Good Harvest Of The Romanov Family

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

The Romanov family has successfully passed the weather test this year

Peppers delighted with the harvest

Every time you get to the site of this family, which is near Kolpino, you find something new there that has appeared in the current season or in the off-season, thanks to the skillful hands and tireless creative character of Boris Petrovich or the care of the hostess Galina Prokopyevna.

Once I was impressed by a huge hipped greenhouse, in which gardeners carefully placed almost a dozen vegetable crops that did not interfere with each other and gave a high yield. It is noteworthy that even the peppers - hot and sweet, being under one dome, were not pollinated and had a taste characteristic of their variety. But you, dear readers, like me, have more than once had the opportunity to buy bell peppers on the market, which were very bitter or, on the contrary, the bitter pepper was without any pungency. This indicated the inexperience of the vegetable growers who grew them.

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The Romanovs, on the other hand, do not have such experience and knowledge of the characteristics of the crops grown, and they spread the peppers in the same greenhouse so much that this did not affect the quality of the crop at all.

Then, instead of one tent, three smaller greenhouses appeared on their site at once - two for tomatoes and one for growing peppers. It is possible to call their greenhouses tomato or for peppers only conditionally, because the owners always supplement the main culture with other heat-loving plants. When planting seedlings in the spring in each of the greenhouses, they find a place for two or three cups of watermelons, melons, cucumbers. And for the last few years, several grape bushes have been registered in two tomato greenhouses, which have already begun to yield.

Another time, when I came to visit the Romanovs, I saw a small man-made reservoir, which Boris Petrovich dug in the ground and, covering it with a black film, filled it with water. In this mini-pool, the grandson Sasha strengthened the spine, and the owners themselves freshened up in hot weather. A weeping willow was planted on its bank, which has now grown and shelters a part of the pond and a gazebo from the sun.

This gazebo is a novelty for the season of last year. The owner of the site built it on the shore of a reservoir from round logs that remain in a furniture factory after the production of plywood. Usually they are sold for firewood, and Boris Petrovich so skillfully adapted and placed them that in this gazebo at any time of the day you can find a cozy shaded place.

This year, he himself drew my attention to another rather large structure that appeared on the site. I didn't even immediately understand what it was. The fact is that it was almost human height - a four-sided construction of boards expanding upward, supported from the outside by a special fastener made of the same round logs.

This is how a high bed for watermelons invented by Boris Petrovich looks like

And only looking inside, I saw that it was a pool: its boards were covered with a black two-millimeter film, which kept water in it. Boris Petrovich explained that this pool has 30 cubic meters of water. True, this is not the final, but a draft version.

He's also going to sheathe the outside of the entire structure with planks and paint them to give the pool a neat look. As the owners explained, this reservoir has a dual purpose. It will serve as a pool for the family in the summer, and also serve as a reserve reservoir. The fact is that their water supply is turned on not at the beginning of the season, but much later. And in this case, your reservoir will help out very much. And since it is raised above the site, the water in the hoses will run by itself.

One of Boris Petrovich's recent inventions is the cultivation of cucumbers in a special high bed. In the magazine, we have already briefly described the device of the design he invented: it is a tall box made of boards, which is filled with biofuel - wood chips, hay, manure and nutrient soil.

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Boris Petrovich near his construction for growing watermelons

A tall, warm bed is small in size - about one square meter. And here the Romanovs plant only four cups of cucumber seedlings. First, they cover it with a film, protecting it from possible spring cold snaps, and with the arrival of heat, the cucumbers open, and they freely develop under the sun, lowering the whips down.

The first year of testing the new design showed amazing results: four cucumber plants produced more than one hundred kilograms of fruit. It should be added that below, near the high box, Boris Petrovich built a smaller box, but wider, filled with chips. Growing cucumber lashes descend there. They bloom and form the harvest. And it's easy and simple to assemble.

This way of growing cucumbers has paid off. Boris Petrovich decided to use it when growing watermelons and melons in the open field. Previously, he made a spacious warm ridge, on which melons and gourds grew. Of course, a lot of effort was required there. After all, it was necessary to create a warm bed, say, with an area of ten or more square meters.

This handsome man grew up in the Romanov greenhouse

And he decided that it is much easier, as for cucumbers, to build a box with a height of about 0.8 m and an area of up to one square meter - its dimensions are 0.8x1.2 meters, fill it with biofuel, as for cucumbers, and plant watermelon seedlings there or melons - the root system goes deeper, the plants have more strength and nutrition.

And the whips, like those of cucumbers, he also lets down, where another box has been built, already large (130x220 cm), filled with fertile soil, and chips are poured around it. On a dry bed of wood chips and poured, ripening, the fruits - watermelons and melons. If the weather is damp, the Romanovs put special planks or rounds under the watermelons and melons - pieces from a log. It should be noted that the lower tier with fertile soil is also used effectively by them.

