Terms of planting swede and rules for caring for it

In our country, you can rarely find real rutabaga in the gardens. Sometimes this word in villages is mistakenly called fodder beets, but with external similarity, these are completely different crops. Rutabaga belongs to the Cabbage family, the Cabbage genus and is a biennial plant. It is because of the kinship with the cabbage that the swede has a similarity with it not only in terms of cultivation and care, but also in diseases affecting the culture.

The root crop of the first year of life is used for food, and in order to obtain seed material, it is necessary to leave it in the ground for another year. The most popular varieties of rutabagas among Russian gardeners are Swedish and Krasnoselskaya. She comes from the north of Europe, therefore in some areas she is called the Swedish turnip, German. In taste, it really resembles a turnip, but surpasses the latter in the content of certain substances, especially vitamin C. In addition to it, rutabagus contains mineral salts (calcium, iron, sulfur and phosphorus), fiber, vitamins of group B and P, essential oil. Useful properties of swede: due to its composition, it has a wound healing, expectorant, diuretic effect.

Rutabagas are both consumed fresh (salads) and heat-treated - boiled, steamed, stewed, baked, added to stews and pies. Most of the contained substances are retained during short-term heat treatment. The color of the flesh of the root vegetable is white, orange, most often yellow, and the peel is red-purple or grayish-green.

Rules for planting seeds for seedlings

Rutabaga has been gaining full ripeness for quite a long time, about 110-120 days, so it is planted as early as possible. Rutabaga is not afraid of cold weather, freezing temperatures for her is already good. In May, it is possible to plant seeds immediately in open ground, in the beds. But growing through seedlings will help speed up the ripening process. Planting and care rules are similar to growing cabbage seedlings.

Advice

It is advisable to place the seeds in a cup of water heated to +50 ° C for 30 minutes before sowing. This heat treatment will help prevent the spread of infectious diseases. After soaking, the seed is laid out on a cloth napkin and dried. Since the seeds of the swede are very small, they are buried in the ground, mixed with sand, which was previously calcined and cooled.

35-40 days before the intended planting in open ground, the seeds are sown in containers with soil to a depth of 1.5 cm. In terms of time, this is approximately the first half of April. Boxes or containers are covered with a transparent lid (glass, polyethylene), thereby creating a kind of greenhouse. Before the seeds germinate, the lid is opened daily and the condensate is wiped off. As soon as the first shoots appear, the cover is removed. Seeds germinate even at + 2–3 ° С, and the optimal temperature is + 15–18 ° С. After the appearance of the first true leaf, the seedlings are thinned to a distance of 4 cm.

Planting in open ground

The main requirement for growing swede is the composition of the soil. It should not be heavy, clayey, with a close adhesion of groundwater. A good option is a nutritious light soil with a slightly acidic or alkaline reaction, pH - from 5.5 to 7. Loam, cultivated peat and sandy loam soil are suitable. If the composition is far from the required parameters, then the soil must be improved by adding humus, sand and peat to it. Moreover, it is better to do this in the fall. In the case of heavy soil, it is recommended to create high ridges, in light soil this is not necessary.

It is not necessary to plant rutabagas where the cabbage grew last year, as pathogens of common diseases may remain in the ground.Turnip, daikon, horseradish and radish with radishes are also bad predecessors. But such predecessors as legumes, potatoes, cucumbers and tomatoes are welcome.

Seeds are planted in early May on beds with a row spacing of about 40 cm. The seeding depth in light soil is up to 2.5 cm, in heavy soil - no more than 1.5 cm. Calcined river sand is useful here too. When the seedlings rise, they are thinned out 2 times so that the distance between the adult plants is at least 15 cm.

If the cultivation of swede was carried out through seedlings, then it is planted in open ground not in early May, but at the very end of spring - early summer. There should already be 3-4 real leaves on the sprout, the distance is immediately kept 40x15 cm.

Care rules

Easy care when growing a swede consists of watering, feeding and creating a comfortable temperature, weeding and loosening the soil.

Too hot weather can interfere with a good harvest of rutabagas. At prolonged air temperatures above + 21 ° C, root crops do not gain full flavor and become dryish. The best specimens are obtained when grown at temperatures up to +18 ° C.

Weeding and loosening of the soil are carried out after rain, especially in the first period of plant formation, so that growth does not slow down.

Watering is carried out moderately, do not allow the soil to dry out or waterlogging. It will take about 10 liters of water per 1 m²... Improper care, or rather a lack of moisture, will lead to rapid flowering of a plant with an unusable root crop.

Fertilization is required infrequently, only 2-3 times in the first half of summer. As a top dressing, you can use both organic fertilizers and mineral fertilizers, for example, a mixture of ash and superphosphate. When buying a ready-made complex fertilizer, you need to check if it contains:

• calcium;
• manganese;
• copper;
• phosphorus (increases sugar content);
• boron (with a shortage of it, the pulp of the root vegetable will become fresh and brownish).

When caring for the turnip, it is worth remembering that fresh manure cannot be brought into the soil, since it will make the pulp of the root vegetable porous and dryish.

Rutabaga is easily attacked by pests and weakly resists diseases that it has in common with cabbage. The cruciferous flea beetle can be removed with ash scattered in the aisles, mixed with ordinary road dust. Cabbage fly is afraid of naphthalene, which is also scattered in the aisles, mixed with sand in a ratio of 1/10. Cabbage aphids are removed by spraying with a soap-ash solution: 50 g of laundry soap and 200 g of ash are dissolved in 10 liters of water. Insecticides, which are sold in gardening stores, do well with pests.

Harvesting and storage

Rutabaga reaches ripeness after four months from the moment of planting, therefore it is sometimes in the ground until the first autumn night frosts. Root crops withstand temperatures up to -8 ° C without negative consequences. Therefore, in regions with warm winters, part of the crop can not be dug out, but left for the next season to obtain seed. Or scoop up to eat as needed.

For winter storage, root crops are recommended to be removed from the ground before the onset of frost. Dirty or wet specimens are carefully cleaned of dirt and dried in air, and then lowered into the cellar, where the temperature is maintained up to +4 ° C. The swede is laid in rows, sprinkled with dry river sand.

It is a pity that rutabaga today is a rare guest in gardens and on tables. The simplicity of planting and growing, caring for the turnip and its beneficial properties are worthy of close attention of gardeners. And botanists-breeders should pay attention to increasing the number of varieties and improving their quality. In the meantime, we will choose the best varieties from those on the market today.