Leaf Salad. Care, Cultivation, Reproduction. Sowing. Types, Varieties. Garden Plants In The Garden. Vegetables. Photo

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Leaf Salad. Care, Cultivation, Reproduction. Sowing. Types, Varieties. Garden Plants In The Garden. Vegetables. Photo
Leaf Salad. Care, Cultivation, Reproduction. Sowing. Types, Varieties. Garden Plants In The Garden. Vegetables. Photo

Video: Leaf Salad. Care, Cultivation, Reproduction. Sowing. Types, Varieties. Garden Plants In The Garden. Vegetables. Photo

Video: Leaf Salad. Care, Cultivation, Reproduction. Sowing. Types, Varieties. Garden Plants In The Garden. Vegetables. Photo
Video: How to Grow Lettuce from Seed 2024, March
Anonim

Two centuries have passed since the lettuce was brought from Europe to Russia. At the royal court, he was received "with a bang", but the bulk of the gardeners simply did not need it: there was a lot of sleepiness, sorrel, nettles around. Only at the end of this century did the salad become desirable in the garden.

Various types of lettuce have been created recently. They differ in shape and color of leaves: from light to dark green, from pink to dark red and brown. There are varieties with a smooth leaf and completely bubbly and even wrinkled, the edge of the leaf is even or twisted into intricate scallops. The leaf itself is sometimes delicate silky ("oily"), then thick, juicy, crispy.

Lettuce varieties can be divided into four types: leafy, cabbage, romaine, and stem.

Let's try together to understand the variety of salads and the peculiarities of their agricultural technology.

Iceberg lettuce
Iceberg lettuce

© Rasbak

The breakaway type lettuce differs in that the leaves are plucked from it without pulling out the plants. The leaves are large, whole (oblong, triangular, fan-shaped) or carved (oak-leaf, dissected).

Let's name the varieties:

Ballet - for growing in greenhouses in winter and early spring, in the beds - all summer. The leaf is crispy, dark green, large, fan-shaped, the leaf edge is scalloped. Resistant to shooters and lack of light. Plant weight 300-600 g.

Dubachek MS - for open ground. Leaves are light green, oak-leaved. Weighs up to 250 g. Resistant to shooting.

Robin is oak-leaved, similar to Dubachek MC, but the leaves are less juicy and colored with anthocyanin in an intense violet-cherry color.

Emerald - for winter-spring turnover. Mid-season. The leaf is obovate, dark green, finely bubbly. Plant weight 60 g. Does not grow old for a long time, excellent taste, resistant to stemming.

Kritset - for protected (sowing from February) and open ground. Early maturing, ripens in 40-45 days. The leaf is thin, color from light green to yellowish. The weight of one plant is 250 g. Stalk and heat resistant.

Other varieties: Rizhsky, Red fire, Kamarnyansky, Moscow greenhouse, New Year.

Romaine lettuce (Romaine lettuce)
Romaine lettuce (Romaine lettuce)

© Unknown

Cabbage salads

Cabbage salads are of two types: buttery and crispy. In England, Spain, Australia, Japan, mainly the latter are grown, in France and other Western European countries - the former.

Cabbage (half-cabbage) lettuce ripens longer than leaf lettuce. After 45-60 days from the emergence of seedlings, a head of cabbage of various shapes and densities is formed.

In oil-leafed salads, the outer leaves, forming the head, are tender, thin, and the inner ones are oily to the touch.

Berlin yellow - for outdoor use.

Leaves are light green with a yellowish tinge. A head of cabbage weighs up to 300 g, medium density.

Festival - for open ground. The leaves are green with a grayish bloom, the edge is slightly wavy. A head of cabbage weighing up to 400 g, dense, white-yellow inside.

Noran - for protected ground. Head of cabbage up to 250 g. The leaves are pale green with a slightly wavy edge.

Kado (half-cabbage) - for open ground. Mid-season, ripens 35-70 days from germination. The leaf is reddish with a strong solid anthocyanin coloration. A head of cabbage weighs 200 g.

Moscow region - for open ground. A medium-early, rounded head of cabbage weighing 200 g ripens in 40-70 days. The leaf is green. A ripe head of cabbage does not lose its qualities on the vine for up to ten days.

Sesame (half-cabbage) - universal. Mid-season, ripens in 45-60 days. The leaf is dark green with a strong anthocyanin coloration. A round head of cabbage weighs 300 g.

Other varieties: Attraction, Stubborn colored, Contribution, Libuza.

The most famous of the crispy ones is Kucheryavey, Odessa (half-cabbage), but there are also new ones: Olympus, Olympus, Tarzan, Celtic, Roxette, Saladin, Quick, Sirena.

Clavier (half-cabbage) - for open ground. The leaves are dark green, fan-shaped. A head of cabbage weighs up to 500 g. Its density is not inferior to a cabbage fork.

Large cabbage - for open ground, can be grown in spring and summer. Rosette leaves are light green with pale pink pigmentation along the edge, fan-shaped. Rounded head of cabbage up to 400 g, light yellow inside.

Red-leaved salad (Lettuce)
Red-leaved salad (Lettuce)

© Carl E Lewis

Romaine salads

Romaine salads form an oblong head of cabbage of different densities (depending on the variety). The leaves in the rosette are directed vertically upward, which is typical only for the varieties of this group. Imported seed packages are usually labeled Cos.

