kept in potassium permanganate or soda ash (you can simply spray it with phytosporin), dry it in the sun - and also in the attic. And I forget about them for almost three weeks.

When the feather dries, I cut off the roots and feathers, leaving a stump of 1.5-2 cm, and tie the onion with feathers in pairs for subsequent stringing on a loop of rope - I weave it into braids. If necessary, I dry it by the stove in the house. Hanging onions in bunches keep well in the kitchen. Garlic, folded in a box, also survives until spring, but is stored on a cooler loggia.

I also practice harvesting garlic: pickling peeled cloves in spring, when it remains unused. Along with this, I plant my own winter garlic, but only in the spring, and harvest at the end of July in the stage of a juicy feather and a set one-tooth.

I dig out the garlic, mine, cut off the roots, cut the greens into pieces 3 cm long and marinate together with the heads. A very good snack and addition to borscht, sauerkraut cabbage soup and pickle soup. And the marinade is as follows: for 1 liter of water 2 tbsp. l. salt, 1 tbsp. l. sugar, 100 ml of 9% vinegar. Garlic is poured with warm marinade, and the jar is rolled up if you need to save the garlic for the winter.