How to get three crops of vegetables per season. Remontant strawberry of neutral daylight and its characteristics

Perennial plants are the favorites of any gardener. Having planted them once, you can enjoy flowering shoots for several years. Unfortunately, many flowers already begin to fade by August, and so you want to extend their flowering period in order to see the riot of colors again. In fact, it is quite possible to cause a wave of the second flowering, it is only important to follow some rules.

Tricky tricks for re-blooming

The main rule is to monitor the inflorescences and remove those that begin to die off in time. If this is not done, then the wilting will be long, and it drags on for some plants up to one and a half months, and at this time the flower does not look at all as attractive as we would like.

The plant will also gratefully respond to the introduction of nutrients, especially immediately after the removal of wilted inflorescences. In this way, the grower not only nourishes the plant, but also pushes back its natural wilting cycle to a later date. To do this, it is best to use potash fertilizers, which provoke the formation of new buds. It is very important that fertilizers are never applied during the first flowering, otherwise the wilting process may then be delayed.

Some plants need to be pruned after the inflorescences wither almost to the stem. For example, a peduncle is cut off from a delphinium, and then fed, well watered and the same procedures are carried out as in spring. Around the end of August or the beginning of September, new inflorescences can already be observed. Of course, the second flowering will no longer be as lush, but on the threshold of autumn, it is incredibly pleasant to see such a joyful picture.

Prolongation of flowering

In this case, we are talking about the desire of the gardener to enhance the only flowering that almost any plant should show. Of course, a lot depends on the specific type of plant, but there are still general rules that work great for everyone.

The main rule is the timely removal of wilted buds. Even if only one wilted inflorescence appeared, then it must be eliminated, otherwise the entire flower garden will be subject to this process very soon.

If the plant produces seeds, then it is considered that its flowering period will be extremely short. In this case, it is necessary to prevent the fertilization of the flower, for which you can use all possible methods. For example, in lilies, as soon as the buds begin to bloom, you can cut off the top of the pestle. This will prevent pollination and fertilization, and consequently, the buds in flowering form will last much longer. It is worth noting that it is necessary to do this with all neighboring plants, otherwise the bees will have much more chances to fertilize plants.

Immediately after the plant has buds, it is necessary to fertilize the root part of the stem. The plant becomes more powerful, it has forces that it will direct to the process of budding and strengthening its inflorescences.

There is another trick that some people may find a bit cruel. It combines the possibilities of both re-blooming and increasing the duration of an existing one. For example, when the beginnings of buds appear on phloxes, it is necessary to ruthlessly remove a third of the stems with pruners. Cut stems form new buds in a few weeks, when all the rest are ready to fade. Visually, it will seem that the bush really blooms longer than usual.

Finally, you can always plant plants in the same flower garden that have different flowering periods, and then it will have bright colorful flowers at any time.

Content:

Most inexperienced gardeners know about remontant strawberries only that it bears fruit more than once per season. But few know about what kind of care she needs for high yields. Therefore, they grow such strawberries in the same way as ordinary ones. Let's briefly consider some of the features of the cultivation of remontant varieties so that the promised harvest does not disappoint you. But first, it is necessary to clarify the question of what is the reason for the difference in the types of berries loved by everyone and why some of them make it possible to re-harvest fruits, while others do not.

The main difference between ordinary strawberries and fruiting ones several times during the season is that they form buds at different times. In the one that gives one crop a year, they are laid at the end of summer or early autumn, that is, only during a reduced daylight hours. The remontant plant of this family behaves quite differently. Budding in some varieties occurs during a long daylight hours, while in others it is neutral. The yield of strawberries depends on this. So, in the first case, gardeners receive two or three harvests per season, and in the second, they deal with a constantly fruiting plant, right up to the very frosts. And now it's time to talk about the most popular varieties of sweet red berries.

Remontant strawberry of long daylight hours and its characteristics

Among the most fruitful and outwardly attractive strawberry varieties of this species, the one that is known to experienced gardeners under the name Garland deserves special attention. It begins to bear fruit in May and ends with the onset of October cold weather. In addition to high productivity, this variety is unusually decorative. It forms many long peduncles coquettishly peeking out from under the leaves, and produces an average amount of tendrils. The bush itself looks like a ball, which is impossible not to admire, because it simultaneously contains delicate white flowers, an ovary and ripe bright berries. It must be said that in most remontant varieties, in order to increase productivity, the first flower stalks must be removed as soon as the season has begun. Garland is no exception.

