Vitamins from the windowsill - tips on forcing fresh herbs: tops of root crops
Fresh greenery - tops of root crops: tasty and healthy
Fresh greens are always necessary, especially in the winter and early spring period, when the deficiency of vitamins and trace elements is particularly palpable. The experienced gardener will not be surprised by the pastry greens of onions, lettuce, spicy-flavored crops. And what about the domestic tops of root crops?
This is a simple, very exciting and rewarding work.
FRESH LEAVES OF REDIS very spicy. But radish is photophilous, and the winter day is short. Therefore, it must be lightened additionally (I use a fluorescent lamp of white color with an output of 80 W). Radish is cold, so the boxes are the place on the cool window sill. I choose fast- and medium-ripe varieties Dawn, Alba, Mokhovsky, which can be grown all year round.
I leave the distance between the rows not less than 10 cm, between the plants about 5 cm, the embedment depth - up to 1 cm. Radish loves potassium, so before sowing I bring a pinch of potassium sulfate or after sowing I dust the surface with wood ash and then lightly roll it.
Care for crops is simple - loosening and moderate watering. When the leaves grow (maybe a week after sowing), I also spray them, since the air in the apartment is dry during the heating season.
One feeding for the entire period of vegetation is enough. I dissolve a few grams of superphosphate and potassium salt in the water, add cow dung. But do not overdo it, otherwise all the force will go to the formation of root crops.
Young, acute taste of leaves are rich in vitamin C (it is there not less than in berries of sea-buckthorn or black currant), sugars, proteins, a number of essential amino acids, bactericides. Especially spicy give them mustard oil. We use leaves in salads, side dishes, okroshke and green soup.
Unlikely for the sake of young fragrant greens to grow on the windowsill daikon - Japanese radish. I practice two ways.
The first - with the planting of the root crop itself (early ripe varieties of a round shape are needed). I deepen root crops by 3/4 in a box with soil mixture.
The second method is hydroponic, for seeds. You can use any wide glass or ceramic vessel, such as an aquarium. I buy special pots for hydroponics, according to the instructions I fill them with a nutrient substrate - instead of soil mix I use vermiculite, sphagnum moss, perlite or gravel. A good substrate is peat (in combination with dolomite flour) or small expanded clay. I filter the water for the nutrient mixture, according to the instructions, enrich it with macro- and microelements (magnesium sulfate, ammonia and potassium nitrate, potassium chloride, boric acid, powder of salts of zinc, iron, molybdenum and copper). I deepen the substrate a little and sprinkle the seeds. Then I put a piece of wet foam. Two weeks later, I cut the crop.
See also: Dismissal - what is it and how right. Micro-greenery
The daikon plant is valuable for the optimal ratio of pectic substances, potassium salts, calcium, essential oils and enzymes, vitamins C and Group B. The daikon cleanses the body well even of radioactive substances, the juice is recommended for the dissolution of bile and kidney stones.
We use young, raw greens in salads. And the tops fried in oil are for a gourmet Japanese appetizer by Tsukudis (I had to try it with shrimp, soy sauce, avocado).
HERE TO BEETS it is better to drive out not earlier than the second half of winter, when daylight will increase. Small root crops (40-60 g), promptly cleaned and properly stored, with an intact head, I put in a box close to each other - this is the so-called bridge method, or one at a time from boxes of milk, kefir. Caution: do not touch the roots, otherwise it is easy to damage the main root!
I cover the bottom of the container with a thin layer of clean river sand. I put in the beetroot and fall asleep in fertile soil. The best mix is garden earth (previously disinfected with potassium permanganate or heating in the oven), humus and peat in a ratio of 1: 2: 3. I keep the root crops for a week in a dark and cool (8-10 °) place, then I provide them with light, which can be scattered.
Strike out the production on a warm window sill (someone can use the balcony or loggia), I try to keep the temperature below 18-20 °, without sharp changes.
Attention: apical buds can not be filled up! You can not water them either. In general, excessive watering is harmful - delicate sprouts quickly decay. Water should be at room temperature.
Monthly top-dressing includes a solution of ammonium sulfate (5 g per 1 L of water) and potassium chloride (2 g per 1 L). Gradually grow soft light green leaves, and to cut off, I start about 3 weeks after planting. I cut off (with petioles!) The outer leaves, and keep the central ones for the time being.
See also: We grow parsley and celery on the windowsill - forcing root crops at room conditions
When the root crop is depleted, I replace it with a fresh one, in the same container. Only modest fertilizing and moderate watering are needed.
