Description and cultivation of Chinese garlic, cultivation and care

Myth or reality

First, it’s worth talking about public opinion. And she, as you know, is not entirely delighted with such a vegetable. There are reasons why Russian gardeners are afraid to grow Chinese garlic on their plots. Let's get to know them better:

1. The most common problem is related, oddly enough, to psychology. The Russians are afraid that since this is China, it means there will be no quality. And what can we say about the taste?
2. Many people believe that all Chinese garlic is genetically modified.
3. This species is not adapted to our harsh climate.

There is also the other side of the coin. Scientists conducted research during which the following information was obtained:

1. When sown in our climate, most Chinese garlic germinates well.
2. The garlic of Chinese breeders is considered spring. In the future, the vegetable reproduces well.
3. It germinates much faster than our local varieties.

If you are wondering what Chinese garlic is called in its homeland, then we will tell you about it. Farmers from the Middle Kingdom call this vegetable nothing more than “xiangshin”.

As you can see, this garlic is considered not only healthy, but also popular. They constantly talk and argue about him. And we move on to the next interesting facts.

Benefits and harms

Perennial Chinese garlic is used not only in cooking, but also in folk medicine. Due to the fact that the false onion and its shoots contain a large amount of mineral salts and vitamins, eating this vegetable fresh can provide up to 60% of the body’s daily need for these substances.

Research on this plant still proves its benefits, but possible harm should also be taken into account before consuming this vegetable.

Benefit

Fragrant onions are not only a source of vitamins and minerals, but also fiber. It is necessary for normal peristalsis of the stomach and intestines, and also accelerates metabolism and promotes the elimination of toxins.

If you regularly eat Chinese garlic, you can:

1. Boost immunity during seasonal colds. The high content of vitamin C in the heads and shoots of fragrant onions helps strengthen the body and increase its resistance. The first arrows appear in early spring, and garlic turns green before the first frost. You can also plant the bulbs in your home or greenhouse and eat your greens all winter.
2. Prevent exacerbation of gastritis and even cure peptic ulcer. In addition, false bulbs have a mild choleretic effect.
3. Strengthen the heart muscle and blood vessel walls. This happens due to the high content of beta carotene and potassium.

In folk medicine, this garlic is used to prepare an alcohol tincture. It is drunk in the morning on an empty stomach with a small amount of water to remove helminths from the body. This remedy can be used to treat adults and children over 3 years of age.

Fresh salads with fragrant onions are recommended for people to consume during periods of heavy physical or mental stress. The juice of this plant is also useful. It relieves irritation resulting from insect bites. Also, green shoots can be used to rub nettle burns.

This plant is often used as an appetite stimulant. Essential oils contained in the false bulb and green shoots irritate the taste buds and stimulate the production of saliva and gastric juice.

Harm

The piquant taste and pleasant aroma of the plant are based on essential oils, which are found in abundance in the stems and head. During breastfeeding, women are not recommended to eat dishes with it, as the milk may acquire a specific taste and the child will refuse to drink it.

People with individual intolerance should also be careful. The plant can cause a severe allergic reaction. Those who suffer from pancreatitis, urolithiasis, and cholecystitis should not include dishes with Jusai in their diet.

How to find out?

When going to the store or market for vegetables, you can find different varieties of garlic. If you look closely, everyone has a different appearance. Do you know the types of Chinese garlic and how to distinguish it from all the others?

This vegetable from the Middle Kingdom can be identified by the following external features:

• head of smooth round shape;
• there is no stem in the middle of the head, this proves that this is a spring type of garlic.

If you decide to try to grow this garlic yourself, we will help you.

First, let's figure out what's so healthy about garlic?

The harvest of fragrant onions can be obtained throughout the warm season. Not only soft greens, but also flowers and stems are suitable for consumption. In terms of taste characteristics, it is something between ordinary garlic and onions. Chinese garlic can be eaten raw, used in baking, pickled, dried and salted. The vegetable is a year-round source of vitamins and nutrients.

Chinese garlic is a frost-resistant perennial plant, so it is often used as a decorative garnish.

Experts often talk about the health risks of Chinese garlic. But does this product have beneficial properties? You can find different opinions of experts on this issue.

