When to harvest garlic from the garden: harvesting dates for winter and spring crops. When to harvest winter garlic: timing of digging from the garden bed for storage When to harvest young garlic

To get a good harvest of garlic, you need to properly care for it during growth, and most importantly timely remove garlic from the beds, otherwise it will not store well.

Let's take a closer look: when to harvest garlic from the beds, external signs of readiness of the garlic harvest, how to properly dig up garlic, storing garlic?

Overexposed garlic in the ground begins to crack in the ground and crumble into individual cloves.

External signs of garlic readiness

There are external signs that the garlic crop is ready for harvesting from the garden. The most obvious sign of harvest readiness– drying and yellowing of leaves in the lower part and yellowing in the upper part. Also, be sure to feel the stem of the plant - it should be soft and easily squeezed with your hands.

Typically, the harvesting period for winter garlic begins in the middle July until early August, and spring 2-3 weeks later. It all really depends on the weather in your area.

The second external sign is garlic arrows. If the arrow straightens, and at the same time the outer shell of the inflorescences begins to crack, and the bulbs themselves are already looking out, this is a signal that the harvest is ready.

A couple of weeks before harvesting, we completely stop all watering, thereby increasing the shelf life of the fruit.

How to properly harvest garlic

Garlic must be dug up during harvesting. Using your hand by the feathers, pull the root crop out of the ground.

Immediately after digging up vegetables, if there is a lot of stuck earth on the bulbs, you can clean it only with gloved hands (do not hit each other, on a shovel or the ground), as much as possible at the moment.

Later, when the vegetable dries out, the soil itself will easily fall behind.

How to dry garlic after harvesting

During drying everything nutrients from the feather they will go into the bulb, and the garlic will be well stored.

Garlic storage

When the garlic is dry, carefully trim its roots with scissors without damaging the bottom. Also cut off the dry tops, leaving tails 10-15 cm long and braid.

Harvesting of summer and winter garlic takes place in different terms. However, there are no exact details, since the ripening time of the product largely depends on weather conditions.

When to harvest winter garlic

Harvesting of winter garlic usually occurs at the end of July. Early-ripening varieties are ready for digging 85-95 days after emergence, and late-ripening varieties - after 100-110 days. Even if you don’t know which variety you cultivate in your garden, appearance plants will understand that it is time to remove the garlic. In mature plants, the leaves turn yellow and the film on the inflorescences cracks. Once this happens, summer garlic should be harvested within 5-7 days.

In addition, the timing of harvesting depends on the planting material, in particular on the garlic fractions. Single-toothed young heads ripen 25 days earlier than the earliest ripening varieties of winter garlic. Then the plants that were grown from small cloves ripen, and a week later - from medium and large cloves.

You also need to know that it is best to dig up garlic in the morning or evening. During the day, the hot sun can dry out the heads and deprive the teeth of their juiciness.

When to harvest spring garlic

Spring garlic is planted in the spring, which is why it is harvested later than winter garlic. Typically, the time to dig up the heads is in the second half of August - mid-September. At this time, new leaves stop appearing on the plant, old ones turn yellow, the neck softens, and the stem lies down.

The deadline for harvesting spring garlic should also not be missed. Autumn rains can cause new roots to grow. Then the heads will not store well and become less useful.

On a note! The main advantage of winter garlic is its larger cloves, which are more convenient to add to food. However, spring garlic is stored longer than winter garlic.

When harvesting spring and winter garlic, it is important not to damage the tender heads, since even small dents can become a source of infection. After harvesting, garlic is dried in a fairly warm room under a canopy or in special ventilated dryers. When the heads are thoroughly dry, the tops are cut off, leaving a stump (about 5 cm long) and roots (up to 2 cm long).

10 ways to store garlic at home

It is important to know not only how to properly remove plants from the garden, but also how to preserve garlic at home. Sometimes this is not easy to do. After all, in winter the heads often rot or dry out, and in the spring they begin to germinate. To prevent this from happening, summer residents create special favorable conditions for storing garlic in the apartment.