Delicious beet tops, exceptionally rich in vitamins and organic acids, fiber and sugars, pigments and easily digestible iodine, goes into the filling for pancakes, decorates our borscht and green salads.
© Author: V. ROSSIYSKY Belarus
GREEN FORWARDING - TIPS OF GORGERS AND PROFESSIONALS
In the winter we will be with greens
It's time to make sure that in winter there are always juicy greens at hand. The easiest way is to prepare root crops collected from the beds for distillation. If everything is done correctly, then at the beginning of winter they will “wake up” and until the spring will delight you with vitamins.
Suitable for distillation:
- ✓ parsley;
- ✓ celery;
- ✓ Swiss chard;
- ✓ beets;
- ✓ Cyclic salad witloof.
We clean on time
You do not need to harvest the root crops that you intend to drive out early, as they will accumulate more nutrients. But even before the first frosts it is impossible to tighten. If you can’t harvest on time, at least mulch the plants with straw or cover with a spanbond.
Store in sawdust
Store root vegetables in boxes, buckets or bags, sprinkling them with wet sawdust or sand mixed with limestone flour (0,5 kg per bucket of sawdust or sand). It is best to keep them at a temperature near 0 degrees. If you do not have a cellar or basement, take containers with vegetables to the balcony or to the coolest room.
Make up the soil
Since the nutrients for the growth of greens mainly come from the root crops themselves, it is impractical to buy soil for planting them. Better prepare it yourself.
- For parsley and celery, mix the ash with garden soil (250 g per 1 kg).
- For witloof suitable mixed in equal parts of the soil from the beds, river sand and peat.
- Plant beets in a mixture of sand and turf land (1: 1).
- Onions and carrots will like garden soil mixed with dolomite flour (1 tablespoons per 1 kg of land).
- Or a universal option: mix the soil from the beds with sawdust (3: 1).
Dates for forcing greens
To get as much greens as possible, expel vegetables at the optimum time for them:
- vitluf
- and carrots - since mid-November;
- rhubarb - from mid-December;
- beets - in January;
- celery and parsley - in February and March;
- onions - at any time throughout the winter.
© Author: Anton LESHCHEV, Cand. of sciences
DISPLAY GREEN - METHOD FOR VIDEO
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As a rule, summer residents throw green onions on the windowsill in the winter, and I do the same with chives. I harvest planting material in the country, I take it from large old bushes, because chives are long-lived, it is even useful to share it, otherwise it grows. With a shovel, I separate part of the bush, sort it into pieces, select good shoots for distillation and plant it in a container at home, where annuals grew on the balcony in summer. Sometimes I don’t even change the soil, just sprinkle with nutritious soil on top (I buy a fresh package of ordinary garden soil).
I hold drawers with chives on the balcony to light frosts, all bows are quite frost-resistant. Then, as the temperature drops, I bring the box home and put it on the lightest window sill. From one sprout, as a rule, I get two crops, no more. Schnitt onions are very fond of organic dressing and moisture, therefore, unlike ordinary onions, I water them more often so that the soil is always slightly moist.
I tried to plant parsley and dill with seeds in the fall, but it didn’t work, obviously these crops lack sun. But I managed to transplant parsley grown on the garden bed into a flower pot and kept it at home as a houseplant. Last year, she felt great until the New Year, so the greens on the table were her own!
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In December, we start distilling “vitamins” - green onions, parsley, celery, and table beets on window sills or in loggias. For the distillation of chicory salad more suitable basements, greenhouses, pantry.
To distill the parsley we select thick short roots, place them in pots with the ground, plant diagonally. Make sure that the roots do not touch each other. The optimum distillation temperature is 15 ° C. When the roots are exhausted and the greens stop growing, we put a new batch on the forcing. In the same way we expel the green leaves from the celery root. Green onion feathers can be obtained by forcing both onions and chives.
Rhizome plants (sorrel, rhubarb), when distilled, also give a good harvest of greenery. We prepare rhizomes in the late autumn, then 1-2 weeks keep them at a low temperature. This contributes to a better growth of leaves, and therefore, petioles and rhizomes.
Lettuce chicory is expelled in rooms where the temperature is maintained above 10 ° C (optimal 15-17 ° C). We sort the roots before planting by size and thickness, respectively, and we land. Too long roots are pruned (but they should not be shorter than 15 cm). We plant vertically or diagonally, also ensuring that the roots are separated from each other by soil. Then we fall asleep with a layer of soil or sand. Layer thickness - 15 cm, if the distillation is produced in a dark room and 20 cm, if in a light. After planting, water the roots. To make the soil warmer, we cover the planting with a layer of leaves or straw manure.
