Growing garlic on double-rice land in Quynh Ba

(Baonghean) - In the fields of Hao Son hamlet, Quynh Ba commune, Quynh Luu district, next to the rice fields covered with plastic in preparation for spring rice planting, there are garlic fields with high yields. The garlic is growing well, and the people here are harvesting it to sell to the market.

At the beginning of the season, a garlic plant sold with raw vegetables as a spice costs 2,000 VND, in the middle of the season it costs 1,000 VND/plant. Seeing the high profits, some farmers in Hao Son hamlet had the idea of ​​growing garlic on 2-rice land and it is much more effective than other vegetables. Garlic is a plant that likes cool temperatures and can withstand cold, suitable for planting in winter and spring. As a spice plant that is consumed a lot, the output is also quite favorable when selling bulbs. When harvesting the plants for sale, it is also easier to preserve for a longer time than some other vegetables. In winter and spring, garlic is harvested for stems and leaves, in spring and summer when the temperature is high, garlic forms bulbs. Understanding that characteristic, farmers in Hao Son hamlet have grown garlic to sell mainly stems and leaves, they plant quite densely in rows, fertilize with manure and when the garlic grows well, they gradually harvest and thin it for sale.

Harvesting garlic on double-rice land in Quynh Ba commune (Quynh Luu).

Many families like Mrs. Nhieu, Ms. Oanh, Mr. Hai, Mr. Chien, Ms. Huong... in Hao Son hamlet have grown garlic on 2-rice land for 3 crops, each family only grows from half a sao to 1 sao but the income is quite high, creating a significant additional income in the winter crop, higher than lettuce and mustard greens. It is calculated that one sao of garlic is also worth 4 - 5 million VND/crop. When starting to grow garlic, households prepare the soil carefully, mound the soil into quite high beds to prevent flooding. The beds are 1.2 - 1.5m wide, the furrows are 0.3m. After making the beds, make rows of fertilizer. Each bed has 5 - 6 rows, the distance between rows is 20cm. Growing garlic is quite simple, just insert each clove of garlic seed after fertilizing, but garlic is a "voracious" variety, must be fertilized in a balanced way for the leaves to grow. Households in Hao Son hamlet grow purple garlic, thick, hard leaves, light green leaves. This type of garlic has firmer and spicier bulbs than white garlic. The stem near the bulb is purple. When harvested, the bulb is ivory white. This type of garlic is fragrant and more popular with customers.

Ms. Huong, a garlic grower here, said: “I regretted the land so I tried planting it. Unexpectedly, this year the garlic crop was good and grew very well. Because it was grown on 2-rice land, I didn’t need to water much. There was little rain so the plants didn’t rot, and the income from growing garlic was higher than growing corn on 2-rice land. After this garlic crop, I left some seeds to multiply for the next crop.” Obviously, from the idea of ​​some farmers, garlic in Quynh Ba has a very good market. However, expanding it on a large scale is not necessarily a good solution because the product output has not been carefully surveyed.

Article and photos:CL