Growing garlic is becoming very popular in the Czech Republic, even in domestic conditions. It is not said for nothing that garlic is the best. And in our country it is guaranteed to be a favourite vegetable, spice and a means to long health. Today we’ll give you advice on how to grow garlic in your home garden, when to harvest it and which varieties to choose. It’s not complicated at all, and you can have a homegrown ingredient that you use in your kitchen every now and then.
How to grow garlic?
Garlic has high nutritional value, it needs fertile soil rich in humus. If you have poorer quality soil, you need to fertilise it with manure in the autumn and then wait a year before planting garlic there. A good crop rotation before garlic in the same soil is legumes (peas, beans). It should not be planted where other onion vegetables used to be. It requires regular watering, especially during the hardening and growth of bulbs. This means in May and June.
When to plant and what varieties to choose?
Garlic is planted in the soil in the fall in October or November, or in the spring in March or early April. Garlic plants planted in autumn form larger heads. You should also choose different varieties for different planting times. Let’s take a look at which are ideal for autumn and which are ideal for spring.
- For winter growing, Arkus, Ceves, Harnaś, Huzar, Mega and Ornak are ideal varieties.
- Spring garlic does not produce inflorescences, so the recommended varieties are Cyril, Janus, Jankiel.
How to plant garlic?
It is best to buy certified material at a garden center. You may not grow anything from a garlic head you buy at the store. But this route is also possible. To get planting material, divide the garlic head into cloves. The clove is picked from the head just before planting and must have a fragment of the heel. Only large cloves are planted in rows of 6-7 cm to a depth of 5 cm. Small cloves should not be planted as you would get small garlic heads, which you certainly don’t want.