Radish is an early ripening cold-resistant light-loving vegetable crop with juicy root crops. It grows both in open ground and under the film. Radishes are native to China. They began to grow vegetables in Russia on the personal instructions of Peter I.
Ripening period - 18-25 days. This is the earliest spring vegetable, so it is grown everywhere, it helps the human body to recuperate after winter. Radish contains many vitamins (B, C), enzymes, contains organic acids, trace elements (potassium, iron, calcium, phosphorus, magnesium). It cleanses the body of toxins, breaks down fat.
How to grow a radish
The optimum temperature for radish growth is 16-20˚С. It gives a good harvest on fertile, well-drained, slightly acidic soils, loves open, sunlit areas. Beds in open ground can be made from the second half of April, in greenhouses - from the end of February. When planting a vegetable in the summer, it is better to choose a place with a little shading. Rootswithstand frosts down to -5˚С.
The selected area is heated by watering with hot water at a temperature of 50˚С, dug to the depth of a shovel. Then nutrients (peat, mineral fertilizers) are added and again dug up with a pitchfork. On the bed prepared in this way, grooves are made about 12 cm wide and 2 cm deep. Seeds pre-soaked for several hours are sown at intervals of 3 cm.
After a week, the seedlings are thinned out, the weakest and most deformed shoots are removed with an interval of 5 cm. After that, watering is carried out from a shallow watering can. When the bed dries out a little, they loosen and spud the aisles to the cotyledon leaves of the plants.
As you can see from the above description, growing radishes is easy. At the initial stages of growth, the vegetable should be watered frequently at the rate of 3 l / m2. When the root crops begin to pour, watering is halved.
Harvested root crops are freed from tops and stored in plastic bags in a cold place (2-3˚C) or refrigerator. After harvesting, tomatoes can be planted in the vacant place. After radishes, they grow well.
Radish - cultivation. Major mistakes:
- strong thickening of crops;
- low temperature;
- excessive watering;
- applying fresh manure, ash or potash fertilizers;
- dry soil;
- untimely harvest.
This all leads to the fact that the vegetable goes into arrows, blooms, the roots become small, crack, leavesgrow.
Radish - cultivation. Pest Control
The most common diseases are:
1. Cruciferous fleas
Cope with them helps dry mustard or ground pepper (black and red). They need to be scattered between rows before loosening in the amount of 1 teaspoon per square meter. From above, the leaves can be sprayed with tobacco dust, ash, garlic infusion.
2. Qila
This is a viral disease that appears in acidic soils. Growths form on the roots of the fruits. It is better to destroy such a radish immediately.
Radish - cultivation. Tips
It is undesirable to grow a vegetable in the middle of summer. Under the influence of a long daylight hours, it becomes bitter, small, shoots arrows. A black film screen for several hours a day will help prevent this.
In order not to injure the roots by thinning, you can immediately sow one he althy seed with an interval of 5 cm.
In dry weather, you can not leave a vegetable without watering for more than 3 hours, otherwise it will not develop properly, become hard and bitter.
Excellent neighbors for radishes are onions and carrots. He does not like places after cultivation of cabbage, radish, daikon.
Thus, growing radishes is not troublesome, the main thing is timely weeding and watering. If desired, the root crop can be planted on the balcony. Shelter with any non-woven material will help protect the crop from pests.
