Garden cabbage is one of the main vegetable crops cultivated in summer cottages. This plant is very useful and necessary, so let's talk about how to grow it properly.
A bit of history
Garden cabbage belongs to the cruciferous family, to which mustard, turnip, rutabaga, radish, and radish belong. In Europe, East and Central Asia, the Mediterranean, more than 50 species of this family are common.
It is known that for food cabbage was still grown by the ancient Egyptians, Romans and Greeks. She became a food four thousand years ago. Garden cabbage from Western Europe was brought to us back in the heyday of Kievan Rus (XIII century). It is interesting that by the 18th century, culture had become firmly rooted in Russian life, there was even a new tradition to start harvesting it together for the winter after the Orthodox feast of the Exaltation (September 27).
Modern hybrids and the best varieties
If you think about it, it becomes obvious that simple cabbage is the basis of many of our dishes. We are so used to it that we don’t even notice how often we use it.
I would like to note that there is a constant selection to obtain new, more promising hybrids and varieties. However, good old varieties, long tested by gardeners, do not lose their relevance.
All varieties of cabbage are divided into early ripe, mid-ripening and late ripening. We want to bring the best, according to experts, to date varieties.
Early ripening:
- June is an ultra-early variety. Moderately resistant to disease. Untimely cleaning can lead to cracking heads.
- Transfer F1 - matures in 120 days.
- Copenhagen Market - ripening after 115 days.
- Ditmar early - technical maturity occurs in 115-120 days.
- Golden hectare-1432. 102-110 days pass from planting to harvest.
Mid-season varieties
You can get good yields of cabbage of medium maturity when growing such varieties:
- Gift. The ripening period is 130 days.
- Menza F1. Ripens in 115 days.
- Glory-1305. From planting to harvesting, 137 days pass.
- Mushroom Glory-231. Ripens in 125 days.
- Corporal F1. Ripens from 90 to 100 days.
Late grades
Late varieties are the most popular for long-term storage and procurement, conservation:
- Amager.
- Gingerbread man F1.
- Valentine F1.
- Biryuchekutskaya-138.
Sowing seeds
It is clear that the quality of cabbage depends on the seeds. It is necessary to take their acquisition responsibly. However, before buying, you should decide when and for what purpose you need it. Then you can decide which variety is best for you: late, early or medium. As a rule, if people grow crops for themselves, then the main emphasis is on winter varieties. And early and medium can be planted in insignificant quantities. You need to understand that early cultures are not suitable for harvesting, they will not be able to lie for a long time. Mid-ripe varieties are suitable both for fresh consumption and for salting. Well, for storage in the winter, winter varieties should be used.
Early cabbage is sown in early March, but no later than the twentieth day. Medium varieties can be sown after April 25th. Late-ripening crops are planted from the first days of April. From the moment the seeds are sown, and before they are planted in the ground, it usually takes 45-50 days.
Garden cabbage - this is exactly the culture that is very demanding on the composition of the soil. Therefore, it is better to prepare it in advance. It should be mixed in equal parts with turfy soil and humus. Ash is added to the mixture (1 tbsp.spoon per 1 kilogram of soil), which will act as an antiseptic and a source of trace elements. This will help to resist the appearance of a disease such as a black leg in young plants.
You can also prepare a mixture and a slightly different composition, for example, based on peat. You can not use the land from the garden on which one of the varieties of garden cabbage or other cruciferous plants to grow seeds, since there are high chances of the presence of pathogens that can destroy seedlings.
Before sowing, the seeds should be warmed for twenty minutes in water. After that, they are dipped in ordinary cold water. This simple technique increases the immunity of seeds to fungal diseases. How to process cabbage before planting? It is best to soak the seeds in a growth stimulator (Silk, Epin, Humate). Before planting, the soil must be well watered and no longer moistened until the shoots appear. Seeds are sown to a depth of not more than one centimeter. Then the boxes are covered with a film on top so that the moisture does not evaporate too much. Crops should be kept at a temperature of twenty degrees.
Getting seedlings
The first shoots should appear in 4-5 days. After that, the film can be removed and the temperature of the content can be reduced to ten degrees. Under such conditions, the plants should be present until the first true cabbage leaves appear . Then the seedlings are kept at a temperature of 18 degrees, they must be regularly ventilated. During this period, you can not transfuse or overdry the soil. How to treat cabbage after emergence? Plants must be watered with a weak solution of manganese or copper sulfate.
How to dive seedlings?
