Growing Greens On The Windowsill, Vitamins From The Home Garden

2024 Author: Sebastian Paterson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:47

Vitamins are not only in the pharmacy. They can be grown on a windowsill

The season is over. Returning from the dacha, where the garden beds were under the windows, it would be good to think about extending the consumption of fresh green vegetables at home, about a "home" garden. Moreover, it's not that difficult.

First, you should pay attention to leeks. Few varieties and hybrids of this valuable vegetable, even when sown in early March, manage to give a full harvest in our short summer. That is why this type of onion is grown and bleached in a pit in the basement, on the veranda, in the loggia. Do the same with late cauliflower varieties and preserve collard greens.

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Onions can be harvested almost all winter. Usually they use a bridge planting method (i.e. close, bulb to bulb) in boxes in the width of the window sill. The top of the bulbs is cut off, or the peel is removed, they are soaked in a solution of potassium permanganate and planted. It is more economical to use samples (walnut-sized bulbs) of multi-primordial varieties with a short dormant period, such as Arzamassky local, Bessonovsky local, Pogarsky local improved, etc., grown from seeds.

Onions usually do not yield more than 1: 1 yield, that is, a kilogram of greens is obtained per kilogram of turnip. Another thing is shallots or family onions (not to be confused with a sample of onions). Several years ago, Dutch varieties Golden Gourmet, Red Sun, as well as domestic varieties in small quantities were supplied to our market: Cascade, Interseason, Siberian Yellow, Sir-7 and others. The Dutch variety Bonilla is cultivated from seeds. The technology of forcing shallots is the same as for onions, but the yield reaches 1:14.

Special talk about perennial bows. For forcing , batun onions, chives, fragrant onions, slugs, Altai and other species are specially grown from seeds, or planting material from liquidated (usually five-year) plantations, as well as excess material during division and transplantation, are used. Plants of perennial onions are also planted by bridge, stored until the end of October in the basement. If vegetative plants are immediately planted in boxes after digging, they can be immediately displayed on the windowsill. Depending on the forcing conditions, for example, up to 14 kg is obtained from 1 m² of green onions. It is important to understand: products of many types cannot be bought for any money. Care for all bows is about the same - feeding and watering.

You can also drive out parsley, celery, and lovage from celery. Non-standard roots of parsley, celery, lovage rhizomes are planted by bridge method in boxes, stored in the basement (on the loggia) until forcing. The first two weeks of forcing can be carried out in the dark at 12-16 ° C, then the boxes are transferred to light at a temperature of 18-20 ° C. If, however, curtains of vegetative plants are transferred to boxes, pots, then they can be immediately put on the windowsill. Moreover, all varieties of these valuable vegetables are suitable here.

When using Swiss chard (leaf beet) products, small root crops and underdeveloped plants remain. With more or less success, they can be driven out in the same way as, for example, root celery, while getting the most delicate greens in the wildest season - October-December, and if there is a sufficient amount of planting material - all winter.

Undeservedly rarely, our gardeners use rhubarb for forcing, but in vain. It's not difficult. For three or more years, rhizomes are harvested (dug out) from the plantation, leaving them in the beds for freezing (this can be done on the balcony or loggia). As needed, the rhizomes are planted in a deep container in the same way. From above they are covered with soil with a layer of 1-2 cm (forcing in the light) or 5 cm (in the dark). The first two weeks after thawing, the rhizomes are kept at a temperature of 8-10 ° C, then it is raised to at least 16 ° C, boxes, containers with rhubarb are covered with a black film or kept in a dark place. Harvesting of cuttings begins in 25-30 days: when they reach a length of 15-20 cm, they are carefully broken out and used for food. After that, the boxes are spilled with a solution of complex mineral fertilizers - and so for 2-3 months they get bleached cuttings.

