How to grow garlic at home?

Many gardeners grow garlic in their garden plots. However, this can be done not only in open beds, but also at home. In this article, we will figure out how you can grow garlic at home.

Few people know that garlic can be successfully grown at home on a balcony or windowsill. The main thing is to adhere to a number of basic rules regarding the procedure for planting popular culture in an apartment. For this purpose, it is not necessary to have special knowledge or rich experience.

Let's highlight the main advantages of growing garlic at home.

• In such conditions, people can easily grow a high-quality and environmentally friendly product. Some make a profit in this way by selling grown vegetables.
• If a fragrant garlic is grown at home, then the owners will always have a source of essential vitamins.
• Growing garlic at home is very convenient, especially if a person does not have a summer cottage.
• The very agrotechnics of growing garlic at home is very simple and affordable for all users. Even those who have never encountered them will be able to understand all the features of such works.
• Garlic is often grown at home to get fresh and healthy greens. If all the work is carried out correctly, then it will be possible to harvest the "crop" after 1 month.
• Taking care of your home-grown garlic is easy and simple.

Garlic is a very useful and popular vegetable, which is why it is often grown in apartments. Such procedures do not have serious drawbacks, however, a person must necessarily take into account that not everyone can eat garlic.

• It is not recommended to use it for diseases of the kidneys and liver, as well as for disorders in the work of the gastrointestinal tract.
• The vegetable in question should not be eaten for gastritis, anemia, and pancreatitis.
• Diseases of the genitourinary system are also a direct contraindication to the use of garlic.

As stated above, some people choose to grow garlic at home for sale. In this case, you can face a number of problems.

• In the early stages, it can be difficult to find a really good supplier of quality sets.
• You can't do without costs. At the very least, the garlic needs a suitable fertilizer.
• If you plan to grow winter garlic, you will need sandy loam soil.
• Sales problems may arise if the yield is high and there are no regular customers.

In order to grow a fragrant vegetable at home, you first need to decide on the optimal varieties. In this case, you can give preference to absolutely any type of vegetable - both spring and winter. That is why it is advisable to plant the variety that was previously planted outside the home and arranged the household with its characteristics of taste. Of course, there are also such subspecies of winter garlic that have been tested by practitioners empirically. We are talking about the varieties "Sochinsky 56", "Otradnensky" and "Kharkovsky". The listed varieties of the popular aromatic vegetable bring the richest harvest during winter days.

Before proceeding directly to planting garlic for further home cultivation, it is very important to carry out a number of preparatory procedures. It is necessary to properly prepare both the container itself and the soil in which vegetables will grow.

Before planting the garlic, you need to correctly prepare the container chosen for it. The pot or other container must have drainage holes and be large enough. The dishes should be wide, and their depth should be at least 20 cm so that the liquid does not flow out of the edges during watering. The structure of the tank itself is completely unimportant, as is the material from which it is made. It all depends solely on the preferences of the person who has planned to grow garlic at home.

It is very important to consider the characteristics of the soil in which the garlic will grow. It must be suitable for a given plant if a person wants to achieve a really good harvest. Ordinary soil collected in the garden is not suitable for planting at home. The land will require some preparation. For this purpose, per 10-liter bucket, the following is added:

• 1 part sand;
• 2 parts of humus;
• 0.5 l of wood ash (it should not contain any impurities).

When a suitable substrate for planting garlic is prepared, they are obliged to disinfect the soil. To do this, it is sent to the oven for 30 minutes. If you do not want to independently prepare the soil, you can purchase ready-made substrates in specialized stores. It can be a special universal type of soil designed for growing domestic crops.

You can plant garlic both in the ground and in the water. In both cases, it will not be difficult to germinate a fragrant vegetable. The main thing is to act carefully and in stages.

Let's find out how to properly plant garlic in a tank filled with soil.

• The container should be initially filled with a suitable soil mixture. It needs to be slightly compacted and be sure to moisturize. You should not pour too much soil - it should not spill over the edges of the pot. It is advisable to leave a place for convenient and unhindered watering and plant care.
• Next, you need to divide the head of garlic into separate cloves.
• At the next stage, the cloves will need to be placed in the ground with which the pot is filled. Each slice will need to be positioned so that its sharp tip is directed upward. Some try, on the contrary, to further deepen the teeth, as when planting in open ground. This method has an effect solely on the timing of germination - the first shoots will hatch 2 weeks later.
• Next, the garlic cloves will need to be sprinkled with earth, and then watered. It is advisable to water the soil with a spray bottle so that the liquid does not lift the teeth up.
• After that, the container can be safely exposed in a sunny place in the house.

