Gardeners use podzimnie crops today little, but in vain. In fact, winter sowing is an old way of getting early produce. Its essence lies in the fact that the seeds lay in the soil before winter, and in early spring, as soon as the temperature becomes sufficient, germinate.
Such seeds, swollen and hardened during the winter, sprout earlier than those sown in spring. Thus, at the beginning of growth, the plants receive more spring moisture. This allows you to get an earlier and higher yield.
In addition, in the spring, as soon as the snow melts and the soil warms up a little, the gardener is torn apart by numerous affairs and worries. There is so much to sow and plant, feed and live on, but there is not enough time. And moisture leaves the soil - it evaporates under the rays of the warm spring sun with catastrophic speed.
And, most importantly, such sowing allows you to transfer part of the work on sowing vegetables to late autumn, i.e. make your work much easier during the spring sowing campaign.
Benefits of winter sowing
- Substantial savings in this precious May time. Having sown some of the crops in the fall, in the spring you can pay more attention to caring for, for example, fruit trees and berry bushes.
- Podzimny sowing is especially effective in those zones where the land warms up slowly in spring (a classic version of late spring for the Urals) or spring droughts occur. The seeds of plants sown before winter make good use of spring moisture and the first heat, germinate quickly and give amicable shoots.
- Crops sown before winter sprout earlier and develop faster. Thus, the harvest of a number of vegetable crops and the first flowers can be obtained 1–2 and even 3 weeks earlier than those sown in spring.
- In addition, the seeds undergo winter hardening, and the vegetables grown from them tolerate frosts better.
- And finally, on the same area, there is the possibility of repeated crops.
Cooking the garden and seeds
Podwinter crops are especially effective in those areas where the soil warms up slowly in spring and does not dry out for a long time, as well as where there is often dry or cold spring.
Beds for winter crops should be prepared in October. They are best placed in elevated areas with loose, fertile soil, with a slight slope to the south or southwest, protected from cold winds. In such areas, the earth quickly dries out and warms up in spring.
In areas with a close standing of groundwater, as well as in lowlands, it is necessary to arrange ridges 15–20 cm high in order to prevent the plants from getting wet in spring. In addition, the soil on such beds warms up faster in the spring, which helps to accelerate the emergence of seedlings.
The soil for sowing in autumn must be prepared more thoroughly than usual in the spring. It is deeply dug up and filled with fertilizers - 1 bucket of humus or matured compost, 1 tbsp. a spoonful of superphosphate, 1 teaspoon of potash fertilizers and 1 glass of ash per 1 sq. m beds. Depending on the quality of the soil, if necessary, it is necessary to add mineral additives - peat, clay, coarse river sand.
The surface of the bed is well cut with a rake, then grooves 3-4 cm deep are made across the bed with a distance of 12-15 cm between them. After the soil settles, the depth of the groove will be 1.5-2 cm.
When should you sow?
The most important role is played by the timing of the winter sowing. With sowing before winter, it is better to be a little late than to hurry. The main condition for such sowing is that the plants do not germinate in the fall. If you hurry, the seeds will begin to germinate in the fall and die with the onset of cold weather. Therefore, seeds are sown at the onset of stable cold weather, when the soil temperature drops to 0 ... –1оС.
This usually coincides with the onset of severe morning frosts.At this time, a frozen crust usually forms on the very surface of the earth. Depending on the air temperature, podzimny crops are carried out in late October - early November.
At this temperature, the seeds only swell, but do not germinate and do not even hatch. But in the spring they immediately start growing. The seeds are sown dry in the grooves, then the grooves are covered with sand or peat and leveled with humus.
But at the same time, it is extremely important to prepare and sow the seeds on time and well. This should be done in such a way that the seeds only swell in the fall, but do not have time to sprout and germinate.
Seedlings of vegetables planted in late autumn develop in spring regardless of the weather. Their advantage is especially noticeable in years with dry springs. seeds make full use of winter moisture, swell quickly and give early and friendly shoots.
In addition, gardeners are relieved of this laborious work during the most stressful spring period, when every hour is precious. So let's try to figure it out together and answer traditional Russian questions (what, where, when).
But not all crops and varieties are suitable for winter sowing. Firstly, when ripening earlier, vegetables are less well stored in winter. Therefore, vegetables for bookmarking for the winter are sown only in spring. And secondly, in adverse weather conditions, instead of dense spring shoots, you can get an empty bed.
Carrots, onions, turnips, parsley, dill, lettuce, salad mustard, cucumber grass, spinach, sorrel, celery and other cold-resistant crops are sown before winter.
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At the same time, for winter sowing, it is necessary to select domestic varieties specially designed for autumn sowing and resistant to shooting: for carrots - Nantes 4, Incomparable, Color, Moscow late, Rogneda, Touchon, Shantane; for parsley - Aster, Ordinary Leaf, Weather, Sugar Root, Bordovician; beets - Cold-resistant 19, parsnips - Student and Krugly; lettuce - Moscow Greenhouse.
Often such varieties have the word "podzimnyaya" in their names (for example, beets Podzimnyaya A-17, Podzimnyaya A-474, Podzimnyaya Incomparable, etc.). Alternatively, you can choose varieties with an early ripening period.
How should you sow?
For podzimnogo sowing select large full-weight seeds with a germination rate of 70-80%. In this case, you cannot use soaked, swollen, and even more so germinated seeds.
Podzimny sowing of carrots can be carried out "on paper", gluing carrot seeds with starch paste to narrow strips of paper (preferably toilet paper) at the rate of up to 100 seeds per 1 m strip. With this method, the seeds are, as it were, "laid out" in advance in the garden.
But at the same time, it is advisable to check the seeds for germination before sowing, and at the same time to disinfect. To do this, immerse them in a solution of potassium permanganate for 20-25 minutes. Remove floating seeds, because they will not come up. And dry the sunken seeds well in the sun and sow.
Seeds are sown in the grooves only dry (this is the main condition for winter sowing), then the grooves are covered with sand or peat and leveled with humus. In autumn, the seeds only swell, but do not germinate and do not even hatch. But in the spring they immediately start growing.
Read also Podzimny sowing and planting of vegetable crops.
"Ural gardener", No. 40, 2017
