Potato is the second bread, that's how people speak about this vegetable. There are many recipes for potato dishes: mashed potatoes, french fries, jacket potatoes, potato pies … All these dishes are among the favorites of Russians. How to grow potatoes? In the warm conditions of the south, it grows very well. But what about, for example, in the Urals?
Potato planting is carried out at different times in different regions. In the Urals, it is planted in May. At this time, the temperature of the earth is already above four degrees, which is quite enough for landing. Potato seeds are best planted when they are already warmed up under the rays of the sun and germinated. When landing, a shovel is not always used. In the Urals, it is customary to use a chopper, since planting potatoes does not require great depth.
With the help of a chopper, make shallow, 5-6 cm, furrows. The gaps between them can be made about one meter. Furrows should be made from north to south so that there are no problems with light for growing potatoes.
When the time comes for planting potatoes, it is necessary to treat the tubers with wood ash to protect them from pests. Now you can put them in the furrows per meter, about four tubers. Next, you need to fill them with humus or manure, and then with earth. Using a chopper to level the surface of the site is quite easy. Now the former furrows have turned into ridges, and with further hilling they will only increase. Hilling potatoes is recommended about three times during the summer season. So, by harvesting potatoes, the comb can be up to thirty centimeters high.
Few people use desiccation of potato tops. The climatic features of the Urals do not allow the tops to die off by the harvest time. For faster ripening of the tops, it is sprayed with a special solution. Ripe tops wither and cease to draw moisture from the tubers. This promotes their growth and maximum nutrient retention.
In addition to the usual, planting potatoes in the Urals is carried out under hay. The technology of such planting differs from the usual one only in that the planted potatoes are covered with hay or straw. It is not difficult to do this, the main thing is to take care in advance that covering material remains from autumn. It is not necessary to cover with too thick a layer, 15-20 cm is enough. Otherwise, it may interfere with the heating of the earth and the emergence of shoots. Hay can be added during the growing process, wrap around the sprouts when they reach ten centimeters in height. Planting potatoes for hay has many advantages. This isthe absence of weeds (they grow too poorly through hay) and the uselessness of watering, because the land under the hay practically does not dry out. Many lovers of this type of planting claim that the Colorado potato beetle is much smaller in such beds.
So, planting potatoes in the Urals is a fairly simple matter, you just need to take into account the climatic features and be guided by them when caring for a growing crop. In addition, the Ural land is able to grow a large number of different varieties of potatoes. Local breeders number about a hundred of them, and most of them were bred, exactly as required by planting potatoes in the Urals.
