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In recent years, gardeners in many regions of Our Country have taken up the cultivation of Beijing cabbage. Residents of the Urals are also not far behind, experimenting with different varieties of salad vegetables. Some succeeded right away, others are somewhat disappointed. It’s all about the peculiarities of the climate of the Urals: it is not always possible to resist the vagaries of the weather.
Beijing cabbage can be grown in many ways: seedlings, sowing seeds in the ground or in a greenhouse. Some vegetable growers in the Urals manage to get good yields of salad vegetables on balconies and loggias. Let’s figure out how to grow Beijing cabbage for the Urals.
Vegetable growers of the Urals should know this
Residents of the Urals should understand that the harvest depends on many factors, including the climate. In heat or cold, Beijing cabbage begins to lag behind in development. Growing this vegetable in the Urals is not much different from the basic agrotechnical requirements: you need to monitor the illumination, the amount of moisture in the soil.
The harvest depends on the climatic conditions and the period of planting Beijing cabbage. If the temperature outside is too hot and the nights are bright, then the plant will give strength to flowering and feathers, and the fruit will not develop.
Growing late varieties of Beijing cabbage in the Urals by sowing directly into the ground is difficult due to weather conditions. If you still like the late variety, you must definitely grow seedlings. Although, if you have a greenhouse, you can also try late varieties (it is best to use hybrids) for autumn consumption.
To grow Beijing cabbage in the Urals, you need to remember:
- Responds well to watering and fertilizing.
- Transplantation slows down growth.
- Soils need neutral or slightly acidic. Clay areas are not suitable.
Flowering cabbage – what is the reason
Gardeners living in the Urals often lose their crops due to the flowering of Beijing cabbage. It is clear that the head is not formed. This worries not only beginner vegetable growers, but also those who have extensive experience in growing Beijing cabbage.
What is the reason? It lies in the biological properties of the plant.
- A vegetable needs a short daylight hours.
- Heat is destructive.
Solving the problem of growing a rich crop of cabbage in the Urals is not difficult. It is enough to choose the right time for planting, so that before the onset of a long daylight hours and heat, Pekinka cabbage has time to ripen. As a rule, it takes 40-60 days to tighten the forks.
Strong seedlings – the key to the harvest
When growing seedlings of Beijing cabbage in the Urals, the seeds of early varieties will have to be sown at the end of March. If a Beijing salad vegetable is needed for winter consumption, then the seeds are sown in early June. The grains are immediately placed in separate containers. You can use cups, cassettes, peat tablets for seedlings of Beijing cabbage.
Many novice gardeners ask why this method is better than planting seeds in boxes. The answer is simple: when transplanting seedlings in Beijing cabbage, the root system can be damaged.
When growing cabbage of this type in the Urals, fertile soil is poured into cassettes or plastic cups, a little wood ash is added. The earth is shed in advance with boiling water with dissolved potassium permanganate. The depth of planting seeds is not more than a centimeter. The containers are covered with glass or a bag, put in a warm, well-lit place.
As a rule, high-quality seeds germinate in 3-4 days. Remove the coating from the cabbage immediately. To prevent seedlings grown in the Urals from stretching, the air temperature is reduced. Lighting should be at least 6 hours.
Further care for seedlings in the Urals is no different from other regions – watering, surface loosening, top dressing. By the time of planting, cabbage seedlings form a powerful root system and 4-5 leaves, as in the photo.
Planting seedlings in open ground
Choosing a place for landing Beijing
To plant this type of cabbage, select those beds in the area where cruciferous plants were not grown. Regardless of whether you live in the Urals or in another region of Our Country, you need to plant seedlings in a garden with fertile neutral soil.
The ridge needs to be dug up in the fall, add compost or humus, about 4 kilograms per square. In the spring, low ridges are raked at a distance of up to half a meter. The step between the bushes of Beijing lettuce in a row is at least 40 cm.
planting cabbage
A few days before planting (this is approximately towards the end of May), the soil is watered with boiling water with potassium permanganate. This is necessary for the prevention of keel. When planting seedlings, you need to monitor the planting depth. Add a teaspoon of wood ash to each well. After that, the cabbage is carefully watered so as not to wash out the roots.
The nature of the Urals is capricious, the return of frosts in late May – early June does not surprise the locals. Although Beijing cabbage can withstand up to -3 degrees, it’s not worth the risk. It is better to stretch temporary arcs over the landings and cover them with any material.