This plant brings even and fairly large berries weighing up to thirty grams. They have an unusually sweet taste of delicate light red flesh and attract with their aroma. From the bush you can collect up to one kilogram of berries. As for the resistance of the plant to frost and drought, the indicators are close to average. Remontant strawberries of this variety are susceptible to powdery mildew and gray rot. But it can be grown vertically, and not only in garden beds.

Describing the plants of this family, one cannot help but talk about one of them, which is one of the first representatives bred in our country. The name of the variety is very beautiful - Autumn fun. It is considered reliable and proven over the years. This strawberry bears fruit twice a season. Already in June, you can collect the first modest harvest, but gardeners feast on the second from August until the onset of the first frost.

The plant is a medium-sized shrub with ten to twenty flower stalks, located at the same level as the leaves. The berries of this remontant strawberry are distinguished by dense, juicy pink flesh and have a sweet dessert taste. Their mass reaches twenty grams. One of the advantages of Autumn fun is its resistance to fungal attack, stem nematodes and strawberry mites.

It is impossible to pass by a variety with such a promising name as Inexhaustible. It appeared due to the crossing of Upper Selesia and Inexhaustible strawberries and is still among the first successful results, which the domestic selection is rightfully proud of. This remontant strawberry is a shrub of medium height, not particularly overgrown and with a small amount of dark green leaves. Berries with a shiny skin are shaped like a cone with a blunt end. They are fragrant and sweet. Among the main features of this variety are high yields, a small number of mustaches and susceptibility to powdery mildew. Already in the second year, the plant forms about forty peduncles, and its useful life reaches six years.

Among the best varieties of breeding in our country, it is no exaggeration to name the Crimean remontant strawberry. It is very productive and, what is especially interesting, does not bear fruit twice in a season, but continuously - from the end of May until October. But with the onset of autumn, it is better to cover the plant. Dark red large smooth berries have dense juicy pulp and an unusual aroma of wild strawberries. Remontant strawberries of this variety are characterized by resistance to winter cold, diseases and pests. In addition, the bushes are very decorative due to the presence of long peduncles.

Albion, famous for its high productivity, cannot be ignored. It also pleases with continuous fruiting, the peaks of which can be observed in late May, early July, late August and mid-September. The bushes of this strawberry variety are quite powerful, the flower stalks are not drooping, very large dark red berries have a glossy sheen. Their mass reaches sixty grams. The undoubted "advantages" of Albion are its resistance to temperature fluctuations, diseases and drought, as well as high transportability.

Portola should be mentioned as another interesting variety, especially since it is a successful derivative of the Albion described above and exceeds its yield by more than twenty-five percent. A berry weighing up to thirty grams has the shape of a wide cone and has a harmonious taste. In addition, it completely lacks a characteristic crunch. But the rather solid Albion sometimes has it.

Remontant strawberry of neutral daylight and its characteristics

The variety called Queen Elizabeth, which was bred by Moscow breeders, is best known to gardeners. It can be grown both in open and protected ground, and even as an amela culture in special containers. It has an average yield (yields up to two kilograms of berries from one bush per season), but it is resistant to most pests and various diseases. The most delicious berries of this remontant strawberry ripen in early June. In July, you can harvest the second harvest, and from August to October - the last.

The fruits of the Queen Elizabeth variety are large, even and shiny. Their average weight is forty grams. Cool weather contributes to the fact that the berries are slightly elongated and reach one hundred grams in weight (of course, not in the total mass, but, so to speak, champions). The pulp is juicy, dense, bright red in color, with the aroma of wild strawberries. The fruits of this variety are perfectly transported, retain their shape even under the influence of high temperatures. The plant itself is resistant to frost, but if your goal is to get an early harvest, then the bushes should be covered for the winter.

