Planting a rockambole

What is rockambole?

Rocambole is still not garlic, but onion, albeit a hairstyle one. It differs from garlic in its mild, non-sharp taste, weak, non-pungent odor and the formation of single bulbs - babies. And it is attributed to garlic for its external similarity. It is also similar to leeks, but with a caveat: large rocambole bulbs are divided into cloves. The harmonious taste of the plant has a persistent aroma of both onion and garlic at the same time.

This is what rockambole looks like in the garden

Rocambole is a powerful plant 60-80 cm high, forming 6-9 flat, light green leaves with a faint waxy coating, folded along the central vein. It blooms in a spherical inflorescence of light lilac, bell-shaped, sterile flowers (they do not form seeds).

Planting a rockambole

Choose a place for planting that is illuminated. Crops to which organic fertilizers were applied are considered good predecessors: cucumbers, cabbage, zucchini.

In warm regions, rocambole is planted in the fall. In regions where winters are frosty and even snowless, it makes sense to plant it in early spring - like spring garlic. Before planting, the soil dug up in the fall is deeply loosened, half a bucket of compost or humus is added, as well as a glass of wood ash per square meter. m.

Daughter bulbs are used as planting material.

Before planting, divide the bulbs into cloves and soak them overnight in a weak solution of potassium permanganate. The bulbs and cloves are then sorted by size. They are planted in varieties: large, medium, small. As a result, you will get evenly developed and at the same time mature plants.
When planting rocambole, 15-20 cm is maintained between the cloves and bulbs. Rows from rows are placed 25-30 cm apart. Planting depth is 9-10 cm. The larger the cloves, the less often and deeper they are planted. After planting, the bed is mulched with compost or humus 1-2 cm thick. This helps to keep the soil in the bed in a moist, loose state and a crust does not form on the surface.

On good soil, rocambole bulbs grow simply huge - up to 10 cm in diameter and 200-250 g in weight.
At the bottom of the main bulb, up to 15 baby bulbs weighing 1-3 g are formed. The more bulbs there are, the smaller they are. Daughter bulbs, like cloves, are used as planting material.In the first season, from the bulbs and cloves, large single cloves grow, very similar to onions. In the next season, the single cloves are divided into 4-6 cloves and become similar to garlic.

Rocambole care

The signal for harvesting is shriveled lower leaves and yellowed upper leaves.

Caring for rocambole is not complicated and only comes down to regular watering, and weakened plants (with light green leaves) need to be fed. The first feeding is after seedlings with an organic infusion, the second is during the formation of the bulbs with wood ash or phosphorus-potassium fertilizers.

The signal for harvesting is shriveled lower leaves and drooping, yellowed upper leaves. Delay in digging leads to the fact that the bulbs fall apart into cloves, and the baby bulbs are separated from the mother bulb and lost in the ground.
The dug up bulbs are carefully cleaned of soil, tied into loose bunches and, without cutting the tops, hung in a dry, well-ventilated area. When the plants dry out, cut off the roots and stems of the bulbs, leaving small stumps. In a dry basement, the onions are well preserved until spring. This is why spring planting recommendations for rockambole are quite acceptable.

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