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Onions rightfully occupy one of the first places among garden crops. Perhaps there is not a single gardener who could do without them on the site. Excellent taste, a wide range of applications for cooking various dishes, the healing properties of onions and garlic have led to their extraordinary popularity. For all its apparent simplicity, the cultivation of these vegetables has its own characteristics. Without knowing the peculiarities of agricultural technology, one can hardly count on a rich harvest. So how is it produced planting onions and garlic, how to care for the crop?
Varieties of onions and garlic
Onions and garlic are on sale in a huge assortment of varieties. However, this diversity can be divided into 2 groups:
- with the formation of bulbs (garlic, onions, leeks);
- without the formation of bulbs (chives, wild garlic). For cooking, only the feathers of the plant are used.
The popularity of onions is understandable. Recently, housewives have been able to appreciate such varieties as leek, chives and others. And leek, in addition to excellent taste, has a remarkable keeping quality. This type of onion, like the usual "turnip", can be stored for the winter.
Now more about when to plant onions and garlic.
Landing order
It is advisable to start planting onions after planting cucumbers and root crops.
Onions are a thermophilic crop, preferring growing on well-moisturized soil. Onions are unpretentious to the composition of soils. It perfectly tolerates loam and sandy loam. And plots with swampy peaty soil are not suitable for growing onions. The best option for an onion garden is a sunlit area. It is undesirable to break onion beds even near trees, as the shadow from them will interfere with the normal development of the onion.
The cultivation of onions involves the use of mineral fertilizers (per 1 m2):
- nitrogen - 20 g;
- potash, phosphoric - 30 g each.
If the soil is well manured, nitrogen fertilization is not needed. The use of humus will not hurt for onions (about 2 kg per "square"). The introduction of fresh manure or poultry manure is unacceptable. Plants get sick, and with fresh organic matter, they can get into the soil weeds plants. For acidic soils, liming with chalk, ground limestone or wood ash is beneficial.
The specificity of onions is that during the first two months they do not absorb nutrients from the soil. He begins to "eat" intensively only in August. Therefore, the bulk of onion feeding falls on August.
Planting onions (sets)
Sevka preparation is as follows:
- withstand the planting material for 15-20 days at a temperature of 20 degrees;
- after that, keep the set for 8 hours at a temperature of about 35 degrees.
An important point is the disinfection of the planting material. The best option is to soak it for 2 hours in a weak solution of potassium permanganate.
Before planting, the seedlings are thoroughly washed. It should not be planted too deeply, preferably 3-4 cm. It is enough to grind the bulbs with a layer of rotted manure and rake the soil with a rake. The spacing between onions depends on their size:
- up to 10 mm - the distance is approximately 50 mm;
- 10-15 mm - the spacing is 80 mm;
- 15-20 mm - 100 mm.
After planting is completed, you need to mulch the bed (the thickness of the mulch is 2 to 3 cm).Sawdust, peat, straw and even paper are suitable as mulch.
Growing onions will not cause much trouble. In the first week, the garden bed should be watered abundantly, the soil between the grooves should be loosened and weeds should be weeded. The frequency of watering and aeration is once every 7 days. Weeding is a must because weeds hold water in the ground, and excessive moisture can make the plant sick.
How to grow onions from seeds
The first stage is the preparation of the beds. A bed for sowing onion seeds, as in the case of a set, is placed in a well-lit place. The height of the onion bed is no more than 150 mm, the width is no more than 800 mm. When pre-digging the soil, add about 3 kg of peat or compost per square meter. From mineral fertilizers - 1 tbsp. l. superphosphate with nitrophosphate.
2-3 days before planting, it is necessary to shed the earth with copper sulfate dissolved in hot water (1 tbsp. L. Vitriol per 10-liter bucket of water). Now the onion bed is ready.
To avoid fungal infection, the seed is prepared as follows:
- 15 minutes - in water heated to 50 degrees;
- day - in water 25-25 degrees;
- two days - at room temperature (the seed is wrapped in moistened gauze or cloth).
On average, onions are sown from April 20 to 25.
Planting depth is small, no more than 20 mm. The distance between the furrows is approximately 50 mm. Seeds are planted at a distance of a centimeter and a half. At the end of sowing, the onion bed is carefully watered. After the emergence of mass seedlings, it is necessary to thin out the planting so as to bring the interval between plants to 2 cm. Care for the emerging seedlings consists in watering them and weeding them in a timely manner. It is most convenient to weed onions with moist soil. It is impossible to wait until the weeds grow strongly, as the root system of the crop can be damaged during weeding. In June, you need to add ammonium nitrate as a top dressing.
The crop is harvested from late July to mid-August. Onions are dried by a stove or heating device. With this approach, it will not rot. Small "turnip" is used for winter planting. Larger onions are good for human consumption. The optimum storage temperature for onions is in bags of 10-12 kg, at a temperature of 17-18 degrees. At higher temperatures, onions germinate. During storage, the product is periodically sorted out, removing dried onion heads.
The specifics of planting garlic
Garlic is planted in autumn and spring. In the first case, the plant is called winter, in the second - spring. Winter plants thrive on sandy loam. The preparation of the soil for the cultivation of "winter crops" is carried out about a week before planting the crop. The soil must be dug up, the roots of weeds must be removed. The next step is the use of fertilizers (per 1 m2):
- humus - 5 kg;
- superphosphate - 30 g;
- potassium salt - 20 g.
The day before planting the cloves, ammonium nitrate (10 g per 1 m2) is added.
For planting spring garlic, medium to light loam is suitable. If the soil is sandy or peaty, it is mixed with loam. So, more chances for a rich harvest. The planting date is April 20-25. Chives are soaked before planting in a weak solution of potassium permanganate at room temperature. Even more effective disinfection - consecutive holding for 3 minutes. in solutions:
- table salt (2.5%);
- copper sulfate (1%).
Large, without signs of disease, teeth are selected as material for planting. In this case, the mother's bottom must be removed so that it does not interfere with the development of the plant.
The distance between the rows of garlic is about 25 cm, between the plants - 10-11 cm. The planted cloves should not be too deeply sunk: the roots will develop worse. The planting depth is about 4 cm.After the planting of the garlic is completed, the soil must be mulched with a layer of sawdust or rotted manure. The thickness of the mulch is from 2 to 5 cm.
Care
Garlic doesn't need frequent watering. Water it only when the soil is clearly dry. Watering plants is done exclusively at the root. A month before harvesting, the garlic is stopped to water. But you need to weed the garden regularly. Garlic also needs feeding (one in spring and one in summer). As an additional top dressing, manure diluted in water in a ratio of 1:15 is suitable. If the leaves turn out to be light, the plants are fed with nitrophos (for 10 liters - 2 tablespoons of fertilizer).
Harvesting time for the garlic is late July-early August. It is not worth keeping the garlic in the garden for too long. The onion breaks up into separate cloves, the product is worse stored in winter. Before collecting the garlic for storage for the winter, it is dried in the sun for 12 days, and stored indoors during the rain. You can dry the heads of garlic in the oven or a special electric dryer. You can store garlic at an air temperature of 17-18 degrees or at 1-3 degrees (the so-called cold method).
The keeping quality of garlic in winter depends on how ripe the onions are. Unripe garlic has too loose flesh, while overripe garlic is peeled into separate cloves. And in fact, and in another case, the product will be stored for a short time. The best option for storing the product is wooden, well-ventilated boxes. Plastic bags for storage of garlic not suitable: the product will rot.