From the variety described above, another was formed with a slight difference in the name - Queen Elizabeth ΙΙ. Without exaggeration, we can say that today it is the most popular type of remontant strawberry. It bears fruit very early, because at the very beginning of spring, when the snow barely melts, it already has the first buds on the peduncles. In protected ground conditions, a plant of this variety is able to bear berries from April to November.

It has an exceptional yield (yields about ten kilograms of fruit per square meter) and average frost resistance. Such remontant strawberries form a mustache a little. Its large dense berries have the correct oval shape and a great dessert taste. The plant is resistant to diseases and pests, and also has an attractive decorative appearance. It is cultivated for no more than two years, while it requires top dressing with fertilizers and needs regular watering.

Features of growing remontant varieties

If we are talking about a fruit-bearing plant that needs a long daylight hours to form buds, then it is better to be immediately ready for an accelerated life cycle within two to three years. This crop is not able to grow and produce a crop constantly. The desire to get a high and early harvest for the second time in a season entails the need to remove the first flower stalks. But if you need a mustache to propagate the plant, then the autumn harvest is usually sacrificed.

As for varieties of neutral daylight hours, they usually live only one year, then the yield and quality of the berries fall. This is due to the constant process of flowering and ovary formation, which provokes the rapid aging of strawberries. You can outwit nature, but not for long. Make it a habit to stick to the following tips for growing day neutrals:

Plant seedlings from July to August - this will allow the young to take root better and give an excellent harvest next season.
Do not be afraid to pick off all the flowers immediately after planting and do this until the onset of cold weather, then you will get the opportunity for an early picking of berries next year.
Enjoy the harvest from May until the first frost, and in August or September, start cultivating seedlings using tendrils from mother plants.
When the harvest season comes to an end, remove the old bushes and cover the beds with the so-called mulch - hay, sawdust, straw or dry leaves.

Proper care for remontant strawberry varieties during the period of growth, ripening and harvesting consists in loosening the soil and frequent abundant watering. It is especially important to observe the last condition for constantly fruiting plants, because they need a lot of strength for flowering and the formation of a new ovary. In addition, remontant varieties need to be fed and protected from pests and diseases. Do not forget about weeding, removing reddening leaves and tendrils. The beds, for the wintering period, must be mulched to avoid freezing.

Many gardeners, especially in the northern regions, must have come across the fact that not all fruits of the second and subsequent harvests have time to ripen before the onset of cold weather. To avoid such losses, it is possible to practice the cultivation of remontant strawberries in protected ground conditions - under a film. Such cultivation contributes to an early first harvest and preserves the entire volume of the second, and the plant itself has time to prepare for the cold.

Talk 0

Remontant strawberry

Strawberries are represented by multiple varieties and varieties. In order for it to yield several times a season, purchase a remontant variety. Such species can be grown almost throughout Russia.

Elizabeth II

This variety is large-fruited. Possesses high transportability. Can produce 3 crops per season. Some gardeners get their fourth crop in the fall. The pulp is dense, sweet. Fruiting begins early - at the end of May.

Gigantela

This variety bears fruit all season, but does not tolerate heat and drought. You can cultivate the plant in greenhouses. This will make it easier to create suitable conditions for the variety. The berries are really gigantic - up to 100 g. Harvest - from May to October.

Albion

This variety is best suited for indoor cultivation. Ripening begins in May. Fruits until the end of October. The shape is conical. A distinctive feature is a great resistance to diseases.

Selva

This variety is popular for industrial cultivation. Abundant yields, excellent drought tolerance. High disease resistance. It can be cultivated both in a greenhouse and in an open place. The weight of the berries is up to 50 g. The only drawback is that the taste of the berries is inferior to other varieties.

Planting material update

When choosing a variety for growing strawberries in your area, you need to remember the cyclical nature of fruiting. In the first year of planting, the plants will not bear fruit - this is a new plant. The following year, strawberries are just beginning to gain strength and there is no need to expect a high yield from it. Only in the third and fourth years can one be proud of the results obtained. This is the most productive period and strawberries bear fruit to the maximum.

In the fifth year, as a rule, the plant begins to shrink and gradually die out. It happens that a certain variety lives longer, but the average age of strawberries is 5 years. Timely replacement with new planting material will reduce the likelihood of plant infection, as well as significantly improve fruiting rates.

