Garlic: it seems as if there is absolutely nothing special in this vegetable, and that there is no need to breed varieties. Usually, avid gardeners simply choose the largest cloves and plant them next year in the beds and reap a good harvest. Sometimes they do not even suspect that breeders are working somewhere and that varieties of garlic can be purchased, thanks to which they will be able to get a much higher yield.
Winter varieties of garlic
So, for example, among the novelties of this season, one can distinguish a variety of non-shooting winter garlic. Healer... Why is this variety so good, and how does it differ from the “usual” one?
Firstly, the variety has a very interesting feature - it does not shoot. It seems that there is nothing important here, but just imagine how much free time you will have, which you used to spend on breaking off more and more arrows. And the head of this variety of garlic is not small, its weight reaches 80 grams on good soil and with sufficient care. This mass of the head is achieved due to a very large number of cloves, from ten to a dozen. Such a number of cloves in the head of a winter variety was obtained for the first time, because usually there are no more than six cloves in the head. But that's not even all, the Healer variety has an increased keeping quality. Under normal conditions and absolutely without treatments, it can last up to seven months. At the same time, there is quite a bit of waste. The Lekar variety has a fairly high winter hardiness, this can also be attributed to its advantages, however, there are also disadvantages - so, the variety works best only on loose and fertile soils.
From one hundred square meters of land, you can collect up to 120 kg of heads of garlic. The cloves are great for canning and other types of processing.
Another new variety - Triumph - it is not so unique, it is shooting, so you will have to take extra time to remove the arrows, however, at the same time, planting this variety on your site, you will get a cultivar with high winter hardiness and a yield of about 120 kilograms from one hundred square meters of land. This yield is also achieved due to the fact that the heads of garlic are very massive and gain a mass of 100 grams. Such a mass of heads is gained not due to a large number of cloves, out of only 4-5 pieces, but due to their large mass, which can reach 25 grams for each (!) Clove. The taste of the cloves is quite specific and not everyone may like it, because it is very soft and semi-sharp. Thanks to this taste, the Triumph variety can be consumed not only in processed form, but also fresh.
As for keeping quality, it is not at all a record for the variety and is about 3-4 months.
For those who like to surprise their neighbors with high yields, and to enjoy themselves, a variety of winter garlic is suitable. Bogolepovsky... Even despite the fact that both the mass of the heads and the mass of the teeth in them are slightly lower than that of the first two varieties, you can easily collect about 130 kg of heads from a hundred square meters. Perhaps the whole point is that this variety is unpretentious and succeeds well, or maybe such a high yield is achieved due to the high winter hardiness and relative drought resistance of the cultivar. All in all, the variety is ideal for household cultivation.
Spring garlic
But what are we all talking about new winter garlic, let's talk about new varieties of spring garlic. For example, about the variety named, apparently, after the success of the Olympic team in Sochi - Sochi... He, one might say, is a record holder, because his heads with teeth can be stored for no more, no less, but for two whole years! The thing is that the cloves contain a fairly large amount of sugar, which gives them a pleasant, slightly spicy taste. Among other things, the yield of the variety is also considerable, and often reaches 90 kg per hundred square meters, which is a lot for spring garlic.A head of garlic of this variety weighs about 50 grams, but the cloves are here (tiny), although they are great for salads and seasonings, because you can add them there, in fact, whole. One head can contain up to three dozen small teeth. In addition, the variety also has an early ripening, ahead of most competitors in this regard.
Garlic that does not get sick
Separately, I would like to talk about varieties that are resistant to fungal diseases. They are suitable for those gardeners whose plots are located in low, humid places, and therefore garlic does not always work there. "Happy" owners of such problematic land plots can be recommended to plant a variety on the plot Yelenovsky... This cultivar is highly resistant to the vast majority of fungal diseases. The only drawback of the Yelenovsky variety is that its heads are rather small, only 40 grams, and the teeth are just over one and a half grams. However, this variety is quite suitable for winter planting, and if you have chosen this method of cultivation, then get ready to increase the yield by one and a half times, then the heads will add a couple of tens of grams, and 3-4 grams of cloves will also "recover". However, the crop harvested from this method of planting must be used in the current season, because it will not be stored at all.
Photos provided by the author
