Visiting The Romanovs

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

Recently, in one of the television programs devoted to the problem of our dependence on the supply of vegetables from European countries, I heard the following figure: every year we date the agrarians of Europe with a huge amount equal to 2.5 billion euros! Just imagine this figure. Of course, we have to buy peaches, apricots, oranges and other southern fruits, because they cannot be grown in our climate.

But at the same time, large quantities of carrots, cabbage, potatoes, onions, tomatoes, cucumbers and many other vegetables are purchased from European producers. Is it possible that the workers of our agricultural enterprises cannot or do not know how to grow them? Or maybe our climate is not suitable for this? The fact that the climate has nothing to do with it, I was once again convinced, having visited at the end of August in the garden of the famous gardeners of the Romanovs. For the third year in a row, I come to visit them in the final period of the summer season. And every time one gets the impression that the sun never sets over their site, so impressive are the results of the work of Boris Petrovich and Galina Prokopyevna, who on their hundred square meters, spread out in a swampy area near Kolpino, created a kind of oasis in which, it seems, the climate has changed. How else to explain the factthat they have been confidently growing watermelons and melons in the garden for several years in a row, despite the fact that whatever the spring and summer may be. And not one or two specimens suspended in a net to the frame of the greenhouse, as many gardeners now do, but dozens of weighty beauties - striped or dark, as well as melons - round, oblong, exuding the aroma of the southern market by the end of summer. Remember how melons smell in the south? And so near St. Petersburg, they do not change this habit of theirs. Moreover, these melons and watermelons ripen not only in greenhouses, but also in an open melon in the garden.oblong, exuding the aroma of the southern market by the end of summer. Remember how melons smell in the south? And so near St. Petersburg, they do not change this habit of theirs. Moreover, these melons and watermelons ripen not only in greenhouses, but also in an open melon in the garden.oblong, exuding the aroma of the southern market by the end of summer. Remember how melons smell in the south? And so near St. Petersburg, they do not change this habit of theirs. Moreover, these melons and watermelons ripen not only in greenhouses, but also in an open melon in the garden.

I'm not talking about cucumbers, tomatoes and peppers. This year there are four greenhouses on the Romanovs' site. One is slightly larger, the rest, one might say, are small. There is a greenhouse for peppers. In the other three, tomatoes reign, among which watermelons, melons, grapes, which Boris Petrovich became interested in recently, feel at ease. He says that his plot gives the family such an abundance of delicious vitamin fruits that they absolutely do not want grapes. But the spirit of the explorer still took its toll. A year ago, the first grape vines appeared in greenhouses. This season, they have already formed clusters, while still modest. Boris Petrovich claims that in the next season he will not chase after the result, but will strive for one thing: to build up a powerful root system of grape plants. And in the fourth year - this he already promises - the harvest will be measured in buckets of juicy bunches. And I believe this, because I was convinced for a long time: he treats any business very conscientiously and never throws words to the wind. First of all, he develops his own technology, studies the peculiarities of the culture, tests different varieties. And when all these stages have been passed, there is no doubt that the harvest will be as he planned it for himself.

For example, now he announced that he had finished all experiments with tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers, watermelons and melons. Over the past seven years, she and Galina Prokopyevna have tested 150 varieties of tomatoes, and this season alone there were 24 new products - two plants of each variety; dozens of varieties of peppers and cucumbers, melons and watermelons - 20 varieties each. And now they have already decided: they have their own reliable technology, varieties are known that have shown themselves well with this technology. For example, this season they especially succeeded in large-fruited varieties of tomatoes such as Bull's Heart, Red Giant, Shuntuk Giant - many of them pulled up to 1 kilogram. The Romanovs are also satisfied with the harvest of the smallest tomatoes such as cherry - bunches of red and yellow small tomatoes decorate their greenhouses.

We are sitting with the owners in the film veranda, which Boris Petrovich attached to a modest country house - specifically to receive guests, who have become more and more in recent years - many tend to see the Romanovs' vegetable garden, to understand the secrets of their success. And they do not hide anything - they accept representatives of the media (only on the eve of my trip there were TV men who, instead of the planned 2-3 hours, filmed in greenhouses and flower beds for more than six hours), and members of gardening clubs; and officials with deputies are often there.