Heads making their way through a layer of shelter without light access grow compact and bleached. In the light, they turn green and become bitter. When the heads reach a length of about 15, chicory is dug out, we cut the heads off with a part of the root, otherwise they will crumble. We throw away the roots, and lay new ones on the forcing. At a temperature of 15 ° C, chicory will be taken out for 20-30 days, and at lower temperatures - 40 days.
On the windowsill we grow and watercress. Moreover, it is not necessary to sow it in the ground, you can - on moist gauze, paper towels, napkins placed in a flat tray. Through 1 -2 weeks, when the greens rise, we cut it off with scissors. We use it in salads, we sprinkle sandwiches with it, we add to soups and other dishes. In addition to watercress, so-called mini-greens can be sown on window-sills - chard and parsley varieties, bred specifically for growing in rooms in the winter.
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Radish is one of the most ripening vegetables, which is why it works out well in winter both in greenhouses and in a room. This will require a container with a depth of 15-20 cm, a mixture of garden soil with peat and sand and lighting.
Yes, in winter even the unpretentious radish of light is not enough, and without additional lighting, good roots will not form. But too long a light day is harmful, the plants will go into color. Try to generally light period is 10-12h, and choose for growing varieties that are resistant to lightning.
As for the latter, varieties with white-colored root crops are very good. Do not confuse them with a daikon! At the daikon, the ripening period is much longer and the root crops are much larger, so that they will not grow in a small container. White radish - it is radish, precocious and medium-sized. I grow 2 varieties: White Fang and Ice Icicle. Both are recommended for indoor cultivation.
Seedlings appear quickly, there are no special problems here. But it is important to as quickly as possible to thin the seedlings, leaving the distance between them 3-4 cm. This will give them scope for development and protect them from the black leg. It is also useful to powder the shoots with wood ash. No more fertilizing is needed, just watering. The soil must always be moist, but without stagnation of water (a layer of expanded clay and sand is needed).
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Under the New Year sowed on the windowsill greens - coriander and rukkola. Shoots appeared brisk, highlighted them all day - from 10 to 10 evening, watered regularly. But after a week or two and a half, tiny sticks began to bob, in one container there were very few of them, in the second there is more, but they feel worse every day. What am I doing wrong?
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December is too dark a season for indoor crops, so that the greenery grows, as in industrial greenhouses, they need a very powerful round-the-clock illumination, and it is rather difficult to provide such at home. If you want to have fresh herbs in late autumn and winter, it is best to grow adult plants dug from the beds on the windowsill - parsley, dwarf varieties of basil (for example, pepper), chives, hot pepper bushes. Good at home (but cool) grow rosemary, laurel. It is possible at this time to expel greens from root crops: celery, beets, turnips, daikon, kohlrabi, etc. - For this, there will be enough light and nutrients accumulated in the juicy roots (nothing that leaves will be pale). In addition, you can germinate many cereals, beans, peas, lentils, soybeans, grow vitamin microgreens (watercress, mustard, borago, etc.) to the cotyledons and the first full leaves, as they germinate in the dark. But sowing seeds in the hope of growing a full-fledged "greenfinch" (dill, cilantro, chervil, arugula) on the windowsill makes sense only at the very end of winter, and even better - in early spring, when days are noticeably longer and there will be a lot of light.
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Did you notice that in winter you want even greenery more than in the summer? But constantly buying it is expensive. Take care of the pasture! The process is elementary, but there are also rules.
Petrushka - moderate watering
For planting, select root crops with a length of IQ-12 cm. Place in pots with a depth of about 20 cm so that 1-2 cm of root is left above the soil surface. The distance between the plants is 5 cm. While parsley does not take root, it does not need copious watering. Then do not let the soil dry up, water with summer water. The first greens will get in two or three weeks. Rhubarb - cool Deep boxes fill the ground, pour abundantly. Plant rhizome rhizomes in them and put them in the cellar. The most common mistake in driving a rhubarb is an overestimated temperature.
Witlufu - the shadow
In the vitluf distillation vessel, lay the drainage layer (2-3 cm). Fill with soil. Root crops of about 20 cm length are planted in moist soil vertically at 2-3 cm from each other. Put the containers in a dark warm place. If necessary, water with summer water. Cut the first kochanchiki it will be possible already in 1-1,5 months.