While the seedlings of watermelons are developing and are only still forming whips, they sow seeds of radish, celery, flowers for seedlings on this bed. In April, this construction is covered with a film. By the time the lashes begin to descend, the harvest of juicy radish is already ripening and the seedlings are growing. In the fall, after collecting watermelons, radishes grow again on this garden.

The grapes of the Romanov family

Of course, watermelons and melons grow in them and in the greenhouse. You walk along it and suddenly among the numerous bunches of tomatoes you see a large watermelon or melon in a net fixed on a board. And in the center of the greenhouse grape bushes spread their vines. Large clusters of green or golden grapes hang at the bottom of the bushes. Several years ago I saw the first modest bushes of grapes in their greenhouse.

Then Boris Petrovich said that he was only forming a powerful root system in plants. “In three or four years we will be picking grapes in buckets,” he said then. And so it turned out. Even in this difficult season, the Romanovs got a very good harvest of berries. And not just berries, but delicious berries. While drinking tea in the gazebo, we feasted on watermelon and Delight muscadine grapes. I think that among St. Petersburgers so far there are not many fans of this berry who would taste such a sweet and fragrant grape!

I asked how they feel about the current weather surprises? Boris Petrovich said that he has been amazed by him for several years, because he does not know what to expect from nature.

- We have been on earth for 28 years. The first five years, one might say, we got used to the land, mastered the skills of caring for crops, then we began to seriously work on it, to improve agricultural technologies. I can say that then for about ten years the weather conditions were quite stable and familiar: spring - return frosts, then a period of rains, then heat. The dates were slightly shifted to one side or the other. But everything was stable. And we are already accustomed to such conditions, because we knew approximately what to expect from the weather.

The potato is ugly

But for the last 10-12 years - in the second half of our “gardening experience” - not a single summer can be predicted: climate change has begun. Previously, one summer was like another, there were no strong deviations. And then surprises began: either the heat in May, or some other surprises in the spring and summer. And deviations from the standard are getting stronger and stronger. Before we knew exactly when to plant the plants, but now we don't know what to expect, we need to adapt. Good - we have already gained experience, and now we are always on the alert, ready for any changes.

But even they were not ready for the current weather surprises. We have grown excellent seedlings in the spring, previously we went to the site with it, hardened it, planted it in greenhouses - everything went on as usual. And suddenly, from May 5 to May 7, two frosts in a row. And although the seedlings inside the greenhouse were additionally covered with a film "hut", in one greenhouse they still suffered - and tomatoes, and eggplants, and hot peppers. Galina Prokopyevna says: she was so upset that her hands dropped. So much work and time was spent on growing seedlings in a city apartment, on delivery to greenhouses, on planting and leaving - and this is the final … Everything was complicated by the fact that the stepchildren growing up from the seedlings had already been removed.

But experience helped them out here too. Since the soil in the greenhouses was very well filled, and the seedlings were strong, with a powerful root system, after cold weather and watering with warm water, they began to expel the shoots from the reserve buds almost at the very surface of the earth. And Boris Petrovich formed stems from them. As a result, almost every tomato bush in this greenhouse had not one trunk, but two or three, as many as the plant drove out the shoots. And then they all tied the buds, bloomed and gave many fruits.

Late, of course. Even eggplants and bitter peppers were driven out. And they also gave a harvest. Probably, less experienced gardeners would generally have dug up the beds in the greenhouse and occupied them with some other crop, for example, cucumbers. And the Romanovs resisted and harvested even more tomatoes this season than in the past. And not only tomatoes, but also peppers, watermelons, melons, cucumbers.

Basil feels great in a greenhouse along with tomatoes

So, complaining about the weather troubles, which added a lot of trouble to them, in general Boris Petrovich and Galina Prokopyevna are satisfied with the results of the season. Of course, if the climatic conditions were more favorable, they would have lived more comfortably, without additional forced efforts.

And then everything was already familiar. In time, before the rains in August, they managed to mow the tops of the potatoes, and then dig up the tubers. Boris Petrovich shows me a box with large potatoes, which they left after harvesting for cooking on the site. They are clean, without any signs of diseases and pests. And this is understandable: their potatoes grow in several beds, not very large with neat wooden boxes-fences. The tubers are planted in fertile soil. At the Romanovs, it is now dark, crumbly, almost black soil throughout the entire area. That will give birth to potatoes, especially since they constantly alternate all the beds, changing crops.

They escaped late blight, but they had to put up with the delay in the ripening of tomatoes. Last year, at the end of August, when I visited them on the site, in greenhouses almost all tomatoes were already ripe and pleased with their bright colors - red, pink, yellow and even black-purple (they had such varieties). Today, at the same time, there are still a lot of green and ripening tomatoes in tomato greenhouses.

But Boris Petrovich is not discouraged:

- Some of the fruits, mature and which have already begun to turn brown, we will remove and put neatly in boxes. There they will quickly reach biological ripeness. The rest will receive more nutrition and mature on the vine. In the greenhouse in the first half of September they will be comfortable - both warm and light.