Another part of the experts believes that Chinese garlic is able to destroy bacteria, activate the immune system, and also reduce the level of bad cholesterol. It is not without reason that the Chinese have long used this plant in folk medicine. However, due to unfavorable growing conditions, this type of garlic has more harmful properties than beneficial ones.

Why is garlic from China harmful? Experts attribute the dangerous qualities of the vegetable to the following factors:

• presence of pesticides;
• treating the heads with chlorine solutions;
• growing in unfavorable soil conditions;
• using dirty water for irrigation.

All this leads to the fact that the harm from consuming such garlic significantly outweighs the benefits. Next, we will look in detail at the dangerous properties of the Chinese vegetable.

Landing

Chinese garlic should be planted in early spring. It tolerates early frosts well. An ideal garden bed looks like this:

1. The place should be elevated.
2. Remove soil throughout the entire bed. The depth should not be more than the bayonet of a shovel.
3. Place straw, old leaves or weeds at the bottom of the bed. You can add manure. From above, the entire bed filler should be treated with nitrogen fertilizer. This will help the organic matter decompose quickly.
4. We bury it with earth - and you can proceed to the next step.

There is only one step left until landing. You need to prepare the garlic cloves. They do this as follows:

1. Divide the head into small cloves.
2. Peel them completely.
3. Disinfect planting material in a solution of copper sulfate. To do this, dissolve 10 grams of the substance in 10 liters of water.
4. Garlic is ready to plant.

Now send the processed cloves to a depth of about 10 centimeters. The distance between rows should be at least 20 centimeters. This will make it convenient to care for garlic and rake the soil away from the roots of the plant.

Useful and decorative properties

The soft and tender leaves of the plant, arrows and flowers are eaten. The harvest can be obtained throughout the warm season. The taste of the culture resembles a mixture of onions and garlic. The vegetable is consumed raw, added to baked goods, dried, pickled, and salted. This is a great vitamin supplement to have on your table all year long.

Since Chinese garlic is a frost-resistant perennial, it is also used for decorative purposes. Without loss of yield, it can remain in one place for up to 5 years. Throughout the warm season, a bed with a fragrant vegetable not only pleases with lush green mass, but also looks elegant, topped with a white lace of flowers.

Doubts about whether Chinese garlic is harmful or beneficial are again associated with confusion in terminology. The question of harm or benefit applies to ordinary garlic grown in China. Due to the large size of the smooth heads, consumers suspect the use of herbicides when growing it. But this has nothing to do with Chinese garlic.

This vegetable certainly has many beneficial properties: it contains large quantities of vitamins C and A, potassium salts, iron, phosphorus, and is saturated with biologically active substances. Eating it helps strengthen the immune system, improve the condition of blood vessels and the heart.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=mGndVzGrTP4

Care

Chinese garlic needs good watering. If the weather is dry and sunny, then for every square meter of the bed there should be 13 liters of water. When August comes, you can stop moistening the soil completely. Mandatory care should include fertilizing. During the entire season you only need to fertilize the vegetable twice:

1. Immediately after landing. To do this, dilute a special product “Humate +7 iodine”. Add the drug to a watering can with water.
2. The second fertilizer is done after 2-3 weeks. To do this, use diluted mullein or urea.

If it grows poorly, then you can add a couple more fertilizings.

How to care for Chinese garlic?

This vegetable crop is suitable for growing for beginners. Caring for Chinese garlic is simple and includes regular watering, weeding and loosening, pest control and adherence to planting and harvesting dates.

Irrigation

Plants need to be watered as needed. In excess moisture, the plant will not please gardeners with its harvest, but rather, on the contrary, will get sick and rot.

In the first year, fragrant onions are watered rarely; in the second year, the number of irrigation procedures is increased.

Fertilizer application

Fragrant onions do not require additional feeding. Once a season, you can water the plants with a solution of chicken manure, but do not allow drops of fertilizer to fall on the leaves.

Loosening and mulching the soil

After weeding, the row spacing of the onion beds is mulched with a mixture of humus and sand. The loosening procedure is combined with thinning and mulching and should be carried out after watering.

Diseases and pests: prevention and treatment

Chinese garlic is a plant with strong immunity, rarely gets sick and is most susceptible to attacks by aphids and onion flies. Regularly sprinkling wood ash on plants will help prevent these pests. In advanced cases, fungicides are used.

