Lagenaria serpentine: growing
Lagenaria is a type of pumpkin brought from Asian countries. It is a long liana that can grow up to 15 m. It produces fruits of different shapes depending on the variety. This exotic plant can also grow in temperate climates.
In Russia, this is the most popular type of plant. Its branches are used for decorative purposes, they twist along fences, arbors, any vertical planes.
The homeland of Lagenaria is the countries of Southeast Asia
The plant blooms throughout the summer season, until frost. The flowers look quite impressive, have the shape of a glass. The fruits are long, elongated. They are edible.
Take any pumpkin recipe and replace it with this unusual vegetable. Or prepare a dish with it, which you usually make from zucchini. It can be stewed, baked, made pancakes, stuffed
It is valued for its rich composition: it contains large amounts of iron and calcium, as well as many vitamins, other trace elements, mineral salts and acids. But the presence of carbohydrates and proteins in the composition is quite insignificant.
For use in food take young fruits with a thin peel. It is good if their diameter does not exceed 5 cm, and the length is 60 cm.
They have an interesting feature – the ability to regenerate. You can not remove it from the branch, but simply cut off the required amount. The cut will be delayed, but the fruit will not deteriorate and will continue to grow.
Growing lagenaria on your site
In order for the lagenaria to take root and bear fruit well in a temperate climate, several rules for planting and care must be observed:
- in the middle lane, a seedling planting method is used. We germinate the seeds first. To do this, we soak them in water for a day, after which we place them in moistened sawdust for a week;
- we plant sprouted seeds in separate pots to a depth of 3 cm. This must be done at the end of April;
- when the seedlings are a month old, they can be transferred to open ground, but only if the weather permits. The soil temperature should be above 12 ° C, and the threat of frost should be avoided. Usually landing occurs at the end of May;
- we place the holes a meter apart. We water the soil with warm water, plant it together with a lump of earth or in a special seedling pot, on the same level with the ground.
This plant does not tolerate acidic soil. It must contain a large amount of mineral and organic substances so that the southern exotic can develop normally.
It is necessary to prepare the soil in the fall, it is necessary to dig it up and apply fertilizers. Lagenaria grows well after cabbage, potatoes and beans.