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Thanks to the young leaves, rich in vitamins and minerals popularity spinach for a long timeand growing steadily around the world. It is difficult to find as useful and unpretentious a plant as spinach, cultivation and care in the open field for which shoulder and novice gardeners.
Spinach refers to the early vegetable crops. From the time of sowing until the collection of the first batch of leaves takes 30–40 days. At the same time the plant tolerates cold, does not require painstaking care. It is not surprising that during the warm period in most regions of the country one can get not one but several harvests. This property of the plant is used by summer residents and large crop farms.
However, mastering the cultivation of spinach in the open field you need to know that this plant is a short day. When the duration of daylight passes for 14 hours, spinach stops growing leaves, and forms a peduncle. Such plants are no longer used in food.
In order to indulge yourself and your loved ones with useful and tasty greens as long as possible, you need to choose the varieties that are most resistant to coloring and plant spinach in early spring and also from the second half of July to get the autumn harvest.
Planting and caring for spinach in the open field in spring
You can grow spinach through home-grown seedlings or by sowing seeds directly into the ground. They use the second method more often, and due to the cold resistance of the plant, the first seeds of spinach fall into the soil as soon as it thaws well.
In the middle lane it happens in mid-April. If spring weather does not indulge in heat, crops can be covered with non-woven material, under which sprouts can withstand frosts down to –8 ° C.
For ease of spitting and protection against infections, the seeds of spinach are sown in a warm pink solution of potassium permanganate for 12 to 18 hours before sowing, and then dried until they become loose, as before.
Spinach is sown to a depth of 1.5 to 3 cm. So that the seeds do not turn out to be much deeper after watering, they roll up the ground on the beds after planting. Between the individual rows leave at least 30 cm, and between the seeds - 5–8 cm. This will allow the plant to form a lush rosette and simplify the care of spinach when it is grown in open ground.
If the first sowing occurs in April, then the last summer is carried out at the end of June. Pipeline plantings with an interval of 3-4 weeks will help not to experience a lack of fresh greens. From the last decade of July, crops are resumed and led to mid-August, and in the southern regions even to mid-September. Smooth lines of greenery on the beds appear 10–14 days after sowing.
Using the frost resistance of seeds and the precocity of spinach, it is planted and before winter. The seeds are buried in the ground in October, and in the spring, immediately after the snow melts, the friendly shoots of this useful and unpretentious plant will appear on the beds.
Field for growing spinach in open ground
The success of growing spinach depends largely on the correct plot and preliminary soil preparation. The plant prefers open, well-lit garden beds with aerated, slightly acidic soil containing many nutrients.
The autumn processing of the ridges will help increase the return from planting in the open field and caring for spinach in the spring:
- dig them deep;
- contribute, if necessary for deoxidation, dolomite flour;
- soil is mixed with fertilizers at the rate of 15 grams of potassium salts and 30 grams of superphosphate per square meter;
- when digging add humus or manure.
In the spring on poor soils, the beds are additionally fertilized with nitrogen, adding 20 grams of urea per meter. Dense soil is mixed with sand and peat. This will simplify the subsequent care of spinach when grown in open ground.
Spinach care when grown in open ground
Spinach care is not too burdensome and consists of regular watering, weeding and loosening the soil between the rows. While plants are small, it is important to prevent the formation of a dense crust, which prevents the formation of rosettes and the penetration of moisture.
At the stage of 2-3 leaves, the plants are thinned. If you carefully remove the seedlings, they can be transplanted by adding spaces in other places in the garden.
Spinach watering should be abundant and frequent. In order not to harm the landings, they use sprinklers. At the same time, up to 10 liters of water are consumed per square meter, which makes it possible to carefully and deeply saturate the soil with moisture.
No matter what kind of spinach, when grown in open ground, planting care necessarily includes plant protection from the scorching rays of the sun. When the air temperature rises above 26 ° C, the beds are hidden under the non-woven fabric or other shading methods are used. If you neglect this measure, the risk of the appearance of peduncles increases, the leaves lose their juiciness and grow coarser.
With the proper preparation of beds and adequate food, spinach grows rapidly and after 2-3 weeks it gives the table the first greener leaves. If growth is inhibited, the leaf plates are small, the socket is poorly formed, it is obvious that plants need additional fertilization with nitrogen fertilizer. Granules must be buried deep into the soil by 2–5 cm, and then the beds are watered.
