Cultivation of cabbage people engaged in the Stone Age, which is confirmed by excavations from their sites. This vegetable received great popularity and universal respect at first in Ancient Greece, where it came from Ancient Iberia, and then in Ancient Rome.
Poets of antiquity wrote verses about white cabbage , and scholars dedicated treatises to its healing properties. In the annals of Kievan Rus, cabbage is mentioned in manuscripts of the 11th century, where it is recommended to grow and eat it.
Today, cabbage remains the most popular vegetable in the world in terms of sowing and consumption.
Varieties of cabbage
According to its properties, cabbage is different:
- Early ripening, which takes up to 30 days to mature. It has a few "loose" leaves and is stored extremely briefly.
- Mid-early varieties mature in 75 days, are suitable for salads, and are not stored for long.
- Mid-ripening varieties ripen in 85-130 days, suitable for salads and pickles, for quick consumption. Stored up to 5 months. For example, cabbage "gift", the reviews of which are the most positive, gives high yields, tastes good and has excellent commercial qualities. Summer residents grow it not only for their own use, but also for sale.
- Late-ripening varieties ripen in 160-180 days and are suitable for storage both fresh and pickled.
Each variety has its advantages and has its own set of "utilities." So, the early ones are more suitable for salads and stews, and mid-ripening, for example, the “gift” cabbage variety (reviews by “cabbage connoisseurs” confirm this), perfectly retain the substances both in raw and in pickled form.
Depending on the length of the summer, you can choose the optimal variety of cabbage and delight yourself and loved ones with delicious pies and dumplings.
Variety "gift"
One of the most popular varieties among summer residents is the "gift" cabbage. Description, reviews say that love for her is not without foundation. This variety has a fairly high yield - up to 10 kg per 1 m 2 . In addition, cabbage was created for planting immediately in open ground, as it is quite resistant to external influences, especially temperature extremes.
For mid-season cabbage, it is important to tolerate the heat well, because it is these varieties that fall in the summer-autumn harvest season, when the air temperature is quite high. Collected heads of cabbage have an average weight of 3 kg, a dense round or flat shape, well tolerate transportation over long distances, which is confirmed by reviews of cabbage “gift”. Due to its good commercial qualities and high yield, it is grown not only by amateur gardeners, but also by agricultural enterprises.
Another useful property, especially for long-term storage, is resistance to cracking. Given all of the above, cabbage "gift" (reviews are accurate) is a popular guest in summer cottages and on the shelves of vegetable shops. This variety is well known by hostesses who like to make tasty sauerkraut.
Growing seedlings
To give white cabbage a “gift” (reviews of gardeners strongly recommend it) to give a good harvest, seedlings should be planted at home in early April.
To obtain healthy and strong seedlings, it is necessary to prepare a soil mixture of 20% sod land, 75% peat and 5% river sand. A well-mixed mass should be poured in a sowing container and pour antifungal drug several days before planting.
In the soil should make holes 1-1.5 cm deep at a distance of 3 cm from each other. They throw seeds and sprinkle with earth. Sowing containers require a lot of light and heat, so the windowsill on the sunny side will be the best place for them.
The optimum temperature for seed germination is +18 degrees, but after the shoots appear, the containers must be transferred to a room with a temperature not exceeding +15 degrees. If this is not done, the sprouts will quickly go up and be weak.
To simplify the work, you can immediately sow 2-3 seeds in separate sections or cups, and thin out and leave the strongest as they grow. This will save the plant from excessive picking.
In cloudy weather, young sprouts require additional lighting, which can be an ordinary daylight. If it is possible to take the seedlings out to the balcony or to the courtyard during the day, then it is better to do this, since it only gets stronger and stronger from the temperature difference.
Shortly before transplanting into the open ground, the “Gift” cabbage (reviews of experienced gardeners confirm this) should undergo hardening, for which its seedlings can be carried out in air at a temperature of +8 degrees, and covered with a film at night. This procedure will make the plant strong and yield high.
Choosing a place to land
Mid-season cabbage is planted in open ground at the end of May, but before that you need to prepare the soil and choose the right place.
