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Broccoli cabbage began to be grown in the 200th-XNUMXth centuries BC in the Mediterranean. Italian vegetable growers managed to get a variety grown as an annual crop. Today there are over XNUMX varieties of broccoli.
In Our Country, this type of cabbage began to be cultivated not so long ago, so many gardeners are interested in how to plant broccoli cabbage at home for seedlings. The rules and features of growing this vegetable from seeds will be discussed in the article. We hope that the material will be useful not only for beginner vegetable growers.
About the benefits of vegetables
Broccoli is the most valuable vegetable because it contains a large amount of minerals and vitamins. For this, it is recommended by doctors for various diseases. For example:
- thanks to vitamin U, ulcers heal faster;
- potassium removes salts;
- magnesium is essential for the heart muscle;
- calcium – essential for healthy hair and nails;
- selenium removes radionuclides;
- sodium is necessary for the stable functioning of nerve cells;
- zinc, copper, magnesium – are involved in the process of hematopoiesis;
- beta-carotene – improves vision, heals the nervous system, improves skin condition.
Doctors often prescribe cabbage as a maintenance diet after complex surgeries. Pediatricians recommend broccoli for feeding babies.
Species and varietal diversity
Types
If you cook about the types of broccoli, then there are three of them:
- The Calambrian inflorescences are round or cone green, purple or white.
- Red is similar to cauliflower.
- Stem of small size. It has crispy stems.
Popular varieties
Broccoli differs in terms of ripening, so you need to plant cabbage at different times.
Early varieties, from sowing for seedlings to technical maturity 60-100 days:
- Batavia;
- Linda;
- Lord F1;
- Monaco F1;
- Tone.
Mid-season 105-130 days:
- Ironman F1;
- Dwarf.
Late 130-145:
- Agassi F1″
- Marathon F1;
- Parthenon F1.
To grow healthy cabbage seedlings at home, it is necessary to take into account the timing of the growing season. If you want to receive valuable products continuously, sowing broccoli seeds should be carried out at intervals of at least two weeks, taking into account the ripening time.
When to plant broccoli seeds for seedlings in 2019 according to the lunar calendar:
- February — 5-8, 19-22.
- March – 7, 8, 18, 20, 21.
- April – 4-6, 8-10, 20-23.
- May — 8-12, 19-24.
When deciding when to plant broccoli for seedlings, remember that seedlings need to be planted in the ground until they outgrow. If the spring is protracted, then the timing of planting broccoli cabbage seeds for seedlings is postponed for two weeks.
Preliminary work
You can grow broccoli at home in seedlings or immediately sow the seeds in the ground. Vegetable gardeners advise using seedlings, point out the benefits:
- The possibility of obtaining early vegetables.
- The cost of purchasing seed is reduced, since the plants do not have to be thinned out.
- Seedling care is easier than outdoors.
- After disembarking to a permanent place, he gets sick less.
Seed preparation
Before planting broccoli for seedlings, you need to take care of the seeds:
- Sorting. First of all, cabbage seeds are sorted out, small and feeble ones are removed.
- To accelerate the emergence of seed warm up. Prepare a solution of wood ash (a liter of water up to 50 degrees + a large spoonful of ash). The procedure is conveniently performed in a canvas bag, lowering it into a hot solution for a third of an hour. Then pour into cold water for 2 minutes. Immature seeds will float and be thrown away.
- So that broccoli does not suffer from various diseases, seeds pickle in a solution of potassium permanganate or boric acid.
- Zamachivanie seed in ash solution – a necessary procedure, lasts 5 hours.
- Then the seeds for a day, before planting in the soil, harden in a refrigerator. For wrapping use cloth or gauze. After a day, the seed is taken out, dried to a free-flowing state.
It is important not only to know how to plant cabbage seedlings with broccoli seeds, but also to take measures to prevent fungal diseases.
Preparing the soil
While the seed is being processed, you need to prepare the soil. For planting broccoli seeds for seedlings, you need a nutritious, breathable soil. Soddy soil is mixed with compost, wood ash is added. It not only prevents fungal diseases, but also neutralizes the soil.
A small amount of sand will not hurt: with it, the roots develop better. If you are preparing the soil for broccoli seedlings at home, then in the country choose a site where the cabbage itself and its cruciferous tribesmen did not grow, so as not to bring the disease.
The soil can be prepared in different ways:
- steam in the oven;
- spill with boiling water, with dissolved potassium permanganate, Gamair, Alirin-B, Fundazol. The preparations are diluted, taking into account the recommendations on the package.
You can use ready-made soil for vegetable plants. They are full of nutrients. It can also be shed with a hot pink solution of potassium permanganate before sowing broccoli seeds.
Video about growing broccoli:
Tank preparation
Broccoli seedlings are grown in different containers: boxes, cassettes, pots, peat tablets, the main thing is that their depth is at least 5 cm.
If the container is new, then it is enough to pour boiling water over it. If it was used before, then it must be disinfected by adding potassium permanganate to the water (the solution must be saturated).
Features of planting seedlings
And now about how to plant broccoli at home.
Planting in boxes
If you use boxes for growing broccoli seedlings (the height should be at least 5-7 cm), then soil is poured into them, grooves are made – a step of 3-4 cm. Seeds are laid out at a distance of at least 3 cm to plant plants in the ground with less loss of seedlings. Embedding depth at least 1 cm.
How to grow broccoli without picking
This type of vegetable responds negatively to picking. Therefore, it is best to use containers in which seedlings of cabbage of different varieties of broccoli are grown before planting in the ground.
- Peat tablets are an excellent option as the diameter (4 cm) is sufficient to grow strong seedlings. Tablets are soaked in water, get rid of excess water. In the recess, you need to sow 2 seeds each, sprinkle with 1 cm of peat.
- If vegetable growers choose cassettes or pots for growing seedlings, then their height should be at least 7 cm, diameter 4-5 cm. 2 seeds are placed in each container.
The excess seedling is cut off near the ground. You can’t pull out.
The containers are placed in a well-lit warm place (from +18 to +20 degrees), covered with glass or cellophane on top until shoots appear.
Creating conditions
Although broccoli is a picky vegetable, you need to create conditions for growing seedlings.
Temperature and light conditions
Broccoli seedlings at too high a temperature and low light stretch out, become unviable. Therefore, when the first sprouts appear, the containers are placed on a lighted windowsill, where the temperature does not rise above 17 degrees during the day, and 12 at night. To grow strong seedlings, broccoli seedlings will have to be highlighted, since daylight hours in spring are less than the required 15 hours.
Features of watering and top dressing
All types of cabbage love moisture, but not its excess. Therefore, watering broccoli should be moderate, so as not to provoke the development of keel or blackleg.
Cabbage seedlings are fed with potash fertilizers. You can use a pink solution of potassium permanganate or stove ash.
Hardening
Before planting seedlings in open ground, they need to be prepared. In two weeks, they open the window. First, for half an hour, then the time of air procedures is increased to 4-5 hours.
If there is a balcony or loggia, the containers can be taken out, but only when the plants have been hardened.
If you follow all the rules, then by the time of planting in the ground, the broccoli seedlings, which were grown on their own, will look like in the photo: 6-8 real leaves and a strong root system.
To summarize
If you like broccoli, growing it yourself is not too difficult.
It is important to remember that you need to sow seeds one and a half months before planting in the ground.
Early ripe varieties of broccoli in the summer can be sown with seeds directly into the ground, as soon as the soil has thawed and is ready. In the presence of a greenhouse, seedlings are planted at an earlier date, then the first crop will ripen quickly.