Many gardeners prefer to grow cabbage in open ground and in greenhouses. It is much more difficult for beginners to grow healthy greens than for people who have been planting them for several years. To grow large heads of cabbage, you need to watch a video in advance that shows how to care for cabbage in the garden. There are certain secrets to growing cabbage under covering material and in the garden.
Sowing seeds
Before growing cabbage, you should learn in advance how to properly grow seedlings.There are different technologies for planting and germinating seeds.
To obtain cabbage seedlings, the seed must be planted at the end of winter, so that by the second half of spring it will stretch well. However, cabbage can be planted in the Urals a little earlier.
Seed preparation
Many vegetable growers ask themselves how to grow a good harvest of cabbage. To do this, you need to prepare planting material. This procedure will improve the germination of seedlings and help them grow better in the future. It also has a positive effect on productivity.
First, the seeds are disinfected, which protects the tomatoes from diseases. To do this, all the seeds should be placed in small bags and placed in several large containers with manganese solution. Soak them for 20 minutes, after which we open the bags and rinse the seeds with water.
Soil preparation
Before growing cabbage seedlings, you should prepare the soil. To do this, you need to find out what cabbage likes and what components to add to the soil. When growing cabbage seedlings, they should be in soils with a large amount of nutrients.
It is recommended to use soil with ash, as it allows the seedlings to stretch better. Ash can also protect seedlings from the appearance of certain diseases.
Planting and growing
Having finished with the soil and seeds, you should familiarize yourself with the features of planting seeds and study the rules for growing seedlings. This will help you understand how to get a good cabbage harvest. To germinate plants, it is recommended to use cassettes, which simplify the care of seedlings.
Before planting seeds, the soil should be watered a little. Then small holes are made in the ground into which the seeds are placed.The next day, the cassettes with plants should be moved to a warm room. However, before this you need to find out what temperature the seedlings can withstand in order to determine the best temperature regime.
It is not recommended to grow cabbage on the balcony, as young plants may not cope with temperature changes. Cabbage loves light, so there is no need to hide it from the sun while growing.
Not everyone knows how many days seedlings should grow. Two months are enough to obtain healthy grown seedlings.
Planting seedlings
Cabbage should be transplanted into open ground in June or in the last days of May. By this time, all the seeds will sprout and have time to germinate well.
Site selection
Growing cabbage in open ground under arches must be done in a suitable area.
First you need to figure out whether it can be grown next to tomatoes and what can be planted next to cabbage. It has rather poor compatibility with other plants and therefore it is recommended to choose a secluded place for planting. However, if this is not possible, then the best neighbors in the garden are onions or garlic. It is recommended that the site has a lot of sun. The illuminated areas are where everything grows well.
Soil preparation
A properly prepared plot will help you get good cabbage. It should be prepared in the fall. We transplant tomatoes only into clay or sandy soil so that the seedlings stretch better.
Care must be taken to ensure that the seedlings grow in fertilized soil. It is recommended to add lime and other mineral fertilizers to the site in advance. With the help of liming the soil and proper fertilizing, you can achieve a good harvest.Lime is also used if the acidity of the soil is too high to restore and stabilize its level.
Landing
Before you start studying the agricultural technology of growing cabbage, you need to know the features of planting seedlings. First you should start creating rows. Then holes are made on the marked rows. The size of each of them should be slightly larger than the size of the plant roots. The distance between the tomatoes should be at least 50-60 cm, so we make the holes at the same distance from each other. When all the holes are made, the germinated seedlings are pulled out of the cassettes.
After this, we plant the seedlings in the ground and sprinkle them with a small layer of soil. After planting all the plants, the soil must be watered with warm water and compacted.
Care
After planting in open ground, you need to take care of caring for the planted bushes. After all, caring for cabbage largely affects the quantity and quality of the harvest.
