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Not all gardeners know an excellent type of onion – a slime onion, which is not yet as popular as onion, leek or batun. But it also deserves close attention, because it has excellent medicinal qualities and taste characteristics. Today we will tell you how to properly plant this plant in your backyard, what are the features of caring for this vegetable crop, what is the best way to propagate it, and how such an onion is good for the body.
Features of sowing
Slizun onion, which is also commonly called penetrating, grows wild in Eastern and Western Siberia, as well as in Altai and Central Asia. There, the locals traditionally eat it not only fresh, but also pickle it and dry it. Slime onion can rightly be called a salad vegetable. It has a slightly spicy taste and is distinguished by a garlic-onion aroma.
This perennial vegetable is capable of withstanding even 40 degree frosts without additional insulation. Within 5 – 6 years, onions will give a good harvest if they are grown on fertile and moderately moist soil. It is best for sowing such a crop with seeds or growing it in another way, a plot of land that is normally lit by the sun is suitable.
In the predecessors of onions, the slime prefers to have tomatoes, cucumbers, potatoes, cabbage, radishes. It is impossible to sow seeds in acidic soil, because then the onion feather will have bitterness.
In autumn, during digging, it is necessary to add compost or humus – the amount of fertilizer is about 10 kg per square meter. Phosphorus-potassium supplements are also added – about 40 grams per the same area. In the spring, before planting, humus is also added to the beds, and it is also good to shed them with a solution of peat-humic dressings. It is customary to plant a slime onion according to this scheme – in rows prepared in advance, the distance between which is ideally up to 40 cm, and between planting material should be left somewhere around 20 cm. in the form of a semicircle and at the same time displace all unnecessary weeds that have appeared. Since the slime onion is also an ornamental plant, landscape designers successfully use this feature to create beautiful rock gardens.
Seeds or seedlings?
Onions tend to branch during the entire growing season. In the second year of its life, it forms about 4 shoot branches, on which up to 10 leaves appear. By the end of the fifth year of life, their number is up to 25 pieces, and the leaves on each vegetable crop grow from 50 to 200. The plant begins to bloom in the second year. Slizun onions are also called penetrating because at the beginning of the flowering period, its arrows tend to straighten up. Shooting and flowering of the plant occurs within a month.
Reproduction of such a culture is carried out by seeds or seedlings – shoots or parts of a bush. When choosing a method of propagation by seeds, it is customary to sow them in the ground or grow seedlings. Experts advise sowing seeds in the spring and as early as possible. For this, grooves are prepared, the distance between which should be up to 35 cm. About 1 gram of seeds per square meter is sown in them. Entrances after sowing seeds can be seen in the garden after 25 days. Much here will depend on the degree of humidity of the earth, as well as its temperature. A crop that has a decent marketable appearance can be obtained by sowing seeds only in the second year.
Also, onion slime cultivation can really be carried out in seedlings, and not just seeds. To get good quality seedlings, onion seeds should be sown before the beginning of June. Seedlings that have been grown from seeds are traditionally planted according to the following scheme – 70 by 20 cm. With this method of planting, the plants are more viable than with the method of dividing the bushes. But you can still prefer the way of planting the slime and individual bushes. To do this, from a two to three year planting, you need to select bushes and divide them into separate crops. Keep in mind that each plant will give you about 15 – 30 bulbs. After that, they need to be planted in one line, while the distance should be about 50 cm, and between the planting material – up to 20 cm.
Video “Distinctive Features”
Care of the plant
Caring for this vegetable crop involves regular watering at recommended doses, timely loosening and weeding of the earth, as well as mandatory cutting of leaves and fertilizer.
In the second and other years after the growth of this onion, the site should be freed from the remaining parts of the crops, as well as loosen the ground between the rows. In addition, experts and experienced gardeners advise adding nitrogen fertilizers to the soil in an amount of up to 25 grams per square meter. In the summer, be sure to cut about three leaves, the cut length should ideally be up to 25 cm. In order for the plants to recover after this procedure, it is recommended to carry it out for the third time no later than the end of August.
Also during this period, phosphorus-potassium fertilizer should be applied. To do this, it is taken at the rate of up to 50 grams of superphosphate, as well as about 30 grams of potassium salt. It should be remembered that the forcing of plants that are two or three years old is usually forced out in greenhouse conditions, or even at home. In this case, in the fall, the plants need to be dug up and moved to shallow boxes, and then left outside to freeze. They can be used with the bulb in a month – after the leaves grow back.
What is the use of onions
Onion slime is very useful for our body. It contains such groups of vitamins as B1, B2, C, PP. There are also sugars, carotene and phytoncides, mineral salts of potassium, zinc, magnesium, molybdenum, a lot of iron. Onions are useful for low hemoglobin levels and anemia, gastrointestinal problems, including high levels of acidity. Also, its leaves have analgesic and anti-inflammatory properties, so they are advised to be applied to wounds. Experts agree that 10 kg of onion contains an annual supply of all the nutrients necessary for the human body.
If you eat it every day, even in small quantities, you can significantly improve even the general state of health, not to mention the above problems. Also, this amazing vegetable can contribute to the proper functioning of the heart, strengthen the walls of blood vessels, remove toxins and bad cholesterol, and normalize the functioning of the thyroid gland. Eating this vegetable in food, you can not only strengthen the immune system, but also effectively overcome vitamin deficiency.
Video “A Brief Overview of the Slug Bow”
The video provides a brief but very capacious overview of this type of culture. The video will help you learn about the features of growing and caring for this variety.