Growing in the greenhouse
If there is a reliable greenhouse, then it can be used both for obtaining early seedlings and for growing a vegetable during the entire growing season.
Beijing lettuce grows best when surrounded by other plants, with the exception of cruciferous plants. Such landings are called compacted. Good neighbors in the greenhouse are cucumbers, tomatoes, early sown dill, parsley, celery. While these plants are gaining strength, Peking will be ready for harvest.
So that the plants do not interfere with each other, rows are made at a distance of at least 20 cm, between seeds up to 10 cm. It remains to be decided when to sow cabbage in a greenhouse in the Urals. The first crops are carried out in March, if you want to get a harvest in June. Having sown the seeds in February for seedlings in the apartment, the first Peking can be cut by May 9th.
Growing cabbage directly in the ground
In the Urals, you can grow a vegetable and direct sowing of seeds in the ground. Work is completed at the end of June. The place is chosen well-lit, but in the afternoon the rays of the sun should not fall on the ridge.
After culling, processing, the seeds are soaked for germination. This technique helps to reduce the consumption of seed. Seeds are laid out in 2-3 pieces at a distance of up to 30-40 cm, sowing depth up to 2 cm. The distance between rows is about half a meter.
After sowing, to accelerate seedlings, the bed is covered with any covering material. The sprouts that have appeared are examined, the strongest are selected, the rest are plucked.
Care of plantings
There are practically no special differences in caring for plants in the Urals. Salad cabbage loves abundant watering, but, most importantly, do not overdo it. Soil flooding can lead to rotting roots, the development of various diseases. Such an environment is to the liking of many pests.
Plants during the vegetative period need top dressing both in the open field and in the greenhouse. You can water with infusion of mullein, bird droppings, slurry of rabbit droppings or fermented grass.
About the rules for growing Chinese cabbage:
Diseases and pests
Pekinka in any locality, including when grown in the Urals, sometimes gets sick or is besieged by pests. The plant becomes lethargic, growth stops. We urgently need to find out the reason.
As a preventive measure – choosing the right place for Chinese cabbage. If turnips, radishes, mustard previously grew in the garden, then, most likely, pathogens and pests can remain in it even after severe Ural frosts. It is better to plant Beijing after potatoes, tomatoes, cucumbers and all kinds of legumes.
Among the most common diseases are fungal, black leg, keel, spotted mosaic leaves. This is what the roots affected by a fungal disease and a black leg look like. See photo below.
As for pests, there are no less of them in the Urals than in other regions. The most dangerous “eaters” are shown in the photo.
There are also slugs with snails, which also eat leaves.
The photo below shows a root damaged by cabbage fly larvae. As a result, it atrophied, the plant died.
How to grow healthy cabbage
As a preventive measure against almost all leaf-eating insects, plants are sprayed with an infusion of ash and tobacco. You can sprinkle these substances on the soil around vegetables.
Slugs, snails, cabbage fly will not be able to harm the cabbage if sprinkled around with a mixture of black and red pepper.
The cruciferous flea is not easy to deal with as it jumps from plant to plant. You can, of course, cover the plantings with special materials. But it’s best to spray all cruciferous plants with pesticides.
This is how the cabbage looks like in the photo, on which cruciferous fleas feast.
Here they are – pests of cabbage: cabbage butterfly caterpillar and aphids.
Combined landing
Beijing lettuce is a multicultural plant. It grows best in an environment:
- legumes and cereals;
- among cucumbers, onions, salads;
- tomatoes and beets;
- various flowers, including marigolds;
- among herbs: celery, spinach, basil.
Growing Beijing cabbage in the Urals is an exciting business. Take a look at the photo to see what your site looks like. Beauty – landscape designers will envy!
Useful Tips
As you can see, the cultivation of Beijing vegetables is possible in the Urals. The main thing is the implementation of agricultural practices and love for crop production.
For the Urals, we have saved some useful tips for growing cabbage:
- If the site has clay soil, add a large amount of compost or humus: a salad vegetable will thank you with a rich harvest.
- Spray plants with herbal infusions and wood ash. It is a fertilizer and pest control.
- When growing cabbage in the Urals, the soil must be mulched with mowed grass, so moisture is better preserved, plants receive nutrients.
- If you grow phacelia, vetch, oats, which are excellent siderates, you can plant cabbage directly on these ridges. The accompanying plants are then cut off and used as mulch.
Good luck, you gardeners of the Urals! Do not be afraid to experiment, grow different cultivated plants on your plots.