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If you grow garlic in your garden, you’ll value this tip like gold. It’s very simple and because of that you can look forward to a bountiful harvest.
The secret lies in covering the garlic beds with straw.
Garlic loves moist soil and straw ensures the soil won’t harden and will better absorb moisture. First, however, hoe the soil a little to aerate it.
Then cover with about a 2-3 centimetre layer of straw. Thanks to the straw the garlic will have pleasant warmth and also fertilizer. It also retains moisture, which means you’ll be able to water less and save time and money.
This way the garlic will have ideal conditions and you can look forward to a bountiful harvest and large heads of garlic!
Tips from experienced growers
- When the first garlic leaves poke out of the ground, give the plants a nitrogen-containing fertilizer. Dissolve 1 tablespoon of urea in 10 litres of water and apply to the rows. I use 7-10 l per square metre.
- When the garlic leaves reach a height of 10-15 cm, heap soil up around the bulb and sprinkle with wood ash. Then cover with soil again. We repeat this procedure even when the scape appears (I call it an arrow :-)). Otherwise we do not hoe or loosen the soil.
- When the heads start to curl spirally, remove them and leave only a few; on them you’ll see when it’s time to harvest the garlic (it’s better to harvest the heads earlier, before they are completely curled, so the garlic isn’t unnecessarily exhausted and can focus energy on forming the bulb). From these you can make an excellent garlic paste; it’s full of vitamins.
- When the heads that were previously curled begin to straighten and cracks appear on them, it’s time to harvest. Don’t let the heads completely fall apart and dry out. Then the garlic tends to rot and is more susceptible to disease. For softneck garlic, the best time to harvest is when the leaves begin to yellow and the tops flop over.
- Harvest on sunny days and let the garlic dry in the row for 2-3 days. Then you can transfer it to crates and let it finish drying indoors.