Their seedlings of peppers did not suffer from frost, and therefore the fruits began to ripen almost as always - they delight the eye with their bright color - red or yellow. But you can still see green fruits on the pepper plants - many plants did not have enough heat this summer - June let down, so weighty peppers are ripening.

It is noteworthy that when you enter the greenhouse where the peppers grow, you immediately feel an amazing spicy aroma. Of course, it is not peppers that smell. Basil is just planted on the south side of the greenhouse on a narrow bed - several varieties with purple, dark green and light green leaves - large and small, for every taste.

Harvest portioned watermelon

Many gardeners complain that basil is a difficult crop, there is no way to get a good harvest of juicy spicy greens. But the Romanovs, however, like leeks, root celery, parsnips, always turn out well - both in the open field and in the greenhouse. I remember that a few years ago Galina Prokopyevna proudly showed me her next experiment - on a fairly large garden in the open field, she grew nine different varieties of basil at once. And at the end of August, this bed amazed with the brightness of colors and forms of leaves of this capricious culture in our country. And the scent, of course.

Every season they test some new varieties and hybrids. For example, this year they were pleased with the harvest for the second time Portion Red F1. Small oblong fruits (up to 2.5 kg) have excellent taste. 18 watermelons were removed from one plant. They have a thin skin, small seeds. As Boris Petrovich says, this watermelon is good for private traders.

Probably, many gardeners who are interested in the experience and success of the Romanov family (at exhibitions they often ask: are there any articles of theirs in the magazines?) Will want to know what other varieties have delighted experienced gardeners in the past season. I asked Galina Prokopyevna about this. She brought her garden magazine and read from it:

So, tomatoes. Last season, Boris Petrovich announced a new strategy for tomatoes. He said that he would try to grow more tomatoes that are stored for a long time. The fact is that the harvest is huge every year, and it cannot be quickly processed and eaten, and fruit losses begin. Therefore, special attention is paid to cherry tomatoes and cocktail tomatoes - Bey Bina, Aligote, Opera. And from large tomatoes this year, mainly hybrids were grown - Rally, Pink Rise, Beef-tomato, Olga (Wilmorin), Monastic meal; peppers - Gypsy, Gemini, Maradona, Kat, Big Tommy; watermelons - Lezheboka, Jubilee NK, the already mentioned Portion red, Marmalade dessert, Gift to the North; melons - Dune, Gold of the Scythians, Roxalana, Honey, Golden; grapes - Delight, Ilya Muromets, Supaga, Russian Korinka, Kodryanka, Alyoshenkin.

The greenhouse is dazzled by the abundance of tomatoes

Perhaps we will finish the listing, because all varieties and hybrids of vegetables, potatoes, herbs and flowers will require at least a page. It is clear that the main secret of their success lies not in special seeds, but in hard work, skill, knowledge of the land and plants, and sometimes even in the special intuition possessed by the owners of this site.

Every year, thanks to the efforts of the owners, their plot is getting prettier. New flower beds, ornamental shrubs, perennial and annual flowers appear. The corner around the gazebo built last season is especially beautiful now. It is covered by willow with its branches falling down, dahlias, phlox and other flowers bloom magnificently around it. Bumblebees and bees are buzzing in the peaceful silence. A real idyll.

But they do not have gardening - they are gardening. Until now, the Romanov family has no guarantee that this land, abundantly watered with labor sweat, with abundant humus will remain with them forever, will pass to the growing grandson and daughters. How many times Boris Petrovich proposed to make his site a kind of educational base, where not only gardeners, but also farmers could study, learn from the experience. Now, after the introduction of a ban on the supply of fruits and vegetables from Western Europe, both local authorities and trading companies are looking for a replacement.

Despite the end of summer, there were still many flowering plants on the site.

But the Romanov family and many other experienced gardeners know how to grow hundreds of kilograms, even tons, of tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, even in a small non-industrial greenhouse, how to get an excellent harvest of potatoes, carrots, beets and other vegetables in the beds. I'm not talking about delicious northern watermelons and melons. Once at the AgroRus exhibition, the Governor of St. Petersburg V. I. Matvienko tried a watermelon grown by the Romanov family, and said that it was very tasty, that this experience needed to be supported and disseminated so that city residents could eat their own, St. Petersburg and Leningrad watermelons and melons. Alas, so far the words have remained words.

So, maybe it is worth, finally, to pay attention to the experience of the Romanovs and the best gardeners of the city and the region, to support it financially and technically, to transfer it to larger greenhouse structures and vegetable fields? And then we will not depend on Dutch, Spanish and God knows who else's tomatoes, cucumbers, apples. Moreover, those who have tasted at least once the taste of tomatoes or cucumbers grown with love in their greenhouses or in the garden beds are unlikely to be flattered by an overseas fresh product.