Vegetable early ripening. Early vegetables Early vegetables in the garden

Seasonality of vegetables and fruits - an aspect that we do not always take into account when choosing products. After all, in supermarkets there are vegetables and fruits all year round laid out in neat slides on chilled shelves, even and smooth, as if chosen. Large retail chains make us think less about the quality of products and more about a wide selection and maximum convenience purchases: at any time of the year, any day of the week and any time of the day. We eat regularly beautiful vegetables and fruit from the supermarket, succumbing to the illusion healthy image life.

Are vegetables and fruits always healthy?

While we are happy to fill our carts with fruits and vegetables, we forget that they will only be useful during the season, which is different for each product. Moreover, out-of-season fruits can harm the body. But how can this be? Haven't we been taught since childhood that fruits and vegetables, especially raw ones, are a source of many vitamins?

Yes and no. Seasonal fruits, ripened according to the natural cycle and collected at its peak, are maximally rich in vitamins and microelements. Such vegetables and fruits can and should be eaten unprocessed, preserving their beneficial composition.

Modern agricultural technologies, catering to endless consumer demand, supply us wide choice out-of-season products that are not only not healthy (grown in artificial conditions, vegetables and fruits do not accumulate the required amount of vitamins), but are also harmful. Growth Promoting Supplements early maturation, nitrate fertilizers, pesticides that do not have time to decompose due to too short a cycle - all this harms our health. Children under three years of age and the elderly are especially susceptible to this.

Such vegetables and fruits must be carefully processed before consumption to reduce harmful effects. It is recommended to soak them in cold water(or in a weak solution of vinegar), cut off the stalks and peel the peel. But even in this case, their benefits to the body will be minimal.

Stocking up on vitamins for future use

Realizing that winter comes after an abundant summer, we consciously or unconsciously adjust our diet, trying to get enough of juicy fresh tastes and accumulate more vitamins in reserve. This desire is reinforced by national food traditions: seasonal vegetables in the summer they do not leave the table, alternating in “green” salads and various types of okroshka. Craving for fresh vegetables And fruits are not accidental: our body instinctively chooses what will be useful for it. Thus, carrots contain beta-carotene, which is converted by body enzymes into vitamin A (retinol), which strengthens the retina. Cucumber consists of 95% water, saturated with potassium and serving as an excellent means for removing toxins and toxic substances. And the red color of the tomato is due to the lycopene it contains, which prevents the division of some cancer cells.

The World Health Organization recommends eating at least 400 grams of fruits and vegetables, fresh or cooked (excluding potatoes and similar starchy root vegetables), per day to prevent disease heart disease, cancer, diabetes and obesity. For convenience, you can remember the universal “five servings rule”: you should eat 5 or more different fruit and vegetable “servings” per day. One serving is approximately 80-100 grams, or an amount that can easily fit in a folded palm: a carrot, a tomato, a couple of tangerines or a small bowl of vegetable salad.

Canning, drying or freezing?

To maintain the correct balance in your diet even in winter, you can make preparations from seasonal vegetables, fruits, berries, herbs and mushrooms. The most popular, but least valuable option in terms of preserving usefulness is canning. This way you can cook a lot vegetable dishes, completely ready to serve. However, canning requires heat treatment, therefore the content of vitamins and minerals in final product minimal. There is also little benefit in jams and preserves, because prolonged boiling and combining with sugar does not have the best effect on the composition of berries and fruits.

A more gentle treatment is drying at room temperature, in the sun or in the oven. This option is well suited for fruits, berries, mushrooms and herbs.

Finally, almost perfect way preparation is the freezing of food. It allows you to preserve as much as possible not only the beneficial composition, but also appearance, taste and aroma of vegetables and fruits. It should be remembered that re-freezing is undesirable, so it is better to distribute the products into small portion bags.

Seasonal calendar of vegetables and fruits

To easily navigate the seasons and create a delicious and healthy menu all year round, use our seasonal calendar.

With a great love for the land and diligence, every gardener can provide his family with a sufficient amount of vegetable products all year round. But we need to “set up” the vegetable “conveyor” early spring, after careful planning and preparation.