An unconventional vegetable for us - asparagus is driven out both in the light and in the dark. The asparagus rhizomes dug up and planted in boxes in the fall are germinated for two weeks at a temperature of 8-10 ° C, and then transferred to a warm room (preferably no more than 16 ° C, otherwise the shoots will become thinner). A frame is erected over the plants, the planting is covered with a dark film. Shoots are cut in two weeks every 2-3 days for two months. Care - abundant watering, rare top dressing with water-soluble fertilizers. In the light, green shoots of asparagus 15-18 cm long are cut at a height of 3-4 cm above the rhizome every day.

A rather exotic vegetable for us is the cyclone salad witluf. In the hypermarkets of megalopolises, you can buy bleached heads of this delicious vegetable. In recent years, its seeds have appeared on the market: varieties Konus, Raketa. It has become fashionable to grow it. And not everyone can get edible products - bleached heads of cabbage.

So, the vitloof root crops sorted by size are taken out of the basement as necessary, cleaned of dead cuttings, trimmed (cutting from the bottom) to size and planted tightly to each other in boxes, or 3-5 pieces in pots with drainage (there should not be voids between roots). From above, the root crops are covered with wet sand, or covered with a lid, another pot, so that darkness remains, but there is an influx of air. Containers with root vegetables are displayed in a warm place (kitchen, bathroom, etc.). After 3-4 weeks, bleached heads of cabbage are cut off from the top of the root crop (otherwise they will crumble) and used as food as a delicious salad greens; root vegetables are thrown away and put into the heat a new batch of them from the basement. Without clarification (i.e., in the light), forcing the greens of the witloof is carried out until the root crops are depleted, cutting it off many times. To remove bitterness, greens are kept in salted water.

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Unlike nursery crops, forcing crops, potted crops need enough light. And in October-February, such conditions can only be achieved by supplementary lighting. In an apartment on a windowsill, it is most convenient to do it with LD-40, LB-40 lamps, etc., placing them no closer than 10 cm from the plants, otherwise they will overheat. You can separate the plants from the lamps with glass or transparent plastic, or use ready-made lamps. Additional lighting time in October-February is about 6-8 hours. For these purposes, you can donate a whole window, for example, a kitchen window, placing the plants in several tiers.

It's time to think about planting material: it is necessary to transplant mint, catnip, lemon balm, tarragon (tarragon), caraway, thyme, common thyme (thyme), sage, snakehead, savory, basil, marjoram, hyssop, lavender, monarda into boxes or pots from the garden, rosemary, lofant, rue and other spicy-flavoring crops. If you suddenly do not have them in the garden, now in hypermarkets you can buy ready-made vegetative plants of many green and spicy-flavoring crops and use them in your home garden. And if you have children, then you just need to involve them in this process, so that they learn from childhood and get used to using spicy and vitamin herbs for food. A mini-vegetable garden in schools and preschool institutions would be very instructive.

What a sin to hide, because we, adults, for the most part, not only do not use, but do not even know about the existence of many valuable plants, thereby robbing ourselves. I know this from my own experience: I had to "teach" loved ones to use cilantro, for example, mixing it into salads. And those who used to walk around the garden with this amazing grass a mile away now do not even understand how they used to do without it.

For example, I do not understand how to cook roast, especially lamb, without mint. And how it "decorates" the taste of fresh salads, and what teas you can "compose" yourself! Let's take the same marjoram. This is a dressing for salads, soups, mushroom dishes, pork dishes, and a medicine for the stomach. The catnip is good for blending teas. Lemon balm, for example, is an indispensable component of fish and cheese dishes (use raw without significant heat treatment).

Basil (regan) is one of the most beloved plants in the world. But we only get used to it. Not everyone succeeds in the garden - he does not have time to give production. This is where the windowsill will help out. And you will have delicious salads, sauces …

The topic can be continued endlessly. Go for it!

On the windowsill, with additional lighting from October to February, in 2-4 weeks you can get green products of salad mustard, indau, watercress, Chinese cabbage … by sowing seeds.

Caring for forcing and potted crops is simple: watering with standing warm water under the root, feeding with water-soluble mineral fertilizers, nutrient solutions for indoor plants.

Good luck and good harvest of all sorts of "goodies"!