Watering
The main reason why bushes grow slowly is improper watering of plants. Therefore, care in open ground should include regular moistening of the area. It is recommended to water cabbage bushes quite often. However, this does not mean that you need to fill every bush with water and drown it. The growth of flooded plants is slowed down, as large amounts of moisture can damage the roots. Therefore, you need to ensure that the bushes do not flood.
Bushes germinate much faster with systematic watering every 2-4 days for a week. In this case, no more than six liters of water should be consumed per square meter of land. Over time, the amount of moisture should be reduced and therefore the plants will have to be watered only once a week.
It is recommended to do abundant watering in the first half of summer, when the temperature outside rises sharply.Watering cabbage in a polycarbonate greenhouse also becomes more frequent, since the greenhouse room also gets very hot.
For watering, it is recommended to use warm liquid that is heated to 20 degrees.
Top dressing
White cabbage planted in a greenhouse, loggias or open ground requires periodic feeding, which helps restore the amount of nutrients in the soil.
Before applying fertilizers, it is necessary to increase the green mass. Therefore, plants begin to be fed only a month and a half after planting. Effecton is perfect for the first feeding. To obtain the required solution, you will have to mix 100 ml of the drug with 10 liters of water. No more than 500 ml of the prepared mixture is consumed for each bush.
The next feeding should be done when the plant is well stretched. In this case, you need to use a completely different mixture. To prepare it, half a liter of mullein should be diluted in 5 liters of water. You can also add a little Kemira to the liquid. Each cabbage bush is watered with a liter of solution.
The third stage of fertilizing is carried out in the second half of June. During this period, the bushes begin to form fruits and therefore the plant needs mineral fertilizers. To create a working mixture, mix 120 g of superphosphate with potassium sulfate and 5-7 liters of water. Then the mixture should be infused for 2-4 hours.
Fertilizers are applied to the soil for the last time at the end of summer. For this, a mixture prepared from 8 liters of water and 80 g of nitrophoska is used.
Treatment
Caring for cabbage after planting should include processing. After all, without this, it will not withstand certain diseases and will begin to dry out.
Insects are the spreaders of many diseases, so it is necessary to protect seedlings from them. In the first weeks of cultivation, the bushes are sprinkled with tobacco dust and ash. This treatment will protect them from fleas and slugs.
During processing, it is not recommended to use various chemicals, since cabbage is a food product. The use of such products may adversely affect the fruits. There are many other ways to protect plants. For example, you can get rid of aphids using tomato tops. To do this, it should be infused in water for two hours and boiled for the same amount of time. Then the liquid cools, filters and dilutes with cold water.
You can also use onion peels, which are effective against caterpillars on cabbage stalks. Making onion solution is quite simple. To do this, a jar of husks is filled with warm water and infused for 2-3 days. Then the mixture is filtered and mixed with two liters of water.
Harvesting and storage
Some vegetable growers do not know when to remove cabbage from the garden. It is recommended to do this in the fall, after the first night frosts appear. You should not collect the fruits too late, as due to the night temperature the heads of cabbage will begin to freeze and this will negatively affect the duration of their storage.
To get rid of the bushes, you will have to dig them up along with their roots. They are then sorted to remove small and spoiled heads, which are best eaten straight away. Afterwards, the harvested crop must be prepared for further storage. To do this, the stalks of all bushes are cut off a few centimeters below the location of the head of cabbage. When all the bushes are trimmed, the heads are placed in the cellar. This is the most suitable place for storage.Most cellars have high humidity levels and above-zero temperatures. These conditions are ideal for cabbage heads.
The cellar must have a good ventilation system. If it is missing, you will have to ventilate the room yourself.
It is not recommended to store cabbage outside, even temporarily. The fact is that in the fall the weather is unstable and the heads of cabbage may suffer after hail or other serious precipitation.
Conclusion
Anyone can grow and care for cabbage in open ground. To do this, you need to familiarize yourself in advance with the features of growing and caring for cabbage. You can also watch the video, which describes in detail the care of cabbage seedlings and tells you when to remove cabbage from the garden.