1. Storing garlic in a glass jar

To remove the infection, the bottom of the head along with the remnants of the roots is carefully burned (this can be done over a candle flame or gas stove). Then the garlic is placed in glass jar with the neck open and stored in a kitchen cabinet for 2-3 months.

2. Storing garlic in flour

Pour a small layer of flour into a 3 liter glass jar. The heads with the burnt bottom are placed there in a row. Then a layer of flour is poured on them and garlic is placed on top again. In this way, the jar is filled to the brim, but there should be a layer of flour at the very top.

3. Storing garlic in paraffin

Pour water into a small saucepan, place it on the stove, bring to a boil, then set minimum temperature(the water should not boil). Paraffin is cut into pieces, placed in a smaller container and placed in a pan with hot water. When the paraffin melts, take the garlic by the tip of the stem, lower it there for 1-2 seconds, and then place it in a dry box.

4. Storing garlic in vegetable oil

The garlic is thoroughly washed, dried on a towel, and then placed in a jar with vegetable oil.

5. Storing garlic in cling film and sawdust

Each head is wrapped in film (preferably in 2 layers) so that only the bottom with the roots remains open. Garlic is placed in cardboard box, cover with sawdust and store in a dry place at room temperature.

6. Storing garlic in salt

Place the garlic in a plastic or glass box, sprinkling each layer with salt. The container is placed in the cellar at a temperature of 3-5°C.

7. Storing garlic in a net

Garlic is woven into a braid or placed in a net (it can be replaced with nylon tights) and hung in a dry and cool room.

8. Storing garlic in a fabric bag

The garlic is placed in a thick fabric bag, tied and hung between wooden window frames.

9. Storing garlic in cloth and polyethylene

The garlic is placed in a linen bag, as in the previous method, and put on top plastic bag(it is not tied) and left in the room or kitchen. The bag is aired once a week.

10. Storing garlic in the ground

The garlic is thoroughly dried, placed in a plastic bag, tied tightly and placed in the ground to a depth of 35-40 cm in an area where there is no surface occurrence. groundwater. The bag is sprinkled with sawdust and buried with soil. Garlic is stored in this place until spring and dug out when the ground thaws.

Now you know when to remove summer and winter garlic from the garden and how to preserve the heads for as long as possible. We hope our tips will help you keep your garlic from drying out and

This healthy vegetable easy to grow, relatively unpretentious and very useful in cooking and folk medicine. The date of garlic harvest is extremely important because it largely determines its quality and shelf life. Therefore, it is important to know how to determine when it is better to harvest (dig up) garlic planted before winter or in spring.

The garlic growing season is quite long, lasting on average 4 months. Harvest usually occurs between July and September. Cleaning times may vary by region. On average optimal following dates when to harvest garlic:

• winter crops, which were planted in the fall, are dug up in July;
• spring garlic planted in spring is delayed by 3-4 weeks compared to winter garlic.

Depending on the weather climatic conditions timing may vary. On average, vegetables are grown for 100-120 days, late varieties– a little longer. Cleaning times vary by region:

• in the south, winter garlic is harvested at the end of June-beginning of July, spring garlic - in July;
• in the Moscow region, cleaning occurs in July-early August;
• in Siberia and the Urals, ripening dates shift to mid-August - early September, so agronomists advise growing early varieties.

How can you tell if garlic is ripe?

Collection can be carried out sequentially, depending on the stage of maturity of the plant. To find out when it’s time to dig up the garlic, conduct a visual inspection of the above-ground part. First of all, plants with green leaves are dug up for direct consumption. Plants then do not yet have well-formed heads. Green tops can also be used in salads and stored for the winter, but after cutting them, the formation of the head stops and it needs to be dug up.

Garlic intended for winter storage is dug up differently.