To prevent fungal diseases, you can water garlic plantings once a month with a weak solution of potassium permanganate.

In the garden

When Chinese garlic has grown, you can appreciate its appearance. It is significantly different from other varieties. Unlike other representatives, this one has:

• wide feather;
• yellow-green tint.

If you want to get a vegetable faster than your neighbors, then give preference to a variety such as Chinese garlic. It is easy to grow and in return you will get a good harvest.

Why is Solo in little demand on the Russian market?

“Solo” is positioned as a Chinese product, and the reaction of the Russian consumer to Chinese goods is known. Especially when it comes to food products. Solo garlic has proven itself excellent among housewives - it is well stored, without sprouting or drying out for a long time, it is easy to clean and has good taste characteristics.

An overview of this variety of garlic can be seen in the video below:

Experts and consumers suspect chemical processing is the reason for the unprecedented keeping quality of solo garlic. The Chinese with their commitment to dressing vegetables with various kinds of “chemicals” for the sake of preserving their presentation. Russians, listening to nutritionists, prefer seasonal vegetables to Chinese products.

It’s another matter when you grow such garlic yourself and then propagate it with your own, and not with purchased material.

Preparing and planting garlic

A month and a half before planting (I plant garlic somewhere in mid-October), at the end of August I dig two grooves on the bayonet of a shovel, 25-30 cm wide and 5 m long. The distance between the grooves is 70 cm. I add humus or compost into these grooves, I mix it with the soil and water it with a solution of copper sulfate (1 tbsp per 10 liters of water), and cover it with film on top. But the toad is crushing me - such an area (2x5 m) has been walking around for a month and a half! The area is grooves for garlic, then the passage to the cabbage is 60 cm. This means no film, and I sow this entire area with oats. You see, our land is measured not in hectares or acres, but in centimeters.

In the photo, behind the remains of cabbage, you can see an area occupied by rye - growing in the walkway and bed from which bush beans were removed. The rye will go off before winter, I will harvest it in the spring. In mid-October, I remove the sod with oats up to 5cm thick. The boundaries of the grooves are marked with pegs.

I make grooves in each groove on both sides, getting a two-row bed, in two grooves - 4 rows. For planting, I take healthy, well-dried winter garlic (by the way, at one time I planted spring garlic before winter, it was stored perfectly until the next harvest). I divide the heads into cloves and calibrate them into fractions: the largest, largest, medium and small.

I dip the cloves in a salt solution for a couple of minutes {6 tbsp. l. per bucket of water), then for a minute in a solution of copper sulfate (1 tsp per bucket) and do not rinse. I plant the largest ones at a distance of 13-15 cm from each other, large ones - 10 cm, medium ones - 8 cm, small ones - 6-7 cm. By the way, small ones often remain and go under planting along the raspberries.

The planting depth is 5-6 cm. I cover the beds (furrows) with earth with humus. And I cover this entire area on top with grass (removed oat turf) for the winter.

BEFORE THE APPEARANCE OF FROST, THE CEEKS SHOULD BE WELL ROOT TO A DEPTH OF UP TO 10-12 CM. I DETERMINE PLANTING DATES EACH YEAR BY FORECASTS, ALTHOUGH IN GENERAL - AS LUCKY.

Early in spring, the mulch needs to be raked and the soil loosened to a depth of 2-3 cm, being careful not to touch the garlic shoots.

The first time I feed with urea when the first leaves appear, the second time after 2-3 weeks, and the third time a month before harvesting. When the arrows grow to 15 cm, I cut them off, leaving 2 cm stumps (I don’t throw away the arrows themselves, they are healthy and tasty). If desired, I leave a few arrows for growing bulbs. When the cover on the bulb opens, I remove the smallest ones with tweezers and put a gauze bag on them. I leave them in the garden bed, and then I dig them up after the main garlic and dry them under a canopy.

Collection and storage

It is important to remove single-toothed teeth in time. The leaves of garlic grown from bulbs quickly dry out and die, and if they are late, the bulb begins to bury itself, making harvesting difficult. Moreover, losses are growing.