Start your spring sowing by preparing garden beds on paper. The “Paper Project” will allow you to correctly and rationally place vegetable crops, taking into account crop rotation and crop compatibility. When making a crop rotation, pay attention to the placement of crops taking into account the best predecessors. At the same time, identify partners for compacted crops that will allow you to grow two crops in one area. So, combine slow-growing crops (for example, carrots, dill) with sprinting plants. Lettuce and radish shoots appear much earlier than carrot shoots and mark rows. Overseeding lighthouse crops brings a double benefit: it allows you to start loosening the rows early, without waiting for the main crop to sprout, and provides additional early production of lettuce or radishes from the same area. After planning, it will become clear what varieties and types of crops are needed and how many seeds are needed. Their number can be calculated based on the culinary needs of the family and the allocated planting area. If the beds are placed according to plan, you can subsequently place low arches over them and make a light film cover in order to obtain vitamin products as early as possible. Immediately prepare and sign labels with the names of the varieties and crops that you plan to sow and do not rush to throw away the seed packets. Get a notebook (work diary), write down the date of sowing and attach the seed bag. This way you can determine your “favorites)) and reject those varieties that turned out to be unproductive or do not correspond to the description on the label, and at the same time identify the sources of their supply. You don't want to get into trouble again, do you? The weather does not allow us to develop the entire area for sowing in one go - in the morning the top layer of soil is frozen, and by the evening it warms up and intensively evaporates moisture. To conserve soil moisture (this is extremely important when sowing slow-germinating seeds!), prepare only those beds that you can sow immediately. Do not give in to temptation, do not thicken the crops. If you still have seeds that have been processed and prepared for sowing, but there is no space in the garden bed, wrap them in a damp cloth and place them in plastic bag and store in the refrigerator at a low positive temperature, making sure that the fabric is always damp. “You can sow the excess seeds when other beds are formed.

Never sow unprepared, untreated, dry seeds. Their development will be delayed indefinitely. Unevenly emerging seedlings will have to withstand serious competition with friendly seedlings of weed seeds that have overwintered in the soil. To stimulate seed germination and the emergence of friendly shoots, use special drugs(ivin, emistim S, fumar, epin, succinic acid, etc.) or use an infusion wood ash(20 g of ash per 1 liter of water, leave for a day or two, immerse the seeds in the solution for 4-6 hours). This is what they do with seeds of amateur or unknown origin. And branded seeds purchased in a specialized store do not require any pre-sowing treatment. Dried, encrusted seeds should also be sown dry. Under no circumstances should they be soaked, since pesticides are washed off along with the inlay, and after sowing the seeds remain defenseless against pathogens of various diseases. For early spring sowing, prepare the beds in the fall: add organic and mineral fertilizers, carefully dig them up and free them from weeds. Knowing the characteristics of the soil on your site, prepare the necessary fertilizers for additional application in the spring, growth stimulants, plant protection products from those pests that were especially “annoying” last season (think about mole crickets, ants, aphids, spider mites etc.). It is very important to correctly determine the timing of early spring sowing. Don’t forget the peasant commandment: “If you miss an hour, you won’t make it up in a year.” Start sowing seeds when the soil at a depth of 10 cm warms up to 5 ° C (the air temperature is always 1-2 ° C lower). Sometimes they say that it is better to wait 5-10 days with sowing - the soil will warm up well and seedlings will appear faster. But the seeds of cold-resistant crops begin to germinate at a temperature of 3-5 °C. And the root begins to grow, but seedlings do not appear on the soil surface. This means that the longer the period of seed germination, the better the seedlings have developed root system. That is why the productivity of plants sown in early spring is always higher than those sown in late spring. Early spring sowing is most favorable for growing cold-resistant and green crops - nigella onions for sets and other perennial onions, carrots, parsley, parsnips, radishes, oat roots, peas, lettuce, watercress, mustard greens, borage (borage), spinach, quinoa, chard, dill, chervil, coriander, caraway, lovage, lemon balm, savory, mint, thyme, rhubarb, etc. About what nuances should be taken into account to speed up the emergence of seedlings traditional cultures, we will remind the regulars of our gardens.