Signs of ripe garlic:

1. Plants that have not produced inflorescence shoots are dug up when approximately 50% of the leaves have fallen.
2. The stage when garlic planted before winter fully ripens - when it sprouts inflorescences, accompanied by yellowing and drying lower leaves, the stem withers.
3. The husk, under which the garlic cloves clearly appear, resembles parchment.
4. The first outer husk on the heads cracks, the head is hard.

It’s time to put the garlic away for storage when the heads, after digging, are covered with 3-5 scales. When harvest is delayed, the scales crack and the heads begin to open, and the harvest is lost.

What if I miss the collection deadline?

• Delay in cleaning. When harvest time is delayed, the heads may open and scatter in the soil, with individual cloves beginning to take root. In rainy summers, the heads may rot and are poorly stored in the future.
• Premature collection. The heads dug up too early are still soft, which will lead to loss of yield during long-term storage.

What weather should you dig in and how to dry?

Harvesting is carried out on sunny, dry days; it is better to have several days without rain before harvesting. Collection is usually done by hand; the heads are carefully dug up with a shovel or pitchfork, trying not to damage them.

Attention! It is not recommended to dig up garlic from the garden for storage in rainy weather. If there are prolonged rains and there is no other way out, you need to harvest the crop before it rots, dry the heads thoroughly, then clear the soil.

After harvesting, preparations for storage are carried out:

1. The heads should first be dried in a well-ventilated, bright place.
2. Subsequent drying is carried out in a room, in a place without access to sunlight.
3. Then you need to shorten the ends of the leaves and trim the roots. If you plan to weave braids, the stems are left longer.
4. Thoroughly clean the heads with a gloved hand, getting rid of any dirt and possible soil residues.

How to store?

This vegetable stores well. Some varieties in good condition can be stored for up to a year. Winter garlic, which has not produced inflorescences, is suitable for long-term storage and requires a temperature of 0-1 °C and a relative humidity of 65-70%.

It is better to store the crop in a dry, dark room. The ideal container is a basket or box that allows air to circulate freely. You can also hang the crop from the ceiling by braiding the stems or tying them in bunches.

The heads must be carefully sorted. Heads damaged during digging, suspicious ones, are placed in a separate box, leaving them for quick use - this crop should be eaten first or used for summer canning.

You can store unpeeled garlic heads in the refrigerator, this is not very good method in the long term. At low temperatures the vegetable loses its characteristic taste and aroma. The same applies to freezing, however, many people choose this method when they need to preserve big harvest in apartment conditions. To freeze, wrap the peeled heads in aluminum foil and place in the freezer. This vegetable is suitable for preparing roasts and sauces in winter. You can store finely chopped garlic feathers, packaged in bags, in the freezer, using them later for soups and borscht.

Thanks to its many active ingredients, garlic has great importance for health, contains oils, allin and allicin. These compounds mainly have antibacterial, antifungal and antiviral effects. Knowing when to remove summer garlic from the garden, planted in the spring, or winter garlic, planted in the fall, and how to store it correctly, you can preserve the crop and its valuable properties for a long time.

Harvesting winter garlic is not a complicated process, but it must be done in a timely manner, otherwise the crop will spoil and will not be stored for long. Garlic - favorite garden plant and aromatic spice for cooking.

The plant is often grown in open ground. It is important to know how and when to clean it properly. For the most part, the harvesting process and timing depend on the plant variety. Experienced gardeners there are two - spring and winter garlic. The first is also called autumn or summer. The second one is winter. Winter garlic, unlike spring garlic, has a shorter shelf life; it is planted in the fall and produces more yield. Organizing storage of the crop at home is quite difficult, since the heads are subject to rotting and drying out. We’ll talk about how to properly remove and store it in today’s episode.

Don't miss the deadline for harvesting winter garlic in your area

Garlic harvesting time

In winter garlic short time cleaning. It must be removed in time to preserve the taste for a long time. At proper storage it will last until the next gardening season. The whole family will receive in winter healthy vitamins thanks to the aromatic crop that lasts all season.
When planting winter garlic in the spring, record the time when the first shoots appeared. After 100 days, you can harvest the crop for storage. The crop ripens quickly, so it is not always appropriate to focus on the general recommended dates - July 25 - August 5.