Veradarc is a head salad. The head of cabbage is elongated and oval. The outer leaves are green and the inner leaves are light green.

Other varieties: Parisian, Sovsky, Balon.

Stem salads

Stem (asparagus) salads, in which the main edible part is the stem. Their leaves are narrow, but the stem is thickened. Raw they are cut into a salad, and boiled, they are cooked like asparagus. In Russia, such salads are popular in the Far East, and abroad - in Korea, Japan, China, Sowing runs from spring to autumn. Lettuce grows in all soils, there would be watering, sufficient area and a corner well lit by the sun. And when nothing shades it, it grows like a compactor of crops.

Lettuce can also be grown through seedlings. This method has many advantages: seeds are saved (thinning is excluded), a third of the growing season, the salad is in the garden in the optimal growing mode, the seedlings can be placed on the beds freed from early vegetables. When receiving seedlings in greenhouses, a "race" is created for an early harvest.

Salad (Lettuce)
Salad (Lettuce)

© Frank C. Müller

Sow seeds in boxes or directly into the ground of the insulated greenhouse in rows at a distance of 5 cm (if then picking of seedlings is provided) and 10 cm (without picking). The seeding rate of seeds for seedlings followed by picking is 1-1.5 g per 1 square meter and 0.5 g per square meter without pick. The depth of the groove is up to 1 cm. Two weeks after germination, cut the seedlings into pots measuring 3 × 3 or 6 × 6 cm.

Seedlings are ready for planting after 3-4 true leaves have developed or 30-40 days after germination. It is very important not to deepen it - when planting, make sure that the root collar does not fall below the soil level. Be sure to plant seedlings in moist soil. Any unfavorable factors during transplanting can inhibit growth and lead to flowering. The planting scheme for compact early maturing varieties is 20 × 20 cm, and for large varieties - 35 × 35 cm.

Plant care is usual: weeding, feeding and watering. Top dressing with nitrogen-potassium fertilizers is needed during the period of intensive leaf growth, but before they close. Lettuce plants require constant watering for normal growth.

Start spring sowing as early as possible. To organize a "green conveyor", it is better to sow lettuce at short intervals (after two to three weeks), especially since when the harvest is delayed, the resulting heads of cabbage quickly shoot up and become inedible. In dry weather, regular watering is especially necessary, since the root system of salads is poorly developed and almost all is in a layer of 6-10 cm. Water less often during the formation of the head of cabbage, it is better to replace sprinkling with watering at the root in order to wet the leaves less.

Determine readiness for harvest by the typical rosette size and head density of the variety. To make sure the head of cabbage is firm enough, lightly press down on the plant with the back of your hand. If the leaf does not bend, it is impossible to hesitate with harvesting - most varieties, after stemming begins, are bitter, with the exception of leafy ones. Heads of cabbage are harvested by cutting them off at the base with several fresh rosette leaves.

In areas with mild winters, lettuce can also be grown with podzimnuyu sowing, but (a prerequisite) before winter, not the crops should go, but plants with a rosette of 5-6 leaves. The salad is relatively cold-resistant and can withstand frosts down to minus 10 °, and under the snow up to minus 20 °. Important:

  • do not thicken the sowing, follow the recommended planting scheme;
  • when planting seedlings, do not deepen the root collar;
  • do not overdry the soil.
Salad (Lettuce)
Salad (Lettuce)

© 4028mdk09

And finally, let me remind you: the salad contains all the vitamins currently known. For the prevention of atherosclerosis and many intestinal diseases, it is enough to eat 100-150 g of lettuce daily. Think about your health and grow more salads, it's that easy.

It is no coincidence that at the beginning of the article we mentioned dreaming and nettles. While the salad is still growing, and the nettles and the dimples are already turning green with might and main. It is curious to compare the nutrient content of lettuce, nettles, and chalice:

Nutrient content of herbaceous plants

Salad Nettle To dream Protein,% 0.6-2.9 5.2 1.7 Sugar,% 0.1-4 1 1.4 Vitamin C, mg% 7-40 200 155 Carotene, mg% 0.6-6 8-50 1.9 Fe, mg% 0.9 41 16.6 Si, mg% 1,2 1,3 2 Mp, mg% 3.2 8.2 2.1 B, mg% 1.8 4,3 4

By the way, runny has a pronounced antiscorbutic effect, improves the functioning of the gastrointestinal tract, and helps to remove excess fluid from the body. It has long been used in the treatment of gout, renal failure, and bladder dysfunction.

The combination of the trace elements iron, copper and manganese makes it suitable for therapeutic nutrition in some forms of anemia. Dream is used as an analgesic, wound healing, emollient.

In southern bazaars, vegetable greens are shifted in desperation so that they remain fresh for a long time.

Snake is harvested for future use, salted, fermented, pickled and dried, and in winter they bake pies and prepare various seasonings. In Chuvashia, the Serde soup is a traditional folk dish.

So, when growing cultivated plants, do not neglect wild ones.

Salad (Lettuce)
Salad (Lettuce)

© B.navez

Authors: L. Shashilova, breeder of Pushkin, Leningrad region.

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