Tip: for a uniform harvest, you can divide the strawberry bed into three zones and plant the plant according to the time of its fruiting. Thus, every year you will receive a new crop.

Choose a variety

Experienced gardeners advise changing strawberry varieties systematically. This is due not only to the acquisition of experience, but also to the fact that pests are adaptable to special means of combating them. In addition, breeders regularly develop new varieties.

Over time, new and improved types appear on the market. Choosing the right variety for planting is half the battle. After all, each variety has certain characteristics, more or less suitable for a site in an area with climatic conditions, soil type.

The best way out is to buy several varieties, grow them trially and draw the appropriate conclusions. The variety you like can be propagated in your area.

How not to fall for weedy strawberries

Sometimes an inexperienced gardener can accidentally acquire weed strawberry varieties. It can be Suspension, Bakhmutka, Zhmurka, Dubnyak. By the nature of growth, such strawberries are distinguished by aggressive reproduction and a powerful vegetative system. Such plants as do not take care of them, they will not be able to give a harvest.

Some representatives of weedy strawberries do not bloom at all, others bloom, but do not tie. If berries appear, they are small, tasteless. A distinctive feature of this kind of plants is a powerful root system and active growth of bushes. The plant gives a lot of whiskers, takes root well, but one cannot expect a harvest from such a strawberry. Moreover, multiplying, weed strawberries stifle cultivated species, gradually displacing it from the site. These aggressive specimens must be uprooted immediately.

Correct breeding

As a rule, when planting strawberries for the first time on a site, planting material purchased on the side is used. Sometimes they use their own seedlings.

In order to properly prepare the seedlings yourself, you need to do this during the harvest period. In order for planting material to have great potential for fruiting, you need to carefully look at the mother bushes. The best specimens can be used to obtain seedlings.

The bush must be powerful, and fruiting is not just abundant. Multiple pea-sized berries will not give a good result. It would be better if these are some of the largest berries on the bush. Having noticed the best bushes, they are marked with pegs. The most productive plants are healthy bushes with a large number of uniform in size, large and healthy berries. Such plants will be the best planting material for bookmarking. Subsequently, the selected seedlings give a good harvest. What genetic potential is inherent in the plant for fruiting, such will be the harvest.

Once sockets appear on the marked bushes, there is no time to waste. The quality of planting material may deteriorate. The most productive mustache will be from the first row. Subsequent sockets for seedlings are not suitable, they will be weaker.

Choosing the right place

For planting seedlings you need to choose the right place. It should be well lit and drafts should not walk on it. Otherwise, in winter, the culture is likely to freeze out.

It is desirable that the soil be loamy, black earth or sandy loam on the southwestern slopes. Strawberries are not very fond of heavy and acidic, although fertile soils. The selected area must be cleared of weeds and carefully inspected for the presence of pests in the soil. There may be strawberry nematode, wireworm, Colorado potato beetle. To disinfect pests, you can use a solution of ammonia water (20 kg per 1 weave). From weeds, the chemical drug Roundup is suitable. In autumn, it is necessary to dig the site as deep as possible so that the larvae of insect pests freeze out.

For the largest strawberry harvest, it is necessary to plant seedlings in the spring. If strawberries are planted in the southern region of Russia, then it is better to plant seedlings in late summer or early autumn. In the south of Russia it is so hot that planting strawberries in July will not give positive results. Sometimes the air temperature in the middle of summer reaches 40 degrees. Naturally, under such conditions, even if you create a shadow and water, the seedlings will not survive. Pre-strawberry bed should rest before planting. It is desirable that this be the vacant land on which peas, beans, onions, garlic, and greens used to grow.

planting seedlings

Before planting seedlings, the place must be properly fertilized. This can be done with manure humus and peat. To preserve moisture, it is necessary to mulch with organic material, straw, sawdust, needles.

When choosing seedlings for planting, you need to rely on the following principles:

The root neck must have a diameter of at least 6 mm.
The root should be fibrous, white in color, its processes should be about 5 cm long.
On a bush of seedlings there should be at least 5 leaves.
It is undesirable to store seedlings for a long time before planting.