The procedure for harvesting “solo bulbs”:

• Removing one-tooth from the ground. Plant roots are trimmed using staples.
• When removing garlic from the soil, leave it in place to dry. It is laid directly along the lines.
• The crop is completely dried. If the weather is rainy, the garlic is dried by placing it under a canopy, in an attic or in a greenhouse made of film.
• The stem and roots are removed from dried bulbs.
• Having shaken the single-cloth bulbs from the soil, they are hidden for storage - in a dark, dry, well-ventilated room.

Phacelia as know-how

When the garlic begins to form a bulb, I hill it first to a height of 3-4 cm, and then higher. I take soil from the edges of the bed so that a groove is formed between the rows, into which I fertilize and water. Hilling protects the garlic from overheating. I water it 4-5 times per season, depending on the weather.

Yes, I forgot about one more know-how of mine. In the spring I walked around the garlic and thought that I couldn’t leave the area between the ditches to walk until July, and where could I find so much mulch for the entire garden. I decided to sow phacelia. It grows very quickly, produces a large green mass, is a good honey plant, blooms 6 weeks after sowing, and can be harvested immediately.

TO SOOW PHACELIA, YOU NEED A LITTLE SEED PER 1 SQUARE. M IS ONLY 6-8 G. WHEN CLEANING, IT DECOMPOSITS QUICKLY AND FEEDS THE PLANTS EXCELLENTLY.

At the beginning of July, I removed the phacelia and planted two rows of beet seedlings (I dug up and didn’t know where to put these seedlings). When I remove the garlic, the beets will take their toll in freedom until the fall. You can plant daikon, lettuce, herbs, etc. I first cover the garlic leaves and the greens planted with them from the sun.

Growing conditions in Russia

When sowing seeds either in early spring or late autumn, the first harvest will appear only next year. You can also use sprouted Chinese garlic seeds, which are sown closer to summer.

The sowing width should be on average 30 centimeters. You should sow to a depth of 1.5-2 cm with a consumption of up to 2 grams of seeds per 1 square meter. meter. Plant care is usual: weeding, thinning, infrequent watering. Onions can grow continuously in one place for up to 5 years.

This garlic ripens earlier than other varieties by a whole month. When grown in gardens, its heads may not be white, like those sold in the store, but purple, and more often oval. After harvesting, Chinese garlic is stored well until spring.

In Russia, plantings of Chinese garlic can be grown in the south, the Far East, Siberia, and mid-latitudes. Sweet onion is a frost-resistant plant, but prefers to grow in areas with warm climates. In our country, this variety is called jusai.

Under natural conditions, jusai grows on rocky soils, preferring loams. Excessive amounts of moisture are detrimental to fragrant onions; stagnation of water at the roots is unacceptable.

Chinese garlic is grown in well-lit areas. In shade and partial shade, fragrant onions grow poorly. It is not recommended to plant plants next to tall trees and shrubs.

Harvesting garlic

I dig up the garlic with a pitchfork. I dry it for a week and immediately put it aside for planting, but the condition is not used for conservation and for planting along the raspberries (holds back the shoots). And the bulk are for sale. The garlic is good, the price is lower than the store price, people willingly take it both for planting and for food. I leave some for the winter and store it in the refrigerator. So I have no problems with storage. Even if I don’t have enough of a couple of heads until the new harvest, I’ll buy it at the store.

You may also find the following materials useful:

• Autumn sowing - what to do with empty beds
• Growing large tomatoes
• Gogoshary sweet peppers - delicious on your table
• Red cucumbers (Tladianta): characteristics, description and reviews
• Ideas for designing beautiful beds at the dacha

Description of Solo garlic

Solo garlic is often called Chinese garlic. It is in China that more garlic is grown than anywhere else. Therefore, most of the garlic products on the shelves of Russia are from the Middle Kingdom. In addition to Chinese farmers, Indian and Peruvian farmers are engaged in the mass cultivation of single clove garlic.

The crop in question cannot be called a “variety”. Garlics in the form of one-toothed onions are obtained by creating certain growing conditions. To grow “Solo”, and not ordinary multi-clove garlic, you need:

• soils of a certain composition and fertility;
• high-tech planting care.

Solo garlic is not a variety, but a product of special agricultural technologies.

