Garlic is a crop that generates a large amount of work; labor, since its global consumption is very large. Not only in the kitchen of the whole world but also because it has many medicinal properties that make it an essential companion to the kitchen and home. The use of garlic is not only to flavor your meals but also prevents stomach cancer, helps reduce cholesterol, is a good antihypertensive and very good for the heart.
We will teach you how and when to plant garlic so that you can do this crop in your garden or in your small orchard and thus have the best garlic for your personal consumption.
We will also teach you how to get and select the seeds to plant garlic, how to do it, what is the ideal soil, at what time of the year, what care this plant requires and how to harvest the best garlic to take it to your kitchen.
What do you need for and when to plant garlic?
- Garlic seeds (garlic cloves with their cover)
- Land prepared for cultivation
- Natural fertilizer: manure
- Irrigation and hours of sunshine
Instructions for and when to plant garlic
- Getting the garlic seeds is the simplest thing since the cloves of a head of garlic are nothing more than the seeds. Take a head of garlic and separate the cloves without removing the peel or dry skin that surrounds them.
- The place to sow the seeds must be sunny, it requires several hours of sun per day to germinate and grow healthy.
- Very cold weather is not good for garlic, but neither is excessive heat, so if you plant it in an area where it is too hot, you will have to compensate with irrigation.
- First of all, you must prepare the land some time before planting garlic, stirring it well, fertilizing it with manure and aerating it. When you go to plant garlic, remove the soil again so that it is very spongy.
- The ideal land to plant garlic is flat soil with good drainage, low salinity and stoniness. If there was garlic or onion planted in that place in two or three consecutive years, it is not good to replant garlic, it is necessary to let the land rest, enrich it or plant another type of crop.
- You can plant the garlic in a pot as it does not require much depth since its roots are not too large. You can also do it on the ground, if you have a garden; making furrows about 80 cm apart.
- The cloves or seeds must be separated a few days before sowing them to prevent them from dehydrating and losing their terminative power, that is, they do not last long once they are separated, no more than a week.
- Once the furrows have been opened, the garlic cloves are placed with the tips pointing upwards and separated at about 8 or 10 cm between each other. Then they are covered with a layer of soil of 4 or 5 cm. If you do it in a small place like a pot, you can make some small holes and place the garlic cloves there.
- After planting the garlic cloves or seeds, the first watering should be done, taking care that the water drains and that puddles do not form. This can form a crust in the soil that prevents the plant from emerging. Irrigation is not daily although it depends on the area in which it has been planted. The second irrigation should be done after 10 or 15 days. In this way, watering continues. If the area is very dry, it may require more watering or when it starts to get hot. It is not watered very often but at minimum intervals of a week.
- It is necessary to keep the soil permeable, so the surface is raked or stirred a little so that the plant develops well, the clods are removed or disarmed and the weeds are removed.
- The time to harvest the garlic is when the plant looks a bit wilted and yellowish.
- It is always convenient to suspend irrigation before harvesting the garlic so that it costs less to remove it from the ground. This procedure can be done with the help of a shovel that loosens the soil but being very careful not to hurt the garlic that we are removing.
Tips for and when to plant garlic
- Watering should be daily but in such a way that the soil absorbs it and reaches the roots of the plant.
- Avoid stagnant water as this can make the plant sick from excess moisture.