If the seedlings were purchased from a nursery in special pots, it is advisable to keep a clod of earth on the roots, as far as possible not to disturb it. If the planting material is not in the ground, you can use a clay mash. Before planting, you need to dip it in a mixture of clay and water so that the seedlings take root as best and as quickly as possible.

Tip: to make clay talker, you need half a bucket of red or orange clay. It is necessary to fill the clay with water and let it soak. Stir the solution, it should be like gruel.

After planting seedlings, daily watering is required for a week. Then the land is irrigated as needed. We must not forget about the subsequent loosening. The earth must be properly enriched with oxygen. If the weather is dry and hot, mulching will help. It prevents the plants from dying and drying out.

plant inspection

In order for the culture to regularly bear fruit, it is necessary to be very attentive to its condition. In case of alarming symptoms, action should be taken as soon as possible. One of the signs of the onset of the disease may be drying and shrinking of the leaves. The leaves become a characteristic yellow color. These are signs of a strawberry mite. You need to start fighting with him immediately, until healthy bushes are infected from him.

To do this, it is necessary to remove all diseased bushes and take them out of the site or burn them. In other plants, you need to cut off all the leaves, leaving only the core. Plants can be treated with a solution of karbofos (1/2 spoon per bucket of water). It will be good to spray strawberries with a solution of garlic for prevention (crush 2 heads of garlic and add to a bucket of water).

Empty flowers and lack of fruit

Sometimes gardeners are faced with an incomprehensible situation. All strawberries bloom, but the fruits are not tied. There are several reasons for this:

Plant damaged by frost. A darkened strawberry may indicate this.
Weedy strawberries could get on the site. It needs to be removed urgently.
Weevil infestation. This can be signaled by fallen stems and ovaries of the plant.
Lack of pollinators.

Important care points

Self-pollinating strawberry varieties are convenient for growing in the garden. But you can increase fruiting by self-pollination. To do this, you can use a paint brush or a cotton swab. It is best to carry out the procedure at noon, in calm weather. If there are plenty of insects on the site, and the bees actively fly over the strawberries, then additional pollination is not required. These fruits will have excellent taste and the same size. The harvest will be bountiful.

Tip: Experienced gardeners have taken note of the use of yeast for top dressing. The solution is prepared from 1 kg of natural pressed yeast and 5 liters of water. Insist for several hours and water each bush under the root. The proportion is 0.5 liters per plant.

Some gardeners use bee bait. To do this, dissolve honey in water and pollinate strawberry flowers with the resulting solution. The solution is prepared at the rate of 1 liter of water per teaspoon of honey. The mixture is well stirred and sprayed with a plant from a spray bottle.

It is necessary to monitor the irrigation of the soil very carefully. As a rule, garden strawberries love water. But excessive irrigation is also detrimental to her health. Berries are affected by gray rot. It often happens that the rains do not stop. This also negatively affects the taste of the berries. They become watery and sour in taste. Additional cover on top with a film can slightly correct the situation.

Watering methods depend on the age of the strawberry and its growing season. Freshly planted seedlings are best irrigated by sprinkling. During the period of berry ripening and fruiting, it is recommended to water under the root or use a drip irrigation system. Potassium is needed during the period of active flowering. To do this, it is recommended to feed strawberries with a solution of bird droppings. You can use mullein, potassium nitrate.

If the grower knows when the strawberry is in production, he can correctly follow all the procedures for preparing and caring for the plant.

The season of berries has long passed, but how I would like to taste them again right from the bush. To pick berries several times a season, you need to plant remontant varieties.

What are remontant varieties? Remontant is the ability of plants to bloom and bear fruit several times per season. Accordingly, remontant varieties are varieties of crops that can be harvested periodically during the growing season. Some berry bushes, citrus crops, roses and herbaceous plants (begonia, lobelia, carnation, ageratum) have the ability to resume flowering and fruiting.

Let us dwell on the 3 most popular berry bushes and their remontant varieties: raspberries, blackberries and garden strawberries. After all, now is the time to choose suitable seedlings and plant them in the garden.

