Today, almost every garden or dacha has garlic. It is planted for the winter and early spring. The planting process is always the same - place the sprouted cloves in the ground and provide proper care. However, few people know that garlic can be grown in another rather interesting way - with the help of bulbs (garlic seeds).
Why grow garlic from seeds
Growing garlic from bulbs is necessary, first of all, for multiple multiplication of the variety.
For example, up to 10 cloves can be obtained from one mature head, while 1 bulb contains about 100, and sometimes even more, seeds ready for planting in open ground.
Another reason is that even with the complete death of the crop, for example, due to the defeat of fungal diseases, there will always be stock of absolutely healthy and high-quality planting material (seeds).
In addition, it sometimes happens that during the ripening process, small pests make their way into the head, which interfere with proper development and reduce the yield, but they never touch the bulbs.
Therefore, in which case, the yield can always be restored, even if it takes a little time.
Thanks to the bulbs are formed at the very top of the arrow, in a protective shell, the seeds inside always remain healthy and are not attacked by diseases and harmful insects.
Pros and cons of the growing method
Of course, every planting method has its pros and cons, and growing from seedlings is no exception.
Pros:
- healthy planting material;
- the best way to multiply garlic;
- the ability to avoid the degeneration of the variety;
- it is more convenient to plant seeds in the ground;
- high germination rate.
In principle, there is nothing to talk about in detail here, except perhaps about the convenience of planting and germination.
Convenience lies in the fact that the seeds are immediately sown into the prepared soil, while for planting with cloves, you need to do some actions: divide the head and sort out all whole sprouted slices from the damaged ones.
Also, the seeds have an increased level of germination.... This is explained by the fact that they are not damaged by diseases and pests, which means that they are absolutely healthy, and have a good "freshness", i.e. did not lie for about a year or two or more.
Minuses:
- it takes 2 years to get a full harvest;
- seeds can disappear in the ground during frost.
Yes, the biggest drawback of bulbs is the timebecause in the first year only one bulb (clove) grows from the seeds, which needs to be planted again. But already in the second year, a full-fledged head of garlic is obtained from this onion.
And, of course, there is always a risk that the seeds will deteriorate due to early frost or low ground temperatures. However, as practice shows, this happens mainly among those who do not comply with the terms and rules of planting.
That's all with the pros and cons, you can proceed to growing.
How to grow and collect bulbs
There is nothing difficult in growing bulbs. Moreover, you don't even need to do something on purpose, because they grow on their own on the arrows of garlic... It is much more important to correctly collect the seeds.
To do this, you must first wait for the moment when the protective "capsule" bursts and the seeds are outside.
This moment comes around the middle of July, less often at the end. For spring garlic, the timing is slightly shifted, and the collection should be carried out closer to the end of August.
Thereafter, seeds must be carefully cut and stored until the moment of landing.
There are some varieties of garlic that do not develop arrows. Accordingly, it will not be possible to collect seeds from such species, so this must be taken into account.
By the way, sometimes it happens that the bulb does not burst, and some gardeners think that the seeds have not yet ripened there, however, this is not so.
In this situation, you should pay attention to the leaves of garlic., namely, their color. If yellowness begins to appear, then you can collect, but if not, then it is better to wait a little.
When to collect garlic puff and how to store it:
How and where to store sevok
Storing cut seeds is easy. First of all, they must be placed in a box or small cardboard box and brought into the barn or any other room, the main thing is that there was a temperature of at least 18-20 degrees Celsius.
Approximately 1.5-2 months before sowing, the seeds should be transferred to a cooler place, with a temperature of 5-8 degrees Celsius.
This is necessary in order so that the planting material dries well, and also hardens and during the first sharp frosts it did not deteriorate in the ground. That is, in general, that's all.
Planting methods in open ground
It's time to talk about planting methods. Basically, there are three of them and they are absolutely the same as for ordinary cloves of garlic:
- landing in the winter;
- planting in spring;
- direct way.
A little more detail about each.
For winter
This method is considered the most popular.... They start sowing, as a rule, in mid-November, but here, first of all, you need to focus on the weather for your region, because the climate is different everywhere and someone already has snow in November.
In this case, the guideline for starting sowing can be soil temperature - it should not be lower than +5 degrees.
Then, small grooves are made in the bed, up to 5 cm deep and with a distance of 40-45 cm between them, and uniform sowing is carried out.
Upon completion, the seeds are covered with earth, and the garden bed can be mulched or left as it is.
Planting garlic bulbs before winter (in autumn):
In the spring
Planting spring garlic is practically no different from winter garlic, but it also has its own characteristics.
First, the sowing time is different. Spring garlic is usually planted in early March., and this already causes some difficulties, since the earth is solid and it is not warmed up properly.
It will be very difficult to make rows on such soil, so it is better to prepare the garden in advance in the fall, mulch and cover with foil.
The second point is that after the first shoots appear, garlic will need to be taken care of according to all the rules, i.e. water, feed, monitor the appearance of pests and diseases, etc.
Non-stop breeding method
And the last method, which, at first glance, may seem a little complicated, but if you look closely, this is not at all the case. But a certain skill for this method will be required.
The bottom line is that the garlic planted from the bulbs grows in the same place for 2 years in a row, after which a mature head with cloves is dug out of the ground.
Everything is done as follows:
- In early June, when the bulbs are already formed on the arrows, you need to catch the moment and cut them off before they open. The easiest way to do this is by focusing on the color of the leaves - as soon as yellowness begins to appear, you can cut it off.
- Further, the cut bulbs need to be dried a little in the sun for 1-2 days, so that being in the ground, it would be easier for them to open up.
- Once everything is done, you can start planting. It is no different from the one that is held for the winter or spring. Upon completion, it is recommended to mulch the bed.
- Around the beginning or mid-October, there will be ready-made garlic, or rather, the very 1 clove that is needed to get a full-fledged head will ripen. It is not worth digging it up, on the contrary, the garden needs to be properly insulated before wintering.
- If all the conditions have been met, then in mid-June, when the harvest time comes, it will be possible to dig out full, large heads with a large number of cloves.
This method is quite interesting, but not all gardeners resort to it, using more often the traditional planting for the winter.
As you can see, there is nothing difficult in growing garlic from bulbs, most importantly, follow all the rules and recommendations.
The only drawback is the long term of growing to a full head - 2 years, but even this disadvantage can be easily forgiven, because a good, and most importantly healthy harvest is always more expensive.