How nice it is when the New Year's table is full of sprigs of parsley, dill or celery. During the summer we are full of vitamins, and in winter they are very scarce, and it’s not difficult to organize the cultivation of greenery on the home windowsill or insulated balcony. You can, of course, buy greens in the store, even in winter, but firstly, it is quite expensive at this time, and secondly, the growing process itself is a lot of fun. Probably, self-grown sprouts will seem a thousand times tastier than what was bought in the store.
Buying pots is not a problem. They can be selected in a rectangular shape (for a window sill) or any other. The mixture can be bought in the store, but ordinary land under the house is also suitable. The main secret is directly in the preparation of seeds, watering, fertilizing and lighting.
Parsley If there is a cottage where greens were grown in the summer, it is easiest to take small root crops (about 2 cm in diameter) with petioles from there and plant them in home pots according to the 2-3cm X 4-5cm pattern. The roots will need some time (about a week) to adapt and begin to grow. At this time, it is best to keep them in a cool, shaded place. Then you can put it on the windowsill from the south or southeast side. In less than a month, the first crop will be ready for tasting.
If growing greens in the country is not practiced, then we use seeds for the garden. They need to be prepared. Wrap the seeds in cheesecloth so that the bundle does not untie, and lower it into a pot with running water for half an hour. During this time, the upper shell will be washed off, and then the seeds will germinate faster. Then we leave a wet bundle with seeds for a day for germination. All. The seeds are ready. We deepen them by half a centimeter, slightly sprinkling them with a layer of earth (about 1 cm).
The pot should be kept in a dark place for the first time (until emergence) and moderately moistened every two to three days depending on the temperature (if the temperature is about 16 degrees, water less often, if 20 - 23 can be watered every other day or a little every day). As soon as the first sprouts appear, you need to thin them out (remove the extra ones) and put them in a well-lit place. Even if the windows are on the south side, there is still not enough light, so growing greenery in the winter without daylighting the lamp will not give good results, the sprouts will be thin and not large. If possible, additional lighting should be included in the evenings. The best varieties for home production Harvest, Bordovinskaya, Sugar.
Dill . This is the second most popular type of greenery, which many people are happy to adapt for the home garden. In general, growing greenery at home (and dill in particular) requires well-fertilized soil. Before you start sowing seeds, you need to take good care of the nutritional value of the soil. In specialized stores for this they sell a large number of macro- and micronutrient fertilizers just for home plants, including greens. Well suited for fertilizing the home garden, for example, the drug "Raduna".
Dill is sown several times during the winter with a frequency of 1 - 1.5 months so that it is on the table throughout the winter. For a container measuring 40 x 15 cm, 3 grams of seeds will be required. Then everything is like with parsley: after emergence, we thin out, leaving the distance between the shoots 2-3 cm, water abundantly and feed twice a month. Varieties that grow well at home (with poor winter lighting and a short day) are Gribovsky, Kaskelen, Armenian-269.
Growing greens at home is a very exciting process. Once started, stopping is very difficult. The joy and benefits of a home garden will exceed all expectations and will pay off all labors.