The veranda is not just a resting place - it is also a kind of training ground. A vine winds along the walls, braided by the whips of watermelons and melons. And they didn’t just braid them - on special stands made of pieces of boards, huge watermelons and large melons that grew under a canopy lie. Two watermelons just hit me. Even on the market, such specimens are not often found. At first glance, it seems that they weigh up to two poods, but Boris Petrovich, who has been receiving such watermelons for several years now, says that these are the fruits of the Lezhebok variety. And they will pull 17-18 kilograms, and beautiful melons - Joker varieties. It turned out to be one of the best for the entire time of testing, and also the Roksolana melon variety is good. These varieties, apparently, in the future and will stop the choice of the Romanovs.

For Boris Petrovich and Galina Prokopyevna, there is not only a division of labor, but they also distributed cultures among themselves. The owner is engaged in tomatoes, watermelons and melons, cucumbers. The hostess took over the peppers, as well as green crops and numerous flowers, ornamental plants. There are over a hundred of them. By the way, the greenhouse for peppers is no less impressive than tomatoes. You will not find such weighty thick-walled juicy peppers in the market, they are larger than Dutch peppers, which are in abundance on the shelves of our vegetable stores all year round. And in color they will not be inferior to foreign peppers, perhaps, here the palette is even richer - there are red, yellow, orange, brown ones, and they are also long-fruited, stocky heroic ones, there are also turban-shaped ones. And what is most important - unlike overseas, the vegetables of the Romanov family do not know the taste of mineral fertilizers. According to Boris Petrovich, not a single feeding, not a single spraying from pests and diseases was needed this season. There were only watering with podzolized water - to reduce the acidity of the soil, because sawdust and wood chips are used on the beds, which, as you know, acidify the soil, and an aqueous solution of ash reduces acidity and gives the soil and plants potassium and trace elements. And the whole season in the beds and in the greenhouse there is a gas station, which gardeners made into the soil in the spring. And the whole season in the beds and in the greenhouse there is a gas station, which gardeners made into the soil in the spring. And the whole season in the beds and in the greenhouse there is a gas station, which gardeners made into the soil in the spring.

Of course, the sun shines no more over the site of the Romanovs than over the sites of neighbors. It just seems so when you see the results of their work. And you, dear readers, can see a part of them in the photographs taken in the garden in the last days of August.

The Romanovs have developed their own technologies for growing southern vegetables. It seems they could calm down. But the famous gardeners have no peace. The first reason for concern is that their plot is not a garden, but a garden plot, which means the possibility of taking land for some economic needs. And the land on their site is not simple, but man-made - almost black soil has been formed in a swampy place for more than twenty years by the hands of gardeners. On such soil, it seems, dig in the branch - and it will grow. The second reason is continuity. Remember - we all read more than once that in our climate before the revolution, monks in monasteries grew both grapes and watermelons. Then this experience of theirs disappeared along with the collapsed formation. And now there are several unique gardening sites near St. Petersburg, where miracles are happening. Unfortunately,such unique people can be counted on one hand. In addition to the Romanov family, it is perhaps V. N. Silnov, N. N. Epifantsev, L. N. Klimtseva, M. V. Soloviev and several other famous gardeners.

The monks received grapes, watermelons, while the Romanovs in their greenhouses (and one of them was open almost all summer, one might say, open ground) calmly receive colorful juicy peppers, any eggplants, tomatoes of various types and sizes. I am sure that many Petersburgers have never even tasted what a delight it is - cherry tomatoes - sweet as cherries and with a unique tomato aroma. Of course, now Dutch tomatoes of this type also began to appear in supermarkets, but we must remember that they were grown using mineral fertilizers, and near Kolpino they are environmentally friendly. Or, for example, Boris Petrovich has collected so many cucumbers from six cucumber plants, planted in special frames with organic matter according to his own technology, that they were enough for salads, and for preparations, and for numerous guests!And what - their experience and the experience of other well-known gardeners will remain unclaimed? Something is not visible yet young followers.

Could there be some way out? For several years now, both gardeners themselves and journalists writing about agricultural problems have raised the question of the need to create training centers on the basis of these unique sites, some kind of polygons. With some financial support - from the authorities or sponsors - these sites can be equipped with the necessary small-scale mechanization. And then, using the visual experience of unique gardeners - home-grown professors and academicians of gardening and gardening - to teach young gardeners, novice farmers. After all, many of them take their first steps, start from scratch, poke around, stuffing cones, and here they already have all the ready-made developments for growing any crops. Moreover, these techniques guarantee a harvest. Imagine, dear readers, what the result will be if several dozen gardeners,and even better - will the farmers follow the path of the Romanovs, adopt their methods and experience ?! I would very much like to hope that this problem will have a positive solution.

And read about the results of the work of the Romanov family this season in the next issues of the magazine.