Varieties of remontant raspberries were first registered as early as 1778, when gene modification experiments had not even been carried out yet. So remontant raspberries are the result of selection.

Growing features

Repair raspberries are planted in the same way as ordinary raspberries. There are 2 planting options: curtains in holes (at a distance of about 45 cm from each other) or in trenches. But beforehand, raspberry bushes should be held for 2 hours in a container with water so that the roots are well saturated with moisture.

In the spring, young shoots grow from the underground part of the bush in any raspberry variety. But only in specimens of remontant varieties, these branches produce a crop.

By the end of autumn, the upper parts of the raspberry shoots dry out. If at this time the entire aerial part is cut off, then next year new branches can give the maximum yield. If you cut off only the upper (fruitful) parts of the shoots, then on the remaining parts next year new branches are formed that are capable of fruiting. But the harvest will be average.

Remont Raspberry Benefits

It is very resistant to diseases and pests, and therefore does not need chemical treatments. The thing is that remontant raspberries ripen in August-October, when many pests are already disappearing from the site.
Since the aerial part of the raspberry is most often cut before the onset of frost, there is no need to waste time covering the shoots.
Some varieties boast very large berries (up to 5-8 g).

Disadvantages of repair raspberries

In the rainy season, the winter hardiness and taste of the berries may decrease in remontant raspberry bushes. Also, adverse conditions sometimes lead to a decrease in yield. The fact is that the berries of the autumn harvest do not receive enough sun, as in summer, therefore they do not always have time to ripen.

The best varieties of remontant raspberries. Russian: Diamond, Bryansk divo, Hercules, Crane, Elegant. Polish: Polana, Polissya, Shelf, Morning dew(yellow fruit). Swiss: Zeva, Zugana, Rafzaku. Scottish: Valentine(yellow fruit), Glen Ample, Cascade Delith(large-fruited), Octavia.

Repair blackberry

This berry shrub is not found in our gardens as often as raspberries. But thanks to the success of modern breeders, this situation should change. Remontant varieties of blackberries are quite "young", but already very "promising".

Growing features

When planting blackberries in the garden, it is important to choose the right site for it. This is very important, because if the planting site is chosen incorrectly, it will not be possible to get a good harvest from the shrub even with impeccable care. Remontant (and common) blackberries do best in a well-lit area with light soil.

Like raspberries, blackberries can be cut to ground level, which means growing in an annual cycle. This procedure will save you from having to cover the bush for the winter, which is a significant advantage (but in cold autumn, plantings can be mulched with sawdust, straw or needles). In addition, it significantly reduces the likelihood of developing various diseases.

If the shoots are not cut, new growths next year may not have time to "give out" the entire crop.

Blackberry care in the new season, among other things, is to remove small and weak shoots. This will protect the bush from growing to such an extent that weak branches themselves do not have time to grow, and do not allow other lashes to develop safely.

Benefits of remont blackberry

Remontant blackberries are more resistant to diseases and pests than their regular varieties.
If at the end of the "Indian summer" the blackberry lashes are removed from the trellis and a film shelter is organized around them, then the shrub can bear fruit until the first snow.

Disadvantages of remont blackberry

Almost all shrubs of remontant varieties have thorns. But this is an insignificant drawback, because they practically do not interfere with harvesting.

The best varieties of remontant blackberries. The most popular variety today is the variety Ruben. It is also worth paying attention to the varieties: Black Magic, Prime Arc 45, Prime Jim, Prime Yang.

Remontant strawberry

Garden strawberries (strawberries), capable of re-fruiting, were bred by selection and selection of those specimens that were prone to re-flowering. Thus, like raspberries, this remontant berry bush has nothing to do with genetic modification.

Growing features

In order for garden strawberries to bear fruit well, it is important to plant them correctly. Planting in September gives a guarantee of getting the first berries next year. But for this, after planting the bushes in open ground, it is important to remove all the flowers from them until the snow falls.

Never leave remontant strawberries to winter without shelter. Be sure to mulch it with straw or other covering material.

In the new season, pay special attention to watering (especially during fruiting) and top dressing. Plants spend too much energy on double fruiting, so good nutrition is essential for them.