Garden subtleties

Carrots are a cold-resistant crop and should be sown as early as possible. Considering that carrot seeds are very small and their seedlings are too weak, it is necessary to cultivate the soil for sowing especially carefully. Carrot seeds must have high germination capacity and good germination energy. They are soaked for 2-3 days (the water is changed daily) and germinated on a damp cloth. Sowing with germinated seeds accelerates the emergence of seedlings by 8-10 days. The beds are loosened with a rake, grooves are made to a depth of 3 cm, and the seeds are planted to a depth of 1.5-2.0 cm. The crops should not be thickened; this causes additional, very labor-intensive work to thin out the seedlings. It is extremely important to begin loosening the row spacing immediately after emergence. Along with carrots, it is useful to sow a lighthouse crop, which indicates the direction of the rows of the main crop. Lettuce or radish seeds (20 times less in weight) are mixed with carrot seeds. Radishes are rightfully considered the firstborn of spring. Seeds begin to germinate at a temperature of 2-4 °C. Before sowing, they should be soaked for a day so that they swell - this will speed up germination. Seedlings can withstand temperatures down to -2...-3 °C, adult plants can tolerate short-term frosts down to -5...-B °C. Optimal temperature during the period of root crop growth 16-20 °C. Under the influence of higher temperatures, root vegetables become coarse and bitter, and prolonged exposure low temperatures leads to bolting of plants.

Because of high content essential oils Dill seeds germinate slowly. 2-3 days before sowing, they need to be soaked in water, changing it every 6-8 hours, then dried until flowable or germinated in damp sand. Soaking accelerates the emergence of seedlings by 8-10 days. To improve further care for dill crops, you can mix the seeds of a lighthouse crop, such as lettuce, with the seeds. When sowing, the rows are spaced 10-15 cm apart, the seed placement depth is 1-3 cm.

Parsley seeds also germinate very slowly. To speed up this process, they need to be soaked in a damp cloth and germinated at room temperature. Hardening the seeds increases germination energy: when 5-6% of the seeds sprout, they are placed in the refrigerator for 10-12 days (temperature 1-2 °C). With this preparation of seeds, seedlings appear on the 5-7th day. The sprouted seeds are sown on the bed in furrows, the distance between the furrows is 45 cm, between plants - 2-3 cm.

Young spinach plants can withstand frosts down to minus 6 °C. The optimal temperature for growth and development is 15-18 °C. Lack of moisture and temperatures above 20 °C accelerate flowering. Therefore, spinach is most productive when grown in early spring. The best predecessors are tomatoes, green crops. Before sowing, the seeds are soaked in water for 1-2 days, changing it several times.

Fresh onion seeds (nigella), previously stratified (or soaked in a stimulant solution) and dried until flowable, are sown in rows (every 15-20 cm). The seeding depth is 1-1.5 cm. To improve germination conditions, the seedlings are mulched with a small layer of humus. The first thinning is carried out after the emergence of seedlings, leaving the seedlings at a distance of 2-3 cm from each other, the second - after 20-25 days, leaving 3-4 cm between the sprouts.

Lettuce seedlings tolerate frosts down to -1 ... -6 °C. This culture loves light and moisture, with a lack of light and in hot weather it quickly forms flower stalks, in addition, when high temperature and a decrease in air and soil humidity increases the bitterness of the leaves. The seeds are treated with potassium permanganate, dried and sown or stored in a damp state until they hatch, then mixed with calcined sand 1:5 and sown in prepared beds. The depth of embedding is no more than 1 cm. The soil is lightly compacted and carefully watered.

Watercress is the fastest ripening plant (the growing season until technical ripeness is 25-30 days). The best predecessors are tomatoes, cucumbers, onions, root vegetables, dill. Tolerates wet and wet conditions well shady places. Strong thickening of plants and insufficient soil moisture lead to leaves quickly becoming coarse and arrows appearing. By sowing watercress every 10-20 days, you can achieve a conveyor supply of fresh greens throughout the year.

Do you think it is harmful to leave empty beds in the garden? The earth becomes crusty, dries, and becomes depleted. Organic mulch is a good option, but it is not always possible to get it in sufficient quantity. And sometimes you just want to get the maximum yield from each of the six acres.

Small crop rotation helps to rationally use sown areas. It involves sowing early ripening vegetables BEFORE or AFTER the main crop.

In the article you will find a list of the “fastest” vegetables and tips for growing them.

Radish

Of the proven early ripening varieties, 18 days and French Breakfast never fail. There is also a good variety called Sofit, which is super resistant to flowering. Relatively new variety, producing root crops weighing 250-350 grams - Queen of the Market, ripening in just 19 days.

