How to properly trim garlic after harvesting for storage?

Storing garlic is a fairly simple task, but it requires some knowledge. If you store a vegetable incorrectly, it will spoil over time and you will have to throw it away. Therefore, before storing, you need to familiarize yourself with how to properly trim garlic for storage and how to properly process garlic after digging it up.

When to remove garlic from the garden?

Many inexperienced gardeners know nothing about harvesting garlic.Before you start harvesting, you need to figure out when to harvest and trim the garlic from the garden.

The lunar calendar is often used to determine dates. With its help you can get information about the right time to collect vegetables. And also determine when to dig up garlic bulbsso that they are better stored in winter. However, it still cannot be used to determine the exact day of harvesting vegetables, since everything depends on the date of their planting.

To accurately choose the most suitable time for harvesting in the spring, you need to determine that the garlic is ripe. To do this, pay attention to the leaves of the plant. In ripe vegetables, they gradually dry out by two-thirds. If you collect unripe fruits, they will often get sick and will not be stored well in winter.

Also, the timing of harvest depends on the type of garlic grown:

• Spring. This is a summer-autumn variety that does not bolt and takes a long time to ripen. Spring garlic is removed from the garden when its foliage begins to wither and turn yellow.
• Winter garlic. From the name it is clear that this variety belongs to winter plants. To determine the timing of harvesting the garlic heads, carefully inspect the plant. The lower leaves of ripe garlic turn yellow, and the skin on the inflorescences gradually cracks. Most often, this variety will be fully ripened by the end of July or the beginning of August. It is not recommended to delay the boron treatment of winter garlic, as this will reduce the quality of the harvested crop. Plants harvested at the wrong time become overripe, causing their heads to fall apart and deteriorate.

How to determine whether garlic is ready for harvesting?

It is known that garlic is not cut immediately and before harvesting you need to make sure that it is ready.

To determine the readiness of the vegetable for harvesting during the cultivation and formation of garlic, one control bush is planted in the garden bed.When the growing of seedlings is completed and the vegetable is fully ripe, its arrow will burst and scales and bulbs will be visible under it. This is what indicates that the bushes are completely ready for digging up for further storage.

How to properly remove from the garden?

Many people are interested in how to properly collect garlic for storage. To create optimal collection conditions, the site is prepared. To do this, watering the bushes and feeding them with organic and mineral fertilizers is stopped in advance. It is also recommended to partially rake the soil away from the plants to speed up the ripening of the garlic heads. After this, you can begin harvesting.

Garlic should be harvested on sunny days to keep the area free of dirt. During digging, the fruits are carefully dug up with a shovel or pitchfork. Some people don’t know whether they need to wash garlic when digging it out of the ground. It is not necessary to wash, but it is necessary to clean the heads of adhering soil. After digging up all the bushes, the plants are carefully laid out for further drying.

Having dug up the garlic bushes, you need to figure out whether the feathers need to be trimmed after digging. This should be done after the collected garlic has completely dried.

How to dry garlic after digging?

Before trimming garlic after harvesting, the plant is dried. To do this, the entire harvested crop is cleared of soil and laid out outdoors or indoors.

When to trim garlic when drying?

To figure out how to trim garlic correctly and competently, you need to decide on the timing of its trimming. This should be done on the fifth day after drying begins. The procedure for removing the stem and roots is performed with sharp and sharpened pruning shears.The cut heads are dried for another 3–4 weeks in a well-ventilated building with normal air humidity.

To understand that drying has come to an end, you need to carefully examine the garlic skin. It should have a uniform color and become more brittle than before.

Storage at home

Not everyone has summer cottages and therefore some have to store vegetables in their apartments. There are different ways to store vegetables in rooms and even in the hallway.

In a refrigerator

Often a refrigerator is used to store the crop after drying. When using this method, you will have to place the peeled garlic heads in a saucepan or glass jar and completely fill them with vegetable oil. It will absorb the smell of garlic and can be used to dress fresh vegetable salads.

In paraffin

To make the garlic softer and not spoil, it is stored in paraffin liquid. To do this, each head of vegetable is thoroughly soaked in liquid paraffin for about 10–20 minutes. After this, they are removed from the paraffin and dried to become covered with a paraffin shell. It prevents the evaporation of moisture, so the crop retains its juiciness.

In glass jars

When indoor air humidity is high, garlic is stored in glass containers. When using this storage method, unpeeled garlic heads are added to pre-sterilized containers. When the entire harvest is distributed into the jars, they are covered with nylon lids.

In salt

The most common method storing garlic heads at home the use of salt is considered.

Before using this method, it is worth determining whether the roots of the garlic need to be cut off before storing.It is definitely necessary, since it is because of them that the harvested crop quickly deteriorates.

To preserve the harvested crop in winter, a thin layer of table salt is poured into jars, on which the heads are laid out. After distributing the vegetable among the jars, pour a final salt layer 3 cm thick on top.

Garlic collection and storage

Separately, it is necessary to highlight the methods of storing crops in cellars and summer cottages. In this case, gardeners are not limited to the boundaries of the apartment and therefore can use not only the above methods for preserving garlic in winter.

In linen bags

Some people don’t want to figure out how to process unprocessed garlic before storing and simply leave it in canvas bags. However, this can only be done in rooms with normal air humidity. In damp cellars, before placing the harvest in bags, the heads are treated with table salt or onion peels, which absorb moisture well.

In wicker baskets

In the cellar, garlic is stored in special wicker baskets that hold 2–4 kg of the harvest. This container is great for storing vegetables, as they never spoil in it.

In braids

Experienced vegetable growers who have been growing and storing garlic for many years prefer to store garlic in braids. Such braids can be easily placed in a pantry, closet or cellar. The shelf life of garlic using this method depends on the room in which the braids will hang.

Conclusion

All gardeners who grow garlic face problems storing the harvest. To properly preserve garlic heads in winter, you need to familiarize yourself with the peculiarities of harvesting and methods of storing it.