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Cabbage came to the territory of ancient Our Country as early as the XNUMXth century, since then millions of summer residents and gardeners have been cultivating this crop. If you look at how much cabbage, most often white, we eat in a year, it seems that everyone grows it, and it’s easy to do. In fact, you need at least a little preparation before doing this rewarding work.
Choosing a grade
For so many centuries of cultivation, mankind has created many different varieties of cabbage that differ in taste, leaf texture and ripening time. In order to choose from this variety, we need to decide when we want to get a crop, and what we will do with this crop.
If we want to have a vitamin salad of tender cabbage already in July, then we need to plant Gribovskaya, Polar, and June. In August, Zolotoy Hektar, Belorusskaya and Nadezhda will ripen. For those who like to salt in September, “Gift”, “Ladoga” and “Taininskaya” will ripen. Amager and Moskovskaya are also late varieties, but it’s good not to salt them, but to keep them fresh. Perhaps best preserved in the Bevama cellar. But for pies it is good to grow “Savoy” with delicate wrinkled leaves.
If you already grow cabbage in your garden, then you do not need to limit yourself to white cabbage only. From July until late autumn, you can harvest broccoli, it, like kohlrabi, can be sown in May (preferably in a greenhouse), and after 20 days you can get strong seedlings.
Today, cauliflower is very popular. Its harvest can also be stretched in time if you plant the early “Movir-1”, the middle “Guarantee” or “Domestic”, and the largest will be the late “Solokrop”. Brussels sprouts grow well in the garden all summer, but you can harvest them in the fall and freeze them for winter soups.
Seed preparation
For sowing, the best seeds are selected, to do this, they are sized in salt water. It is necessary to prepare a three percent solution of table salt and soak the seeds in it for 5 minutes. Empty seeds, unsuitable for germination, will float, and good ones will fall to the bottom. Those that have surfaced are simply drained, and the rest are washed with clean water and dried. The smallest seeds are discarded, and the rest are prepared for germination.
To check the seeds for germination, they are laid out on a wet cloth on a saucer and covered with the same damp cloth. At a temperature of 20-25 degrees in a damp cloth, the seeds will germinate. For those that sprouted after 3 days, they check the friendliness of seedlings, and for those that sprouted after 7 days – germination.
Before sowing, the seeds are treated against bacteria and fungi. To do this, you can hold the seeds in a strong solution of potassium permanganate, and then wash them thoroughly in clean water. Many people like to disinfect with garlic. Half a glass of water is mixed with 30 g of chopped garlic and the seeds are dipped there for 1 hour. After that, they are also thoroughly washed with clean water and dried.
The greatest effect is achieved during heat treatment. A gauze bag with seeds is dipped in hot water for 20 minutes. The whole difficulty lies in the accuracy of the temperature. It should be at least 48 and not more than 50 degrees. If the temperature is lower, the result may not be, and at a higher temperature, the seeds will lose their ability to germinate. In addition, it is difficult to maintain a constant temperature for so long, but this can be achieved with large volumes of water. After heating, the seeds must be held to cool in cold water.
In order for the seeds to germinate quickly, they are pre-soaked in room water for 12 hours. Moreover, the water is changed every 4 hours, and kept warm. Seeds should only swell, but not germinate. It is best to use melted snow water. If the seeds are ready and it is too early to plant, they can be kept scattered on ice or in the refrigerator, wrapped in a wet cloth.
You can soak the seeds in a solution of wood ash. The solution is made as follows: 2 tablespoons of ash are stirred in 1 liter of warm water and filtered. Seeds should be left in the solution for 3 hours, then rinsed. The greatest effect is achieved if the seeds are soaked in a fertilizer solution, for example, nitrophoska. 1 teaspoon of fertilizer is dissolved in 1 liter of water and the seeds are placed in it for 12 hours. The seeds are then washed.
The seeds are hardened just before sowing. Soaked seeds are placed for this in the refrigerator and kept there at a temperature of 1-2 degrees for a whole day. Such seeds tolerate low temperatures more easily and sprout better. All these activities are designed to make the seeds strong and resistant, to help them sprout and develop, despite illnesses or possible cold snaps.
Video “Planting cabbage”
Then plant
Usually, gardeners do not plant the same crops in the same place for several years in a row. Roots deplete the earth at the same level, pathogenic bacteria settle in the soil, pests get used to it, leave larvae so that they can feed on the next plantings. Therefore, culture in one place should grow no more than two years. And it’s better to change the place every year, and even not arbitrarily, but to plan which crop after which it is best to plant.
Cabbage grows well on fertile structured soils, best of all on loam, with a high content of humus. Will give a good harvest if planted after legumes or cereals. Can be planted after cucumbers and any root crops (potatoes, Jerusalem artichoke). If last year cruciferous plants (radish, horseradish, mustard) grew on this site, then cabbage can hurt after them, because they are close relatives. It will grow badly after tomatoes. But after garlic or onions, you can’t lure pests to the site, you can safely plant cabbage.
Some gardeners prepare a plot for cabbage in the fall in this way: they specially sow it with legumes, and then simply dig it up, embedding them in the soil. Providing continuity, at the same time they also fertilize the soil.
Best neighbors
It is important to figure out after which crops cabbage should be planted, but it is also important to know next to which ones it should be grown. Neighbors for plants, as for people, can make life easier or drink blood. The right combination of plants in the garden can provide a good harvest, and the wrong combination of crops, on the contrary, can prevent the most promising varieties from growing. This is explained by the fact that plants deplete the land in different ways, and some even affect their neighbors with their smells, changing the metabolism.
Cabbage, cucumbers, tomatoes, onions, celery – these vegetables are very active in taking nutrients from the ground. This means that next to them you need to plant plants with roots located at a different depth in the soil, let everyone have enough food. You also need to remember that vegetables growing nearby need one watering regimen. For example, spinach loves very frequent watering, which means that cabbage next to it will not be comfortable, it will be too wet. With beans, too, is not a desirable neighborhood.
Cabbage grows well next to beets or leafy greens. They say that cabbage tastes better if you plant mint nearby. And dill and lettuce will drive away pests from it. In order not to get confused in the order of planting, experienced gardeners keep a special map, where they note that the code was planted, since this is important for the future harvest, and therefore for the joy and pride of the owner.
Video “Siderata in the garden”
Green manures are natural fertilizers that will help you get a good harvest of any crop, including cabbage.
