Cabbage is a vegetable crop that is grown by almost all owners of summer cottages. Gardeners really like it because of its ease of care and pleasant taste. Among the late varieties, Podarok cabbage is more popular. Below is a detailed description of this variety, planting rules and recommendations for caring for the plant.
Description of the variety
Podarok cabbage was bred in 1961 and is still in demand among gardeners for its high consumer properties. This is an old variety of Russian selection.It has few disadvantages, but it has plenty of useful properties (unpretentiousness, resistance to diseases, pests and frosts).
A successful harvest can be achieved when planted in clay and loamy soils, since high acidity will cause the crop to fail. Good lighting is required throughout the day; shading can affect the quality and quantity of the harvest. Podarok cabbage is a mid-late variety (ripening time - 4.5 months).
The description of the variety is as follows:
- The heads of cabbage are dense, round, large, weighing about 5 kilograms, gray-green in color, and white in cross section.
- The diameter of the rosette is about 1 meter, quite large, the leaves have a waxy coating, spreading and raised, wavy along the edge. They are externally grey-green.
Cabbage also contains vitamin C, potassium, phosphorus, calcium, sulfur, fiber, lactose, as well as vitamins A, B1, B6, C, K, P and U, which cures stomach and duodenal ulcers. It helps with heart diseases and cleanses the walls of blood vessels.
Growing
Growing cabbage is very effective through seedlings. It is usually sown in April-May. In this case, the soil plays an important role, since the yield of cabbage depends on the microelements it contains. It should mainly consist of peat (75%).
Sow seeds according to a 5x5 pattern, to a depth of 1.5 centimeters in the ground. The room temperature should be no more than 18 degrees. The first shoots appear, as a rule, after a week, and when the seedlings grow 4–5 leaves, the plant is ready for transplanting into open ground. This should be done at the end of May - beginning of June.
It is best to plant cabbage on the ground where legumes, cucumbers or potatoes grew last year.The soil after them is rich in nitrogen, which is considered an excellent option for growing this vegetable.
Plants should not be planted close to each other, optimally at a distance of 60 centimeters. It is necessary to regularly water, weed and loosen the soil. And, of course, it is important to fertilize it. By following these simple rules, you can achieve a good harvest.
Features of care
Caring for cabbage The gift is quite simple. Here the main requirements are timely watering, fertilization and protection from pests.
At the stage of heading formation, watering should be provided at least 2 times a week. Cabbage also requires hilling every 2-3 weeks and loosening the soil. As a rule, the plant is fertilized three times during the growing period. Urea or manure are well suited as fertilizers; some gardeners fertilize with nitrogen in the first stage, complex fertilizer in the second, and potassium in the third.
The fruits ripen 125 days after planting; they are harvested in September-October, without allowing the plants to stretch. Then a good harvest will not be long in coming; you can harvest up to 10 kilograms from one square meter.
Advantages and disadvantages
Cabbage Gift has virtually no drawbacks, except that it requires good lighting (does not tolerate shadows at all) and abundant watering. Among its most beneficial advantages are the following:
- possibility of growing in any climatic zone of Russia;
- high fertility and productivity of this variety;
- cabbage The gift is stored well without losing its taste;
- good for canning and fermentation;
- rarely exposed to diseases;
- frost resistant.
Pests and diseases
Podarok cabbage is disease resistant.If tomatoes, garlic and onions grow next to it, then diseases characteristic of plants are not afraid of it at all. Pests can cause more damage to cabbage. But you can also fight them using folk methods. Let's take a closer look at the most common insect pests and how to get rid of them:
- Aphids are considered the most dangerous for cabbage. If it damages the plant, the harvest cannot be saved. Therefore, it is better to prevent danger than to try to cope with it later. There are many control measures, including folk ones: soap solution, garlic infusion.
- Cruciferous flea beetles gnaw through the leaves, causing the cabbage to wither and dry out. You can fight them by weeding the weeds in a timely manner.
- The cabbage fly eats the roots of the plant. To combat it, use ash, pepper or tobacco, adding them through loosening the soil.
- Snails and slugs eat roots and leaves. You can exterminate them by breeding toads at your dacha; they happily eat these pests. The beds are also sprinkled with crushed shells, lime and ash. These measures will help get rid of insects.
- The cutworm is a butterfly that is primarily active at night. It lays larvae on most garden crops. The cutworm eats the heads of cabbage and leaves its offspring in them. Digging up the soil in the fall is considered the best method of prevention; spraying with chemicals also has a good effect.
Harvest and storage
Cabbage is harvested on the 125th day from the moment of first shoots. September-October is the best time to collect it. It is better to start it on a cool, cloudy day at a temperature of 4–7 degrees. Heads of cabbage cut in such weather will last longer.
The cabbage is pulled out of the ground by the roots and the stump is cut with a knife, leaving 3-4 centimeters. After this, the heads of cabbage are sorted:
- looser ones are used for pickling;
- dense ones are stored.
Store in the basement on wooden shelves at a temperature of +1–5 °C. Air humidity should be 90–98%.
Reviews from gardeners
Each product finds its supporters and opponents. Cabbage is no exception. Most reviews about the Gift are positive. They talk about it as an old, reliable variety that stores well and does not lose its taste until spring.
It is tasty when pickled and makes excellent cabbage rolls. There are no problems or difficulties during the growing process. However, it does not like drought and is considered a favorite crop of butterflies and pests.
But some people also write negative reviews, for example, along with Podarok, a person grew another variety, and Podarok showed much worse results than its analogue, and pests caused significant damage to the crop. But perhaps this is a coincidence or the consequences of incorrect crop care. Basically, all gardeners recommend Podarok cabbage for growing.