The exact harvest time of winter garlic can be determined by the condition of its bulbs

How do you know when it's time to clean?

When harvesting winter garlic for storage, you can focus on timing. But, for the most part, the ripening of a vegetable depends on its variety, climatic conditions and region. In hot and rainy summers, the timing may be shortened or extended. Therefore, in such cases, it is best to know a few signs of garlic ripening. This will help you decide when to put away the winter species for storage.

Garlic must be collected on time, otherwise it will be stored worse. There are several ways to determine whether a vegetable is ready to harvest. Some gardeners prefer to dig up a couple of bulbs and check the maturity of the cloves. They will easily separate from each other. The head is easily destroyed with little force. Other gardeners look at the condition of the shoots of winter garlic. In mid-July, they leave a couple of false stems to determine when the vegetables are ripe and ready to harvest. Bottom part dries out - the leaves turn yellow and droop. The arrow itself becomes soft - the surface is a bit dry. The inflorescences crowning the arrows crack and seeds and bulblets are visible in them. All this indicates that it’s time to put winter garlic away for storage.

The fruits quickly become overripe. After 3-5 days, after the garlic ripens, its scales become loose, and the cloves fall out of the head, easily separating from each other and from the base. Overripe bulbs produce new roots. Even if they haven’t had time to take root in the ground, they can easily be damaged during harvesting. Damaged roots are an excellent “soil” for the proliferation and development of fungi. This affects the keeping quality of winter garlic.

Timely harvesting extends the life of the aromatic spice. It is stored much longer, so try to adhere to the plant harvesting deadlines and focus on obvious signs of crop maturation.

After harvesting, winter garlic is not trimmed, it is dried along with the green foliage - it releases nutrients to the cloves

Suitable conditions for collection

To harvest winter garlic, wait for warm, dry weather. Wet soil will complicate the process. It will stick to the bulbs and it will be more difficult to remove them from such soil. Suitable conditions- this is warm, dry weather, scattered sunlight, in which you can ventilate the dug up vegetable. All kinds of damage - both roots and cloves - begin to rot over time. This is one of the main reasons why garlic has low shelf life. Therefore, you need to remove the fruits very carefully. The soil must be dry. It is better to use garden forks - they damage the garlic less. You can also use a shovel, but be careful with it.

We do not recommend pulling out the heads. This injures the roots, which begin to rot during storage, reducing the shelf life of garlic. Remove the soil with your hands - do not hit the head on hard surface. This will damage the cloves, which may also rot. To improve the quality of garlic, do not remove the green tops - they can be tied in a knot. But also, in order for the fruits to be large and tasty, some gardeners, when cutting a stele, stick a burnt match into the cut.

After harvesting the garlic, it needs to be dried. This can be done right in the garden. The vegetables are dried for 3 weeks. At this stage, the green tops are cut off - until then they serve as a source of additional nutrition for the heads. To make the fruits bigger and tastier, tie them in a knot. You can dry garlic only in dry air. If it's raining outside or high humidity, then the plants are transferred to the barn or house. It is dangerous to wash the heads before drying, since after the water procedure they begin to rot.

Storage methods and conditions

There are many ways to store winter garlic at home. You can use any of the following, but only if the conditions are met. The air temperature in the room where garlic is stored should be within 2-4 degrees Celsius. Optimal humidity— 60..80%. When the level of moisture in the air decreases, the fruits lose their juiciness, and when they increase, they rot. To avoid worrying about this, some people dip their heads in paraffin. It retains moisture, preventing it from evaporating. Pay attention to ventilation. Garlic is not recommended to be stored in the cellar. This requires a well-ventilated area, otherwise diseases and fungal infections will begin to develop.

