How to properly dry winter garlic after digging and where to store it?

Winter garlic: a finicky crop, harvested in July. Therefore, how to store winter garlic until spring is a very popular question and has not yet received a comprehensive answer. Before this period, most heads dry out, rot or are damaged by disease if stored improperly. So, let's try to answer the question and touch on other important topics.

The main condition for long-term storage is the time of harvesting

Garlic is dug out from the beds when certain conditions occur. No rain for three weeks and the harvest is ripe.

The first condition is necessary for long-term storage. Three weeks before harvesting, stop watering the plants. If it rains constantly when the heads are ripening, they need to be thoroughly dried in a dry place.

The maturity of garlic is checked in the following way. Inspection of plants - when ripe, the scales become dry and thin, the lower leaves turn yellow and dry out, the skin of the inflorescences splits. The tops lie in the garden bed. Drying such fruits will not take much time.

When overripe, garlic loses nutrients, new roots appear at the bottom, the heads are divided into slices, and those, in turn, begin to hurt and rot. Such vegetables cannot be stored for long periods of time. Therefore, it is important to harvest the crops from the beds on time.

Cleaning plants

Cleaning is carried out in dry, sunny weather using a pitchfork. They damage garlic less during harvesting. After digging, the soil is shaken off the plants, damaged and rotten fruits are discarded. The rest should be dried. The leaves are dried along with the fruits.

On dried fruits, the roots and tops are cut off; when storing in braids and bunches, 30-centimeter tops are left, cutting off the leaves and stems to the desired size.

How is winter garlic dried after digging?

After harvesting, the plants are thoroughly dried before wintering. The following conditions are suitable for this purpose:

1. Beds - provided there is no rain.
2. Gazebos - always under a roof during rain; in sunny weather, plants are taken out into the sun.
3. Warm, damp rooms. They dry when the weather outside is humid with heavy rains. In humid weather, drying anything is problematic.

Depending on weather conditions, garlic is dried for up to a month.It is necessary to check the heads for rotting, mold, and drying out.

Preparation for long-term storage

Dried heads need to be prepared for storing winter garlic at home in the following way. Only healthy fruits, not damaged by disease or mechanically, will withstand long-term storage. Three layers of scales should remain on the head - they protect the cloves from drying out and damage. The roots are trimmed, leaving 1 centimeter on the head. We also trim them over gas or fire. We sort the heads by size.

Where to store garlic?

Garlic is stored at home in two ways: cold and warm.

With the cold method, store in the basement or refrigerator. In this case, the optimal temperature is from +2 to +4 degrees. Air humidity 70–80%. At higher humidity it will begin to rot.

Warm storage method - air temperature from 20 to 24 degrees. If the temperature is very high and the air is dry, the cloves will simply dry out. The storage place should be dry, but not near heating appliances. The bathroom is not suitable for this purpose. Most often, gardeners hang it in the hallway, kitchen, attic and closets.

How to properly store winter crops?

Depending on the conditions or storage location, garlic is prepared in different ways. How to preserve winter garlic until spring at home?

The warm storage method is used when there is no cellar, basement or free space in the refrigerator. Gardeners use various devices to extend the life of the heads. Below are the most popular ones.

With the cold method, dried fruits are placed in a basement, refrigerator or cellar. There, in winter, the temperature is maintained at +2-+4, just like in the refrigerator.

Scythe

Before storing for the winter, vegetables are prepared slightly differently. How to trim correctly? Do not cut off the tops completely. To tie the fruits in braids, leave stems 30 centimeters long. Which will later be braided into a pigtail.

For this method of wintering, in the fall, fruits with three uncracked shells, whole, and uniform in color are selected. Garlic is braided for storage, with additional rope weaved into it for hanging. Stored in a dry, warm place in an apartment or house. Often serves a decorative function.

Bunches

The tops are processed as in braids, but then tied with a broom, 10–15 heads each, and hung in a dry, warm place. Please note that the room temperature should not exceed 24 degrees, otherwise the cloves will wither.

Banks

In jars, winter garlic is stored longer at home due to the lack of air circulation. They are pre-sterilized. Select smooth, uncracked heads of uniform color, without spots, rotting or sprouting. Place in prepared jars and roll up. Store in cabinets and pantries.

Boxes

A large number of vegetables are placed in wooden or cardboard containers in the fall for wintering. Dried, uninfected fruits are pre-selected. Place the boxes in a warm room in which the air temperature is kept from 18 to 24 degrees. The winter harvest is stored in boxes in a cold way, placed in a basement or cellar. The harvest left in this way is used as planting material for garlic cloves during spring sowing.

Wicker baskets

They are stored in birch bark baskets in the same way as in boxes.

Nylon stockings

Our great-grandmothers kept bulbs in stockings. The method is time-tested.They are stored for a long time if they are placed in a warm room with an optimal temperature.

Net

They are stored in nets, as in nylon. Hang in the pantry, hallway or kitchen. Do not allow the air to become waterlogged; the vegetables will rot. We plant these cloves in the garden beds in the spring.

Paraffin

An excellent, but time-consuming method. Healthy, dried fruits are selected, dipped in heated paraffin and placed in containers. With this method, vegetables do not lose moisture, as they are sealed with paraffin.

Sunflower oil

Each prepared fruit is dipped in vegetable oil boiled for an hour, then placed in a glass container, closed with a lid and left for the winter in a cold or warm room. Sterilized oil will prevent germs and fungi from multiplying. Using this method, garlic is stored until spring.

Sprinkle with flour, onion skins, salt

With this method, the trimmed material is placed in a container. Cans, boxes, baskets will do. Lay out in layers, sprinkling each layer with flour, salt or husks. A prerequisite is that the first layer must consist of poured material. The fruits are completely protected from the external environment. It can be stored in this way in both warm and cold rooms.

When overwintering garlic, it is important to inspect the fruit for rot, sprouting and drying out. Damaged heads are removed from the total mass. Otherwise, one head will ruin the entire harvest. Maintain optimal temperature and air humidity. If these conditions are met, the preserved winter garlic will last until new cloves are planted without loss and will delight the owners with tasty cloves until the next harvest. Store winter crops correctly.