A few centuries later, Americans began to grow broccoli on their own, as they appreciated not only the wonderful taste of the finished vegetable, but also the huge benefit of cabbage, unlike other varieties of this vegetable. It is very important to give broccoli cabbage planting and care in the open ground so that the vegetable feels comfortable, in this case the head will have a dense structure and juiciness.
This type of vegetable resembles ordinary cauliflower, but nevertheless broccoli is a more useful type of vegetable, and these varieties have their own differences, they are in taste, density of inflorescences and color of the head of cabbage. Of course, in our time a lot is available in shops and supermarkets, so buying broccoli in fresh or frozen form will not be difficult. But is it not better to find out about broccoli cabbage, planting and care in the open ground (video) for this vegetable, and then grow cabbage in open ground in his garden plot. Self-grown cabbage, has a more saturated smell, not such a bright color, and also contains a lot of healthy vitamins, which is much inferior to the purchased frozen vegetable.
To grow such a cabbage in your garden is not at all difficult, you just need to know how to properly care for and plant a given plant variety. In this article, the most important moments in planting and growing broccoli cabbage will be told, following these tips, even a novice summer resident can grow such a plant.
How to grow broccoli seedlings
If the gardener decided not to buy seedlings, but to sprout them independently, then it is worthwhile to start growing already in the first half of March, some gardeners even begin to plant in several stages, seed planting can take place even until the twentieth of June. If the gardener decided to sow cabbage with seeds in the ground under an open sky, then this can only be done on May warm days, when the air temperature is high enough for growing seeds.
Before planting seeds in the soil, it is necessary to carry out special preparation so that broccoli, when planting and leaving in the open ground (photo), has a high resistance to disease. To begin with, all seeds are well sorted, it is necessary to eliminate all unnecessary and weak seeds, but leave large and strong seeds, from them you can get stronger seedlings. Next, create a solution that includes useful trace elements, and lower the seeds into it for 60 minutes, after which all the seeds are dried on a paper towel. The most interesting about picking cabbage after germination.
When sowing, it is important to observe the depth, if the seeds are planted deeper than one centimeter, they will not germinate through the soil, so it is recommended to make a recess of not more than, but not less than one centimeter. After that, you can feed small seedlings with special fertilizers designed for vegetable crops. As soon as four to five leaves appear on the seedlings, they are transplanted to a permanent place of residence, that is, in open ground. Before planting seedlings, it is necessary to water the beds very well, since it is not recommended to moisten the soil after planting. In May, the seeds are sown already in the open ground, in this case, broccoli cabbage planting and care in the open ground in July will be carried out differently from the sprouted seedlings.
Proper Broccoli Care
If the gardener wondered where it is best to plant such cabbage, then he should find the brightest place for broccoli, this variety of plants loves the sun very much.It doesn’t matter exactly where the vegetable will grow, even if you plant cabbage between the trees, it will sprout, but still it is worth taking care of the sufficient light of the place with the sun. This variety of cabbage grows only on neutral soil, the soil should not have high acidity, otherwise the plant will not survive in it.
If the gardener does not know the acidity of his soil, then it is worth adding chalk and lime to the ground, do this a month before planting the plants. Whenever possible, it is worth improving the quality of the soil, for this, ash and a little compost are added to the ground, and superphosphate will also be an important component, it is used at ten grams per square meter of beds. Only with good fertilizer, broccoli during planting and care in the open field in the Urals will give a wonderful crop.
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If the gardener can spend time constantly loosening the soil in the root zone of broccoli, then the plant will grow more actively and give a rich harvest. Loosening helps not only to add oxygen to the soil, but also to destroy harmful weeds that affect the yield of broccoli. Planting and care in the open ground varieties of this plant should take place in a timely manner, it is very important to remove dandelions from the beds, since an ordinary hoe will not be able to eliminate them. Also, the plant needs constant watering, it is not necessary to water too often, but it is important to ensure that the soil does not dry out if the weather is too hot, it is recommended to spray broccoli from the spray gun in the evening.
Plant nutrition
Like any other vegetable, broccoli needs to be fed, but you can not overfeed cabbage, as this will reduce the yield of the variety. The first feeding is carried out only with mullein, for this, add one mayonnaise bucket of fertilizer to the bucket of water and mix. It is also recommended to add a teaspoon of urea to the resulting mixture. Such top dressing is very effective, but it is carried out exclusively after transplanting and taking root of seedlings in the open ground, this happens approximately a couple of weeks later. If the cabbage was planted with seeds at a constant place of growth, then such dressing is done three weeks later, after the appearance of the first seedlings.
The next type of top dressing should take place only three weeks after the first fertilizer application in the ground, in which case saltpeter is used to feed. Some gardeners say with confidence that without the use of such fertilizer it is simply impossible to grow a good crop of cabbage. And in order to measure the correct amount of top dressing, it is enough to collect a matchbox of nitrate and add it to ten liters of clean water for irrigation. Since the first makings of the crop should appear at the end of summer, it is necessary to use those fertilizers that contain as little nitrogen as possible, but potassium and phosphorus will not harm the plants. Find out, how to fertilize tomatoes when plantingto get a big crop.
Diseases and harmful insects: the fight
Most often, this type of cabbage lends itself to attack by caterpillars, it is quite simple to collect them with your hands and eliminate them, but there is another effective way that will help to permanently get rid of harmful insects. To protect the crop from insects, it is enough to cover the cabbage with thin lutrasil, and it is also worth eliminating all the weeds from the site and not plant any cruciferous crops nearby. But the harvest will depend only on the variety of cabbage selected, some types of broccoli ripen long enough, while others can produce a crop a couple of months after planting.