Benefits of remontant strawberries

This culture bears fruit 2 times per season with a clear break (about 2 months). In this case, the second fruiting in terms of the number of berries can significantly exceed the first.

Disadvantages of remontant garden strawberries

Plantations of garden strawberries (strawberries) of remontant varieties will have to be renewed more often than usual, because the ability to bear fruit twice in a season greatly depletes the plants.
Remontant strawberries can be propagated only by dividing or by seeds, since it rarely throws out mustaches.

The best varieties of remontant strawberries: Albion, Diamond, Queen ElizabethII, Monterey, Portola. The best varieties of remontant forest strawberries: Baron Solemacher, White Swan, Yellow Miracle, Ruyana, Rügen, Holiday.

Do not be afraid to buy and grow remontant berry bushes. Care for them is the same as for the varieties of these crops we are used to, but "reusable" berry growers delight with repeated harvests, get sick less and are not inferior in taste and size of berries to their "disposable" relatives.

Last year, quite unexpectedly for myself, I became the winner of the Summer Season competition and received a greenhouse from the Life at the Dacha company. We must pay tribute to the organizers of the competition - they kept the intrigue until the last moment, and therefore, when almost all the participants were awarded, and they were very experienced and respectable gardeners, and only the main prize remained, I decided that they simply forgot about me - I didn’t even dream that I will become its owner.

To be honest, when deciding to participate in the competition, I didn’t think about the main prize at all - if only because we already had two greenhouses on the site, and, it seems, the third one was useless. But, answering questions and preparing for the new season, I realized what I lack for happiness in the garden life - hotbed!

The fact is that I prepare seedlings of vegetable and flower crops myself, and if there is a vegetable conveyor that we arrange on our beds, it is required until the end of July. In addition, I grow many flowers, including perennials, which can be planted in open ground often only in the fall, but where to keep them before that? I am already silent about various cuttings, delenki, processes that appear on the farm throughout the summer and also require space for growing.

When I went to classes in the Botanical Garden, our wonderful lecturer Yuri Borisovich Markovsky, speaking about the rooting of some plants, often suggested: "Yes, stick them in a cucumber greenhouse - they will take root there wonderfully," but by the end of the lecture series he remarked: "However, if If you plant all this there, then where will you grow cucumbers?" So - the only way to save cucumber and other greenhouse plantings from the abundance of lodgers is.

Of course, many will consider the creation of such a structure to be pampering - not everyone will be as lucky as I am, which means that I need to make a frame, and I need to buy a film, in short, is the game worth the candle? What can be the answer to such a question? Naturally, if a gardener is only engaged in growing vegetables that are planted in spring or early summer and sit on the beds until the end of the season, and from flower crops he prefers annuals, then a nursery is not so necessary for him, but for everyone else?

First of all, the nursery is very convenient for everyone who is fond of seed propagation of perennials. It's no secret that planting material is quite expensive, and if you suddenly want to make a border along the geyhera path or you need a wall of delphiniums along the fence, can you imagine how many plants you will have to buy and how much to spend? Of course, only growing from seeds can help in this case. In addition, it is much easier to get the seeds of many plants than delenki, and their shipment is cheaper. Unfortunately, many perennials develop rather slowly, the seedlings of some species are very small, and, of course, it will not be possible to plant them immediately in a permanent place - first you need to let them grow up. Even a seed bed will not help here - it is good for growing rooted cuttings or for fast-growing plants with large seedlings.

Now about the benefits of a seedling greenhouse for vegetable growers. Our plots are small, and many people cannot adequately process large gardens, so it turns out that it is more convenient to take several crops from a small area. But the summer in our region is short, and in order for the plants to have time to please us with products several times a season, we have to grow seedlings, reducing the time the crop stays in the garden as much as possible. After all, the area necessary for the development of seedlings is small, it has enough space in a box or other container, and already grown plants will be planted in the garden, which will give the harvest in the shortest possible time.

