The time to plant garlic is running out: How, when and where to plant

Garlic clearly is a part of our everyday recipes. It is too important ingredient and many of us resent buying low-quality Chinese or Spanish garlic. Of course, home-grown garlic is the best. It is not a complicated matter, but proper planting is extremely important. If you plant garlic at the right time you will be rewarded. The time for garlic planting is quickly approaching so we shall take a look at some aspects in more detail.

No rush

Planting requires the right timing and there is no need to rush it. Do not do it in September or October. The optimal time is usually around the end of November, often the beginning of December. If you plant early, you are increasing the risk that your crops will get fusarium wilt./strong> Everything depends when the actual winter comes. This year it looks like it will come quite late again, maybe even in January. So, keep watching and make sure to capture the right time – when the ground is not frozen yet. Perhaps we all get “lucky” and will be able to plant “already” in December…

Photo: Pixabay

Purchasing garlic for planting? Do not get fooled!

Vendors at various flea markets often sell garlic both for consumption and planting and they cannot guarantee healthy plants, plus the variety you are buying may not be the one they advertiseThe vendor should give you the following information:

• name of the variety,
• shelf-life,
• origin and the multiplication stage.

Further, the vendor should provide you with a certain confirmation of quality. Also check if you are buying registered varieties. If the garlic does not meet these criteria you should use it for cooking and not for planting.

Preparation before planting

Make sure to soak garlic in an anti-fungal solution before planting. You should do this during September and October. Divide the garlic into individual cloves and soak it in the solution. A product called Rovral Aquaflo is commonly used right before planting.

Photo: Radek Štěpán

Garlic planting rules

Garlic should be planted in the following pattern 25 – 35 x 8–13 cm. The base of the cloves should be planted 10 to 12 cm deep. Many gardeners do not use planting dibber as the hole is too small at the bottom and it may prevented garlic from taking roots properly.

Which varieties? There are plenty to choose from

There are many Czech and Eastern European garlic varieties. The most popular include:

• late hardneck Bjetin suitable for early harvest,
• late softneck Anton for a green harvest,
• softneck Venetian with sharper taste,
• semi-late hardneck Blanin,
• hardneck Havran,
• semi-late, high-yield hardneck Jovan,
• softneck Lukan – great for storage
• and many more.

Preview photo: Pixabay