The Summer Season Of The Strong Family From Gatchina. Part 1

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

"Second bread" is the main

Potato bed

Although grapes are now the main love of Vladimir Nikolaevich, there has always been and is a place for the potato-breadwinner on his site. This land was received by his father in 1956. So, we can say that the history of the dacha is solid - more than half a century. And then, and now, the "second bread" was and is given special attention.

VN Silnov is perhaps the first in the Leningrad region to dig up his early potatoes. This usually happens on the eve of June 5 - his birthday. And this has been going on for 30 years. Of course, such an early harvest is not easy.

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studios Early potatoes grew in this greenhouse

According to Vladimir Nikolaevich, preparation for it begins in March. Early-ripening potatoes are taken out for vernalization. There used to be a French variety, the name of which he does not remember for years, but now it is our ultra-early variety Charoite (Skorospelka Peter). Potato tubers are elongated-oval, yellow skin, cream flesh. Excellent taste even with early cleaning. According to the originators of the variety, after harvesting Charoit, a second harvest can be obtained in the same place.

And at the end of March or at the beginning of April, these sprouted tubers are planted in special boxes, inside which partitions are made, dividing the box into eight small compartments. They are filled with fertile soil, in which sprouted tubers are placed one by one in the compartment.

Partitions are needed so that the roots of plants do not get confused during growth, do not interfere with transplanting to a permanent place and do not get injured. A total of 16 tubers are obtained. Before they are planted in a greenhouse, they are kept in a heated greenhouse, where grape seedlings grow, and then in mid-April, Vladimir Nikolaevich plants them in a 5.5 m2 greenhouse prepared, covered with foil, in which the soil has already warmed up.

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Tomato harvest

It is the same one that gardeners usually build for growing cucumbers in a spread - on top of a crossbar, over which a film is thrown and fixed behind the sides of the greenhouse.

The very principle of planting tubers is very important here. They land strictly in the center, under the crossbar - under the highest place of the greenhouse. This is necessary so that the developing plants do not touch the film with the leaves. After all, it is still quite cold outside, the potatoes can freeze a little.

Tomatoes in the greenhouse

And with this technology, a young potato appears on the gardener's table in early June. Of course, there is not much of it - 8-10 tubers per bush. But there is enough for the festive table. Vladimir Nikolaevich usually digs out only half of the harvest, the second will go to the table for the birthday of his son Sergei, which will follow soon after his father's. After harvesting, another crop is planted in this greenhouse, for example, cucumbers, as this year.

Someone might say: does it take so much trouble for such a small crop? But this tradition was created back in those years when early potatoes from Egypt or Israel were not on the shelves by June.

And in the beginning it was just an experiment: can we get such an early potato in our climate? It turned out. And Vladimir Nikolayevich has done so many experiments in his gardening life that it is difficult to list. Including with the same potatoes.

Many fruits of tomato Lyuban

Even now, black-fruited potato varieties brought from the Canary Islands are growing in his garden. He wants to see what happens. And he is going to transfer part of the tubers to the famous breeders N. M. Gadzhiev and V. A. Lebedeva, with whom she is friends. Says, suddenly they will be able to use new items in breeding work.

Now he already has a little potatoes on the plot - only for his family. Basically, the tubers of the Naiad variety and the same Charoit grow, but in general there were times when he grew up to 37 varieties at the same time. This was in the 90s, after the collapse of the USSR. Then everyone had to survive as best they could. And he began to raise sows, kept up to five piglets, sold the grown potatoes in the market.

In addition to the summer cottage, Vladimir Nikolaevich developed the land behind the fence. I planted a lot of potatoes, tested many varieties. He says that the most productive on his land was the Oredezhsky Gadzhiev variety - it happened that he dripped from a bush to a bucket, but, according to the gardener, his taste was low. And when the need for a large number of tubers disappeared, he refused.