Thus, even we you can get up to three crops from one area. But in order for such a conveyor to work properly, it is necessary to have already grown seedlings of another by the time one crop is harvested. Of course, vegetables such as root celery, peppers, tomatoes, early varieties of cabbage, leeks and black onions have to be grown in the apartment, but then, as soon as the weather allows, they all move to the nursery. Last year, cold-resistant onions, cabbages, lettuces settled in the nursery in the last days of March, however, we have means of heating in case of frost. And the last seedlings of daikon, Chinese and Beijing cabbage went to the beds in the second half of July.

With such crop rotation compaction we get such sequences of vegetables. For example, as soon as the soil ripens, we plant spinach, followed by seedlings of ground standard tomatoes, after which radishes will still have time to grow at the end of summer. Or first we sow early carrots for summer use, and after it, in the second half of June, we plant beet seedlings for winter storage. Or - radish, followed by seedlings of early potatoes, after harvesting which we plant seedlings of daikon or Asian (Beijing, Chinese) cabbage. In general, if you think and experiment, you can find many options. Here everything becomes fundamental - the soil conditions of the site, and the specific tastes of family members, and the possibility of caring for plants, and the availability of conditions for storing the resulting vegetables.

First of all, we streamlined the territory of our garden - we broke the beds and outlined them with a croaker. The soils on our site are clayey, a spruce forest used to grow here, the fertile layer is small, with any digging, poisonous podzol turns out, so the beds had to be raised, or rather, created from compost, grass, manure and from any organic matter that could be found. A separate plot was prepared for potatoes (about 0.25 acres), in addition, the garden includes two greenhouses 6 meters long, each with two beds. After we decided on the size of the garden, the question arose of what to plant on it. Of course, each owner has his own preferences, but I want to talk about our considerations in this regard.

First of all, we refused to grow cabbage for pickling, because our agricultural enterprises now grow it perfectly, it is very cheap in season, and we stopped taking up space for it in the garden. But with the early one, which we collect in June, we are busy, despite the difficulties with growing seedlings, because in the summer the whole family lives in the country, and early vegetables are more than relevant for us. The same with potatoes - we grow very early (which we dig already in June) seedlings, in addition, we plant a few early varieties, but in the usual way, we buy the rest in the fall, when potatoes are cheap. From other crops, first of all, we plant everything that gives early production - radishes, spinach, watercress, perennial onions, lettuce, kohlrabi, early ripening varieties of turnips, we sow early carrots in the greenhouse “under the side” of tomatoes.

Like any gardener, I have my favorites - these are sweet peppers, carrots and pumpkins - I always grow them, even if it is not profitable, simply because I like these plants, however, it is usually not necessary to complain about their harvest.

In addition to the listed vegetables, parsley, celery, peas, dill (in company with cucumbers), beets (regular and chard), parsnips, sweet corn (a favorite children's treat), onions, rutabaga, beans, Chinese, Japanese and Beijing beans grow in our garden. cabbage, spicy herbs (cilantro, catnip, hyssop, cumin, etc.). We plant a little zucchini - they quickly become boring, and when stored, pumpkins are much tastier. We plant quite a lot of radishes, turnips and daikon - they do not leave our table almost all year round. Well, in greenhouses, in addition to the already named peppers, tomatoes of various colors and sizes and cucumbers reign, to which more exotic neighbors often settle - eggplants, melons and others. As I already mentioned, we are always trying to grow something early, so we plant some of the cucumbers with seedlings, and some with seeds (their fruits will be pickled), in addition, we grow several bushes of overgrown (10-12-week-old) tomato seedlings - with them red fruits can be obtained in June.

And finally, a few more words about the nursery, which has now firmly taken its place in the garden. In our small greenhouse, we have installed slatted tables on which there are boxes and other containers with seedlings and crops. Moreover, on the one hand, the tables are stationary, and on the other, at the beginning of June, they are removed, because at this time most of the seedlings go to a permanent place and space is freed up for another bed under the roof. In early spring, the ends of the nursery were covered with two layers - a non-woven covering material and a regular film. After the threat of frost had passed, we removed the film, which significantly improved the thermal regime of the greenhouse.

And in conclusion, I want to once again thank all the companies that provided prizes for the participants of the Summer Season contest, since all their gifts worked great on our sites last season, and I hope they will work again.

N. Aleksandrova, gardener, winner of the Summer Season competition, 2003