Baking soda for garlic planting and other interesting tips

Many of us have already planted garlic, but if you did not, there is certainly no need to panic. The frosts did not hit yet so, you still have time. Before you get to that we shall offer some interesting advices that our ancestors believed in.We give you the traditional and the less common tips.

Garlic needs nitrogen

Maybe you heard your grandma that you will grow the biggest garlic if you plant it to a soil which contains sufficient amount of nitrogen.This is exactly what garlic needs but did you know that and plants that shared the soil before you planted your garlic can actually help you out? Here are the strongest “front runners” that can actually provide garlic with nitrogen:

• cucumbers,
• beans,
• gourds,
• eggplants,
• tomatoes.

On the other hand do not plant garlic to a soil where onions, garlic or some other root vegetables grew previously. If there is no other option you should plant common vetch (Vicia sativa) first, which should rejuvenate the substrate and return nitrogen back to the soil.

Photo: Radek Štěpán

Garlic pickling?

This process is absolutely necessary for some gardeners, however, there are gardeners who do not pickle garlic. A five percent Sulky-K solution is ideal for this purpose. Garlic wedges should be pickled for about 8 to 12 hours. 1 litter of the solution is sufficient for 1 kg of garlic. The wedges will turn blue-green but most importantly, your garlic will be protected from mould and various parasites.

Baking soda – an interesting tip

This old “organic” recipe is often used even today. You need to protect garlic from rot, pests and if possible, you should provide an extra energy for better growth. This process should help garlic survive even very cold winter months. Dissolve one tablespoon of soda in three litres of water put the wedges in and let them soak overnight. Make sure to plant them with the root part down.The distance between individual wedges should be around 7 to 8 and there should be 20 cm between individual rows. Finally, one more interesting, but unverified tip we found on the Internet. Just before planting soak wedges for 3 minutes in water or other diluted transparent alcohol. Well, we never did but we shall try this year too.

Preview photo: Pixabay