5 most common mistakes in planting garlic before winter

To get a garlic harvest in June, gardeners plant it in the winter. The ideal time for planting winter garlic is the third ten days of September - the first and second ten days of October, depending on the region. There are no special tricks in planting vegetables, but still many make typical mistakes, as a result of which they do not receive enough harvest. Let's look at these errors so we can take them into account in the future.

Wrong site selection

Garlic is very picky about soil and predecessors. Winter garlic is never planted in the same place as last year: the soil is at least allowed to rest for 4 years, and only then the garlic is returned to the site. In addition, it is not advisable to place the vegetable after planting potatoes, tomatoes, carrots and beets. But after harvesting zucchini, zucchini, cucumbers, parsley and cilantro, you can safely plant garlic; it will like this soil.

Dense sowing

Garlic cloves should be planted at a distance of at least 7–8 cm, and if the cloves are large, then up to 15 cm. This is done so that the plants do not interfere with each other’s development, because too frequent planting will lead to the formation of small, underdeveloped heads.

Rough and early preparation

Firstly, before planting, the garlic cloves are separated, but this must be done very carefully so that the husks are not damaged. If the seed material turns out to be “naked”, then it is better not to use it, but to leave it for preparing borscht. Only whole cloves are suitable for sowing.This is because the husk protects the plant from pests and pathogens; without it, there is a high probability that the clove will die.

Secondly, the division should be carried out immediately before planting, possibly in the evening. Cloves that have been lying around for a long time will quickly become dry and will not germinate.

Plant without treatment

Seeds must be treated with disinfectants before planting in the ground. This will protect the seed from diseases and increase yield. The most common processing method is soaking the cloves in a light pink solution of potassium permanganate or 3% hydrogen peroxide for 1.5-2 hours. There are also professional products such as Ecosil, Fepin, Gaucho.

Nitrogen feeding

Nitrogen fertilizers are good for spring feeding of garlic in the spring, but applying them before wintering would be a big mistake. This is because nitrogen activates feather growth, which is not at all necessary before the onset of cold weather. If you want to fertilize the plant, it is better to apply phosphorus-potassium fertilizers.

Garlic is a grateful and healthy vegetable, and to get a rich harvest, a gardener just needs to avoid making the listed mistakes.