It is acceptable to store garlic braided. You don't need to cut off the tops to do this. It is tied into one thick braid and a wreath. With greens, fruits last longer and are also a great decoration for kitchen design. The painstaking housewife will always have fresh cloves at hand. Wreaths and braids are hung so that the sun does not fall on them. Because of it, moisture evaporates faster. Perhaps this is the simplest and beautiful way store winter garlic at home.

Another storage method common among gardeners is in jars. There are several options. For example, one of them is under salt. The first layer is salty, then the garlic. Place the fruits in as many layers as the container allows. Wherein last layer salt should be 2 cm high. The second simple way is in a jar of oil. Use a vegetable ingredient - sunflower or olive. Only peeled cloves are stored in this way. This oil absorbs beneficial features garlic and its aroma. Therefore, it can be easily used as a dressing for vegetable salads and marinade for meat. You can also store winter garlic in regular jars that have been previously sterilized. Cover the fruits with a nylon lid.

To store fruits in boxes, they must be treated with a special solution. Use iodine, mix it with oil. Garlic is processed with it and sent for storage in wooden boxes. This method prevents rotting of the bulbs and prolongs the shelf life of the fruit.

Our grandmothers also stored garlic in linen bags suspended from the ceiling. To do this, dried fruits are treated with a highly concentrated salt solution. It is best to focus on air humidity. If it is high, then it is necessary to treat it with salt. If it is low, then the garlic is mixed with onion peels for storage.

Harvesting is the final and one of the most important stages growing plants. If harvested untimely, the gardener risks losing a significant part of the fruit, even if all instructions for caring for them are strictly followed. Properly harvested vegetables last longer and are preserved better. As a rule, there are no problems with planting winter garlic, but the main difficulties arise when determining the timing of digging up the vegetable. We'll talk about when to harvest winter garlic and how to determine the degree of its ripening by external signs.

When harvesting winter garlic, you should, first of all, focus on the approximate ripening time of the variety you planted. Since there are early, mid and late ripening options, it will be difficult to collect it on time without taking into account the characteristics of a particular type of garlic.

The average growing season of winter garlic is three and a half months, if we take the appearance of the first shoots as the starting point. Accordingly, if you plant garlic in early May, then you should think about harvesting in late July - early August.

Since there are always factors beyond the gardener's control, exact dates Garlic harvesting may vary. These factors include:

1. The type of soil in which the vegetable is grown. Garlic develops well on light loamy and sandy loam soils. Heavy loamy and sand types not suitable for garlic and slow down its ripening;

Prices for winter garlic

winter garlic

Video - Timing for harvesting winter garlic

Why is it important to harvest garlic on time?

Both keeping garlic in the ground and removing it prematurely have their significant drawbacks. Despite the fact that the longer garlic is in the soil, the longer it will subsequently be stored, there are certain limits to how much it can stay underground.

Overripe garlic is prone to secondary sprouting, which leads to a deterioration in its taste and consistency. Among other things, overexposed garlic literally crumbles in your hands, which makes it difficult to store, since the budding shoots manage to destroy the protective scales.

Digging up the bulbs prematurely is not so fatal, but it does confront the gardener with the need to ripen the garlic in a warm and dry room. Otherwise, the cloves will be too soft and unsuitable for cooking.

By the way! Some experienced gardeners It is even advised to remove the garlic when it is not ripe so that it can be dried in a cellar. You can read about how on our portal.

How to speed up the ripening of winter garlic?

In addition to factors beyond the gardener’s control, there are also a number of actions that will help him influence the quality of the future harvest, despite unfavorable weather and unsuitable soil type.

Even under the best circumstances, you may be faced with a meager harvest that will quickly spoil in the cellar. And all because the fruits were not prepared for long-term storage. Before planting winter garlic, it is recommended to perform a few simple manipulations that will not only speed up the plant’s growing season, but also increase its taste.