Solo garlic bulbs are covered with a thin white husk. There may be purple streaks. The diameter of one garlic is 25-50 mm.

The main advantages of the solo version:

• ease of cleaning;
• excellent garlic taste.

The cost of 1 kg of Solo garlic is 800-1200 rubles. Single-tooth heads are sold in consumer-attractive packaging - small rectangular baskets.

Growing from seeds and shoots, sowing technology

It is best to plant garlic in the garden, preferably in early spring (April is best), when the snow has already melted and the ground is not so hard.

Sowing technology:

• make not very deep holes in the prepared bed;
• Put humus, old leaves, and nitrogen-containing fertilizers on the bottom. This will help quickly decompose the remains and fill the hole with useful substances;
• put a garlic shoot in the hole;
• drop in;
• pour warm water.

It is worth considering that you can put either a small, young head or one slice into the hole. The most important thing is that the shoot is intact.

You cannot plant garlic in beds where onions, lettuce and other greens used to grow.

Mid-May is suitable for growing in Siberia. Only young heads should be used so that they have time to ripen by September. The place itself should be sunny and warm.

Planting takes place in April, in Siberia - in mid-May

In the case of growing garlic from seeds, you need:

• clear and dig up the ground;
• make grooves (you can simply draw them along with a stick);
• sow the seeds evenly;
• water.

Many people recommend covering the seeds with film after planting. This will promote active growth. But in the mature stage, the film must be removed.

Sowing jusai onions:

Features of agricultural technology

Growing Chinese garlic is a simple process. The vegetable responds with an excellent harvest if simple rules of agricultural technology are followed.

Selection and preparation of beds

It is advisable to fertilize the area under Chinese garlic in the fall. For 1 sq. m of soil is added:

• 1 cup wood ash;
• 1.5 table. spoons of superphosphate;
• 8-10 kg of humus or other organic fertilizer.

In the spring, before planting, the ground is cleared of roots and vegetation, dug up and furrows are formed.

Preparation of planting material

Seeds are obtained from plants 2-3 years old. To do this, the leaves are not cut off from them. Additional fertilizer is applied with ammophos (50-60 g/sq. m). As they ripen, the flower umbrellas with seeds are removed and dried under a canopy with good ventilation. After this, they are threshed by hand, winnowed in the wind and washed in water. Then dry well again and store in the usual way.

But if the time for optimal planting is missed, they can be sown in April - May, already germinated before a single peck and subject to regular irrigation.

Landing

When sowing seeds, the width between the rows is 30-35 cm. The seeds are planted to a depth of 1.5-2 cm. The approximate consumption of seed material per 1 sq. m - 1.7-2 g. After the emergence of seedlings, they are thinned out 2-3 times, leaving plants in the row at a distance of 15 cm from each other.

When growing fragrant onions in large volumes, as a rule, seedlings are first grown in deep beds for 2-3 years. Then in April it is replanted in “nests” of several plants, placing them on the beds with double-line ribbons. The distance between lines is 17-20 cm, between ribbons - 25 cm, in the row between nests - 17-18 cm. The same parameters are observed when propagating onions by shoots.

Description and origin of culture

As you can see in the photo, Chinese garlic is a low (about 30 cm in length) plant with narrow rosette leaves of a linear shape, no more than 0.5 cm wide. It is interesting that not only the leaves and arrows are eaten, but also the flowers, which in summer they are an elegant decoration for garden beds. Chinese garlic is also known as “fragrant onion”, “spicy onion”, “mountain garlic”. Its homeland is considered to be the mountainous regions of western China, where the vegetable grows wild not only on hills and meadows, but also on rocky soils.

The fragrant onion is a representative of perennials and belongs to the lily family. Its bulbs can be eaten, but due to their small size (up to 1.5 cm in diameter), they are not of particular value. The heads are covered with a dense protective shell of gray-brown color. It allows garlic to withstand frosts down to -40°C. Leaves under the most favorable conditions do not exceed 40-50 cm. Feathers grow constantly, until the autumn cold. After the feather dries within 10 days, a new one appears.

The green-silver arrow has a straight, flat shape. The umbrella-shaped, hemispherical inflorescence includes up to 100 white star-shaped flowers and appears in the second year after planting.