Big harvest in the greenhouse

- The most delicious in my life, - says Vladimir Nikolaevich, - were two varieties of potatoes - German Berlinher and our variety Hannibal. The tubers of our variety were flattened like a cutlet. The first years he gave 10-15 tubers from a bush. And the taste! … These potatoes could be eaten without oil. But he had a big minus - it quickly degenerated. Already in the third year gave 2-3 tubers from a bush.

With kind words, he recalls the varieties Lilac fog, May flower, Danae; Belarusian varieties Skarb and Svitanok - they form very large tubers. And most importantly - without voids inside.

Harvest tomatoes and peppers

But the gardener does not live alone with potatoes. For example, tomatoes ripen in the greenhouse and in the open field. According to V. N. Silnov, usually around June 20, the family is eating the first tomatoes. But this year, due to the disastrously cold June, their maturation was delayed for almost a month.

Luban tomatoes

But I had a chance to taste his Vitas tomatoes - amazingly tasty sugary fruits, I have not tried these for a long time. Tomatoes of varieties such as Bull's Heart - Golden Domes, Noble, Raspberry Giant, are also ripening in greenhouses, and three more varieties of pear-shaped tomatoes - they are stored for a long time.

In the open ground, the Lyuban variety grows - low bushes, on which there are many small fruits, perhaps up to a hundred. Excellent harvest! A good and prolific Dutch variety Money Maker - the bush is hung with garlands of small fruits with dense pulp.

Long-fruited peppers

In his gardening practice, Vladimir Nikolaevich tested hundreds of varieties and hybrids of tomato. He mastered the technology and all the secrets of cultures thoroughly. He says that you can drive out at least five tons of tomatoes, but what to do with them? Therefore, it plants 4-5 plants of the same variety. This year he has about 80 tomato plants.

According to his calculations, there will be about 500 kg of fruit! Of course, a family of three cannot cope with such a harvest. Sells to neighbors who understand the difference between the taste of homemade tomatoes and store tomatoes, and a little on the market.

And there is room for cabbage

The gardener sows all the tomatoes in February. This year, the sowing was carried out right in the country house, and in the past years - at home. In late February and early March, he brought seedlings in cups to the dacha. It was already up to 15 cm long. - I immediately transplant it into two-liter containers, - Vladimir Nikolaevich shares his experience. - In April, I place the seedlings on racks in the greenhouse, where I have grape seedlings.

I heat it a little there, so by May the tomato plants are powerful, tall and already with flowering bunches. I transfer them to a tomato greenhouse. I dig holes there to a depth of 10 cm, spill the soil.

There are half a thousand flowers on a lily

I plant seedlings obliquely. Before that, I cut off all the lower leaves, leaving only the flowering brush and the crown. I put it in damp ground, fall asleep - and no watering for a month. It forms an additional powerful root system on the trunk and begins to grow.

On the first bunch, the fruits are tied, the second or third bunches bloom. As soon as the fourth or fifth bunches appear, I begin to lay organic matter in the aisles, preferably fresh, because the soil in the greenhouse is poor, I do not add any mineral fertilizers there. Then, through this organic matter, I begin to water the tomatoes - to feed in this way. And this is a month after landing.

Bush mulberry

If you give top dressing early, the tomatoes will begin to form many stepchildren, the plant drives the green mass, fattens. As a result, fruiting is two to three weeks late. But in such conditions, all top dressing goes to pouring fruits, works for the harvest. And up to ten kilograms of tomatoes can be removed from the bush!

Now at his dacha for all crops, Vladimir Nikolaevich prefers varieties. He says he used to grow hybrids, for example, pepper - Zenith F1, but he was disappointed in hybrids for the reason that seed production is not at the level now: buy a bag of 20 seeds, and only 5 of them will sprout, and even those frail ones.

The seeds obtained from the varieties germinate perfectly. In addition, the fruits on varietal plants are tastier. So he now grows only varietal peppers: cuboid varieties Tenderness, Flame (yellow, red, orange); long-fruited peppers Yellow Banana, Orange Banana - up to 800 g in weight!

Read part 2. Summer season of the Strong family from Gatchina →