One and a half weeks after the appearance of this leaf, vegetable cabbage dives, because the plants need a larger area for normal development. Before transplanting, the soil is well watered. Next, each seedling is taken out with a lump of soil and shortened by a third of the root. Then planted in a glass with the mixture. You can initially sow the seeds in an individual pot, then you will not need to dive seedlings. Plants from individual containers are then easier to transplant into open ground, they are less injured.
Before planting cabbage in open ground, it is necessary to harden it for two weeks. For this, the room is ventilated, and then plants begin to take out onto the balcony.
Cabbage: planting, top dressing
Seedlings are planted in open ground at a time when she already has five to seven leaves, and the height will reach 12-20 centimeters. Different varieties reach such indicators at different times. So, for example, the early ones are ready already in early May, while the middle and late ones are ready by the end of the same month or by mid-June.
Before planting cabbage in open ground, prepare a good plot for it. It must be sunny. Early varieties prefer sandy soils and loam, and for late and medium clay loamy soil and loam. It should be remembered that acidic lands are categorically not suitable for plants. In addition, the cultivation of the culture cannot be carried out on lands that are infected with bacteriosis (eight years). It is also undesirable to plant cabbage in those areas where other cruciferous plants (rutabaga, radish, turnip, radish) have recently grown.
The soil is prepared in advance, starting in the fall. The earth is dug up on a bayonet of a shovel and left to winter. Its surface should not be leveled, irregularities favorably affect the process of retaining moisture. In early spring, when the snow melts, the soil is leveled with a rake, the first weeds are removed.
Early varieties are planted at a distance of 50 by 60 centimeters, and late and medium ones are planted at a distance of 60 by 70. Plants cannot be too thickly placed, because they need a lot of light and space.
Wells need to be done more than the roots of seedlings. In each hole, put a handful of peat, sand, humus, fifty grams of ash and ½ teaspoon of nitrophoska. All this is watered abundantly. Next, plants are planted in such a way that the lower leaves are on the same level with the ground.
Cabbage: care
After planting, the cabbage must first be watched as it will take root. You may need to slightly shade it temporarily. During the week, it is best to water the plants every evening. In the future, care for seedlings is not so complicated. It will consist in weeding, loosening the soil, watering, treatment for diseases and pests, regular top dressing.
After three weeks after planting the plants in open ground, they need to be spudded. Ten days later, the procedure is repeated.
Watering
In order to grow a good cabbage crop, you should certainly observe the irrigation regime. She needs a lot of water. It is best to water the plants in the evening. At low temperatures, it is enough to do this once a week, but in hot weather, humidification must be done every two to three days.
Ideally, after each watering, the soil should be loosened. Professionals generally recommend mulching with peat (up to five centimeters thick), which helps maintain moisture in the soil and nourishes plants at the same time.
How to feed?
The first top dressing is carried out ten days after the dive of plants. For this, a mixture of 2 grams of potassium fertilizer, 4 grams of superphosphate and two grams of ammonium nitrate is dissolved in water. Such a quantity of substances is dissolved in one liter of water. This liquid is enough to feed 50-60 plants.
The following fertilizers are applied after two weeks. The same composition is used. If you notice yellowing of young plants, then they need to be watered with a solution of liquid manure (1:10). Another top dressing is carried out before planting cabbage in the ground. For it, ammonium nitrate (3 grams), superphosphate (5 grams) and potassium fertilizer (8 grams) are used. Components dissolve in a liter of water. Potash fertilizers help take root in cabbage in the open ground. In order not to mess with the preparation of the solution, you can buy a fertilizer called "Kemira Suite".
Fertilizing plants in the seedling phase will give more intensive growth in the future.
Culture processing
After landing in the ground, cabbage is sprinkled with ash mixed with tobacco dust. This will help protect small plants from fleas and slugs. Toxic chemicals are not very good to use, since cabbage is still a food product. There are simple ways to protect against pests without the use of "chemistry".
Caterpillars and aphids are destroyed by spraying with the following infusion: tomato tops (2 kg) are filled with water (5 liters) and infused for four hours. Then the resulting liquid is boiled for three hours, after which it should cool. Before use, it is diluted with water (ratio - 1: 2). So that the solution is better taken on the plants, and not just drained, grated tar soap can be added to it.
In the fight against caterpillars and aphids, onion husks can be used, from which tinctures are prepared. For this, a liter jar of husk is poured with 2 liters of boiling water and insisted for a couple of days. The solution is filtered, two more liters of water and liquid soap are added.
Professionals recommend placing sage, marigold, cilantro, rosemary, and basil next to cabbage as an insect control measure. These plants repel fleas, butterflies, aphids.