If the climate allows and in April stable warm weather is established, then sowing of seeds can be done directly into the soil. Having previously prepared the pegs and the film, the seeds are thrown into small holes for 2-3 pieces, and thin out as they grow. Before strong shoots appear, the area with sowing should be covered with a film overnight.
If the cabbage is a “gift” (characteristic, reviews about it directly) are planted in open ground with seedlings, then the place and soil should be prepared first.
The place should be sunny, far from trees, a fence and everything that a shadow can give. If the plot for cabbage is being prepared in the fall, then it must be dug up, having previously introduced 4-5 kg of manure or 2.5-3 kg of humus.
Mineral fertilizers are used in two steps. In autumn, phosphorus-potassium fertilizers are applied to the soil, and in spring, nitrogen fertilizers are poured into the wells shortly before the seedlings are planted.
Planting cabbage in the open ground
Planting cabbage should be carried out according to the scheme: 40x60 cm - the distance between the sprouts, and 50-70 cm - the aisle. After the sprout is planted, the earth must be carefully watered, and rammed around the hole. The best planting time is cloudy weather or immediately after rain, but you can also manipulate in the evening, be sure to cover the sprouts with film.
In order not to damage the root, seedlings must be removed from the containers carefully, preferably with a lump of earth. In order to strengthen the root, you can dip it in a mixture of earth with mullein immediately before planting in the holes.
Feeding and caring for cabbage
Important conditions for a high yield of cabbage “gift” are watering and top dressing. In dry summers, 1.5-2 liters of water should be watered 1-2 times a week after a dive and 3-4 liters during the formation of the head and its growth.
In addition, the “Gift” cabbage (gardeners' reviews constantly remind us of this) requires regular hilling of the soil. The first should be carried out 2-3 weeks after the picking sprouts, when it forms an average of 8-10 leaves. The next hilling is carried out 2-3 weeks after the first.
Top dressing is the second component of a high yield. It is advisable to carry out it simultaneously with watering, as well as after prolonged rains, which wash out useful substances from the soil.
The fertilizer mode has three stages:
- The first top dressing for the variety “gift” should be carried out 1.5-2 weeks after a dive into the open ground. This can be manure diluted with water or urea (15 g per bucket of water).
- The next stage of fertilizer is carried out 3 weeks after the first and consists of potassium sulfate, ammonium sulfate and superphosphate (30x25x25 g).
- A third top dressing is required if the cabbage is planted on depleted soil. In its composition, it is the same as the second.
Carry out such simple actions, and cabbage “gift” (reviews, photos of those who grew it, confirm this) will respond with strong and weighty heads of cabbage.
Pests and diseases
The main pests for cabbage are cabbage fly, aphids and whiteflies. Young shoots can be saved from cabbage flies by covering them with a net. To scare away butterflies and prevent the appearance of aphids, you can plant tomatoes or eggplant around cabbage.
Also good is killing pests by spraying the leaves of cabbage “gift” with the infusion of garlic (300 g per 10 l of water) with the addition of grated soap (100 g). It is advisable to carry out such spraying not only on the cabbage itself, but also on neighboring cultures so that the whitefly does not appear there.
If the area under the cabbage is small, then you can collect the tracks manually.
Storage of cabbage "gift"
The variety “gift” among gardeners is considered not to be stored for long, only 5 months. But even during this period it should be properly stored.
After harvesting, all the lower leaves from the heads of cabbage must be removed, and the heads themselves are thoroughly ventilated and dried. It is recommended to store cabbage on shelves or in trellised drawers in a room with a temperature from -1 to +1 degree with humidity up to 90%. If there are no shelves, she feels great in a suspended state, so that the heads can be wrapped with fishing line or twine and hung so that they do not touch each other.
Useful properties of cabbage
Cabbage “gift” has a high content of vitamin C, so it is used for the production of baby food. In addition, it is rich in potassium salts, phosphorus, calcium, sulfur, fiber, lactose, as well as vitamins A, B1, B6, C, K, P and vitamin U, which has an antiulcer effect.
An important factor is that cabbage retains all its beneficial properties even during long-term storage and transportation.