Garlic is grown in almost every country, as this vegetable is often used in cooking for preparing various dishes. Before you start planting this plant, you should figure out when garlic is harvested in the middle zone. Also, before planting, you will have to determine the best varieties of garlic for the middle zone.
When to dig up spring garlic?
Not all vegetable growers know when to dig summer garlic in the middle zone. Harvesting is often done in mid-summer - July 15–20.By this time, all the fruits have time to form and fully ripen. To ensure the maturity of a vegetable, carefully examine its appearance. The main sign of garlic ripeness is massive yellowing of the leaves. Therefore, if the lower leaves gradually turn yellow, you can safely begin harvesting. The yellow color of the leaves indicates that all the nutritional components from them have passed into the fruit.
However, it is not only maturity that determines when to harvest spring garlic for further storage.
How does garlic harvesting depend on the weather?
To accurately determine, When digging up garlic in central Russia, you need to familiarize yourself with the weather for the coming days. After all, the timing of harvest directly depends on weather conditions.
It is recommended to collect garlic heads on clear and sunny days with perfectly dry soil. Of course, in the Tula region, when they dig up garlic, it can rain at any moment. In this case, you will have to postpone harvesting until the next day. However, this does not stop some, and even in a rainstorm they do not stop harvesting ripe garlic heads from the garden.
Some people are interested in when to harvest garlic in Smolensk and in what weather to do it? In this case, the harvest time also depends on weather conditions. If, after all the fruits have ripened, the weather remains warm and sunny, then you can begin harvesting. After the rains, you will have to postpone the garlic harvest until the soil dries completely.
Cleaning according to the lunar calendar
When the heads are fully ripe, it is recommended to consult the lunar calendar to find the most favorable date for digging up garlic. The most favorable days for harvesting vegetables in July are 5–8, 10–15, 20–25.Sometimes the ripening of fruits is delayed until August and you have to choose favorable days of this month. At the end of summer, you need to clean the heads on the 3rd–5th, 10th–13th, 15th–17th and 30th.
Also in the lunar calendar there are dates for harvesting fruits, selected depending on the characteristics of the movement of the earth’s satellite. In this case, the vegetable is dug up on July 5, 10, 16, 21, 24 and 25. In August, it is better to harvest the ripe crop on the 3rd, 10th, 17th, 28th and 29th.
When determining the time for harvesting vegetables from the garden, you should not rely only on the lunar calendar. You also need to carefully examine the garlic bushes. The garlic heads should be fully ripe and ready to harvest.
Harvesting winter garlic
Before you start harvesting winter garlic, you need to figure out when to dig it up in the middle zone. They do this in the second half of July or early August. It is easier to determine the exact timing of the harvest if the date of planting the garlic was recorded in advance. In this case, bulb harvesting begins 100 days after the first shoots appear. You should not leave the plant in the garden any longer, as it will become overripe.
Signs of overripeness include the bursting of scales that cover the garlic head. Also, on overripe vegetables, the teeth fall apart, and the bulb puts out young roots for further germination. It is better to harvest the entire crop before it becomes overripe, since overripe heads are poorly stored.
Winter garlic is harvested only in clear, dry and windless weather. To do this, all bushes with ripe heads are carefully dug up with a pitchfork or a bayonet shovel, after which the heads are removed from the ground. They must be removed from the ground carefully so as not to accidentally damage the fruits.It is necessary to get rid of the soil on the surface of the garlic, since it is because of it that it rots. You also need to be careful when getting rid of the soil so that the heads do not get damaged and start to rot because of this.
How to properly harvest garlic and prepare it for storage?
Before harvesting garlic in the middle zone, you need to familiarize yourself with the harvesting features of this vegetable crop. As in the case of winter garlic, it is necessary to properly harvest garlic only on warm summer days in the morning or evening. It is very important that the soil is dry, as this greatly simplifies the process of digging up the garlic heads.
Having dug up all the fruits, they are cleaned of adhering soil, laid out on the site and covered with leaves so that the root crop does not get burned. The heads are left outside for 3–4 days or transferred to a well-ventilated area for further storage of the harvested crop.
Some people immediately cut off the leaves of the dug up bushes, but this should not be done. Within 5–7 days, assimilants are present in the leaves, which eventually enter the fruits. Therefore, the top leaves are cut off after they have completely drained. The only thing that gets rid of right away is the soil and roots. The soil is removed from the surface of the plant carefully so as not to accidentally damage the outer skin.
Improperly collected soil reduces the shelf life of the collected heads and contributes to their rotting.
Tips from an experienced summer resident
Having figured out when to harvest winter garlic in the Nizhny Novgorod region and other regions of the central zone, you should familiarize yourself with tips for storing the crop.
All varieties of winter garlic in central Russia are stored:
- In pigtails. This is the most common harvest storage method used by many gardeners.Garlic braids are created by using dried stems with leaves. When all the plants are collected in braids, they are tied up in a closet, pantry or other dark place.
- In grids. Nets are also used to save space when storing harvested garlic. Using this method of storing crops, you will have to regularly inspect the harvested crop to get rid of spoiled heads.
- In flour. Often, ordinary flour is used to store garlic, which absorbs excess moisture. To store the harvest in this way, the bottom of the saucepan is covered with flour, and the heads are laid on top. After this, the vegetable is covered with a layer of flour on top and covered with a lid.
- In bags. Bags made from natural materials are often used to create an ideal place for storing vegetables. Before placing the harvest in bags, it is treated with salt to protect the fruit from pests and diseases.
Conclusion
All gardeners who decide to connect their lives with growing vegetables are engaged in planting and harvesting garlic. In order to properly remove ripe garlic from the plot, you need to understand the timing of harvesting the fruits and the features of this process.