Chinese cabbage

Pak choy leaves are eaten at any stage of ripening; technical maturity occurs 20-30 days after planting the seedlings.

Among the varieties, Lastochka stands out, ready for harvesting within 15 days after germination. Another variety is Vesnyanka; the first collection of leaves is carried out 20-25 days after germination.

Daikon

The set of crops and varieties also depends on the microclimate of the site, soil quality, and burial depth. groundwater, the possibility of using protected soil. Diseases and pests will play an important role when choosing. Of course, personal preferences should not be discounted.

The most affordable and early ripening crops- so-called “green”: salad, Chinese cabbage, watercress, dill, cilantro, parsley and green onions. Within a month and a half, early, spring-summer cucumbers and zucchini are ready. And the nightshade plants will require the greatest care: tomatoes, eggplants, peppers grown through seedlings. Sowing begins with them. When purchasing seeds, you will have to decide on the variety. It is better to resolve this issue before going to the seed store.

We all want to get the harvest as quickly as possible, and our summer is short, so we are of particular interest early ripening varieties. At the same time, let us not forget that early radish will be ready from germination in three weeks; early cabbage will produce an elastic head of cabbage no sooner than in 90 days, early zucchini and cucumbers— 37-40 days; early ripening eggplants even in warm weather it takes about 90-100 days, the same amount of time is required early sweet pepper for ripening. This is only for the formation of technical ripeness, and they turn orange and red only after 20 days. For tomatoes, 100 days is the normal period; until full ripeness, its fruits contain solanine, which makes tomatoes inedible. The substance is destroyed only before the onset of biological ripeness.

Early harvest- the most desirable, but not the richest in sugars, pectin, pigments, and organic acids that create taste. Long ripening in warm conditions sun rays promotes their accumulation in large, brightly colored fruits of tomato, pepper, and eggplant. All this means that in the presence of protected soil, as well as in areas with a warm climate, it is worth paying attention to later varieties.

Precocity to a certain extent related to the nature of plant growth and branching. More compact low growing tomatoes, cucumbers with little branching begin to bear fruit earlier than tall ones. But this dependence is not direct.

The dream of any breeder - a variety that can set fruit early and feeding them while continuing to increase leaf mass is the key to long-term fruiting.

Currently, among cucumbers - sprinters only F1 Ant, F1 Grasshopper, F1 Mazai: they have short side shoots that appear after harvesting early harvest from the main stem. And only 4-6 days behind them are F1 Hit of the Season, F1 Maryina Roshcha, Green Wave, Burevestnik, Junior Lieutenant and some others. Among the very early tomatoes- short Upstart, F1 City dweller. Large-fruited ones are 5-10 days behind: Rosy Cheeks and F1 Bolshevik, as well as F1 Arbat, F1 Kulinar - with denser fruits.

Champions of early ripening among tomatoes- representatives of the cherry group. They are not the closest relatives to ordinary tomatoes, and they have their own gradation. Thus, low-growing pink crumbs weighing 15-20 grams ripen on the 75-80th day after germination (Arctic cherry). Even tall cherry tomatoes have the sweetest and most aromatic fruits, unsurpassed leaders in dry matter content, and are ready for consumption in 90-95 days (Dessert), that is, earlier than early large tomatoes.

Among early sweet pepper- low-growing Eroshka with light green fruits at technical ripeness and Yunga with dark green fruits (both turn red at biological ripeness), as well as Chardash, whose peppers grow yellow from the very beginning and then become more orange. Also early, but taller- Barguzin, Nafanya and Magician. Fans know that even among the sissies of eggplants there are early ripening ones. Little Robin Hood (with elongated pear-shaped fruits from 170 to 300 g) ripens even near Magadan.

Early cabbage— Express, Cossack - can be received at middle lane already in mid-June. And even though the heads of cabbage are not large and dense, they are a valuable addition to our modest diet at the beginning of summer.

Note:

— Hybrid gloxinia can be propagated vegetatively or by seeds. At seed propagation the offspring, as a rule, are heterogeneous in the manifestation of the characteristics of the original specimens. At vegetative propagation(leaf or apical cuttings) the original characteristics are preserved, except for rare cases of spontaneous mutations.