Planting material

Everyone's secret good harvest is carefully selected planting material. When choosing bulbs, you should be guided by the following rules:

1. Only freshly harvested bulbs are used for planting;
2. Each onion clove should be carefully examined for the presence of rot, mold or other traces of fungal diseases. If any are detected, the entire bulb should be discarded, since the disease spreads through it very quickly and is not always obvious;

On the day of planting, it is allowed to soak the cloves in a solution of potassium permanganate or one percent copper sulfate. It is enough to keep them in the composition for half an hour to increase resistance to possible pathogenic bacteria.

bed

Work with the soil is carried out based on the characteristics of the root system of the planted vegetable. Garlic roots are located mainly in upper layers land, to replenish which the main efforts should be distributed.

In order for the soil to well enrich the planted cloves and promote their development, one square meter vegetable garden is processed:

• Ten kilograms of humus;
• Two glasses of ash;
• One glass of chalk;
• Two tablespoons of potassium sulfate;
• One tablespoon of superphosphate.

After applying fertilizers, the soil must be loosened and dug up. The depth of loosening should be at least twenty centimeters. However, it’s also not worth digging too deep, as there is a possibility of damaging root system plants. Please note that after digging, the soil will need time to settle. Planting of the cloves is carried out after settling.

Superphosphate prices

superphosphate

Soil acidity

Each vegetable “prefers” a different degree of soil acidity. Garlic is one of the plants that does best in beds with moderate or low acidity. If your site does not meet this requirement, then using a number of substances you can influence the degree of acidity.

First of all, you should pay attention to fertilizers enriched with calcium and magnesium. The most commonly used agents to reduce soil acidity are listed in the table below.

Table 1. Soil deoxidizers

By the way! In addition to traditional options, there are also folk remedies, helping to combat acidity, for example - crushed eggshells.

The optimal time for liming the site is the autumn season. Keep in mind that the selected material may impose restrictions on further fertilization of the soil. For example, when using cement dust or slaked lime, processing the garden with manure is postponed until the spring months.

Organization of beds

• Garlic is a sun-loving plant, so you need to place the beds so that they receive sunlight. It is advisable to orient them from north to south;
• The optimal width for garlic beds is one meter and the height is twenty-five centimeters. Given the superficial location of garlic roots, it will not need much height;

Important! The main mistake that should be avoided if possible is planting garlic in the same place every year. To grow freshly harvested bulbs in the same area, it is necessary to maintain an interval of five to six years, otherwise the garlic will not sprout.

You can read more about how to lime the soil using fluff to increase yield below.

Signs of ripening garlic

In addition to approximate dates and reliance on moon calendar, the gardener must be able to recognize the external signs of plant maturity on his own in order to navigate the situation. Recognizing the end of the growing season in garlic is quite simple, you just have to remember the main identifying features:

1. Ripening primarily affects garlic leaves. Their upper part gradually acquires a yellow tint, while the leaves located at the base become brittle and dry. Please note that this feature applies only to plants with shoots removed;

Yellowing of garlic seedlings can be a sign of both ripening and certain diseases.

Why remove arrows?

There is a widespread belief among gardeners that removing shoots significantly speeds up ripening. Indeed, if you cut off the shoots of garlic, then very soon we will see how its leaves begin to turn yellow and dry out. However, with increasing yields, everything is not so simple. Removing the frog allows the bulbs to expand by about fifteen percent only if you have chosen the right variety.

For example, garlic purchased in Asia does not require cutting off the shoots; this manipulation will not lead to any visible effect. In the same case, if you are processing Russian varieties garlic, common in Siberia, the Urals and Altai, then removing the shoots is a very useful ritual that allows you to enrich the harvest. In this regard, knowledge of the origin and pedigree of the garlic being planted will be a useful addition when growing it.

Harvesting and processing garlic

Once you are sure that the garlic is ripe, you should take decisive action. If the summer turns out to be dry, it is advisable to pre-moisten the soil to make harvesting easier. Otherwise, there are several universal advice, which will make harvesting easier and eliminate significant losses:

1. Choose a day in advance to harvest garlic. For digging up bulbs, a warm, fine day without precipitation is ideal, which can over-moisten the bulbs and contribute to their rotting;