Forcing garlic greens can also be carried out in water. For this, the head of garlic is divided into cloves. The latter are peeled, and then gently placed in a bowl of shallow depth. After that, the selected container is half filled with water. This fluid level must always be maintained. This technique makes it possible to obtain a crop twice. The first fruits can be obtained after 3 weeks, and then again after 14 days.

If initially large-sized teeth are planted, then it is quite possible to wait for the third wave of greenery after another 10 days. After that, the material for the planned planting needs to be changed. Against the background of the usual planting in the ground, garlic sprouts break through in about 1-3 weeks.The timing of when the vegetable begins to germinate depends on the parameters of the planting depth of the cloves, as well as the conditions in which the culture grows.

If a person wants to successfully grow tasty and fragrant garlic at home, then he needs to provide proper care for the seedlings. Let's get acquainted with the most important points regarding care procedures.

• The plant must necessarily grow in conditions of sufficient light. These can be direct rays of the sun. If there is a lack of light, then you can turn to the use of fluorescent lamps to guarantee landings 8 hours of full illumination.
• Proper watering of crops at home is also important. Watering the garlic is desirable once every 2-3 days. During the specified time period, the earth will have time to dry out, and the roots will not rot from excess moisture in the substrate.
• It is imperative to feed the garlic with suitable types of fertilizers at appropriate times, for example, in the spring. Supplements must be environmentally friendly. Mullein or bird droppings will do. If there are no such components, then you can use ready-made purchased dressings.
• If desired and necessary, it is possible to correct the development of growing garlic. To get larger heads, you need to regularly prune the greens, especially the arrows. If, on the contrary, you need to get more greenery, then you do not need to touch anything.

In most cases, the poor quality of the soil or the planting material itself leads to certain diseases of garlic. The same reasons often negatively affect the plants in the open field. More experienced gardeners immediately understand that the plant is "sick" if they notice yellowing or excessive softening of feathers. Usually such troubles arise due to:

• improperly composed or incorrectly selected soil mixture for garlic;
• infectious lesions that are preserved on the husk of garlic teeth;
• the spread of diseases from other plantings in the immediate vicinity.

There are several dangerous pests that can harm homemade garlic.

• Nematode. This is the name of small worms, the length of which is only 1 mm. They live on the teeth, sucking the juice out of them. As a result, the bottom cracks, the roots die off, and the feather dries up. Because of this, the plant eventually dies.
• Onion fly. Outwardly, this insect is difficult to distinguish from an ordinary fly, but at the same time it is smaller. Its body length is usually 6-8 mm. If this pest attacks, then the tops of the feathers turn yellow, the plant becomes more lethargic, as if it needs watering.

Garlic is often attacked by dangerous onion mites, thrips and many other pests. The infected plant does not have enough strength for further growth, it begins to wither, small and deformed heads grow. A similar effect is produced by fungal diseases affecting the culture.

It is worth taking on board some useful tips for growing garlic at home.

• If the plant has undergone serious viral diseases, then it is useless to treat it. In this case, it must be removed from the pot, and then be sure to destroy.
• It is necessary to properly care for the soil in which the vegetable grows. It must be loosened periodically, especially after watering. Any weed must be removed if the soil was taken from the site.
• The flower arrows need to be cut off. This becomes necessary, because because of the arrows, the plant wastes its energy in vain on the ripening of seeds.
• It is very important to prune the leaves of your home grown garlic. As soon as the leaf blades reach 15-20 cm in length, they can be eaten. To increase the period of forcing greens, it is required to cut off the extreme feathers - then new ones will grow from the middle.
• If the plants are grown on a windowsill, near which heaters are placed, it is necessary to protect them from overheating. Too high temperatures can dry out the arrows, reduce the quality of the feathers.
• If it is planned to use garden soil taken from the street for home cultivation of garlic, then it must first be carefully examined. There should be no debris or debris in the soil. It is worth baking it in the oven in advance.