Mushroom grass can, in fact, become an alternative for those who cannot eat mushrooms - one because of the fear of poisoning, yes, this is also a kind of phobia, and to the other, because an allergy, and the body does not tolerate mushrooms, considering them alien. dangerous material that sometimes even causes suffocation Some absolutely do not care, while others suffer. Imagine: we have thoughts about a beautiful house, a high salary, a foreign car, and someone just wants to eat a mushroom ?!
So, probably, for such people, God created mushroom grass. This plant, of course, is far from the mushroom, but it is quite possible to feel some of its taste and aroma when consuming mushroom grass, especially since it is easy for everyone to grow it even on an ordinary windowsill.
Do not think that mushroom grass is a completely useless vegetable, this is not at all the case. This is, one might say, a real nutritious product in which, in terms of dry weight, there are more than 10% proteins, the cells contain useful chlorophyll, which very effectively cleans our blood from a variety of toxins, so mushroom grass is also a help in case of poisoning, though somewhere at the level of activated carbon, no more.
The mushroom herb was brought to Russia from Europe, but it got there almost by accident in one of the bales with foodstuffs from Papua New Guinea that had been lying on the ground for a long time, they call it spinach for some reason. Mushroom grass also has other names, depending on where it is grown - shombai, moku, tani, kenkaba and known to many of us from films where people survived on the islands - Rungia Klossa(Rungia klossii)... However, this is the most correct botanical name for this plant.
In natural nature, mushroom grass occupies vast areas and stretches out on a nutritious soil and with enough moisture for half a meter, and sometimes even higher. In order for the mushroom grass to try to reach for the sun in culture, it must be pinched periodically, then it will form a bush with dark green leaves, and cover them with a glossy shine. And this is an indicator that the leaves contain a lot of useful things for our body - iron, vitamin C and beta-carotene.
Growing mushroom grass
Sowing seeds... If you want to be all year round with a harvest of mushroom grass at your side, then plant the plant as early as possible in spring, in pots with holes in the bottoms for drainage and a small layer of expanded clay for the same purpose at the base. Then it remains to fill them with just garden soil, mixing it in advance with equal shares of river sand and making grooves so that the seeds sink into them in the end by a centimeter, well, maximum, one and a half.
If you want to get a very early harvest, you can grow mushroom grass seedlings by first sowing seeds in seedling boxes. However, there is a third, for me the most interesting way - to vegetatively propagate Rungia.
Cuttings... To do this, literally a couple of shoots 16-17 cm long must be cut off from an adult plant, all green leaves must be removed on them, except for a couple on the top of the head, and planted exclusively vertically in loose, well-moistened and necessarily fertile soil. Usually, one cuttings are planted in a 0.5 liter glass. Next, you will need to place the pots with the planted cuttings on the southern windowsill, in a room with a temperature of about 23 degrees Celsius and monitor the soil moisture, periodically moistening it and not allowing it to become overmoistened or dry out.
It is also necessary to exclude drafts and lowering the temperature below + 10оС. In winter, the soil can be watered only once a month, but at the same time try to soak the entire earthen lump to the end.
Top dressing... As for dressings, usually in early spring (April), you can dilute a tablespoon of nitroammophoska in a bucket of water and spice it on the plants, pouring a tablespoon of solution per square meter. Three or four such waterings can be carried out per season - no more.
If the mushroom grass grows poorly, then in July you can dissolve 5 g of superphosphate and the same amount of potassium sulfate and add half a teaspoon under each plant.
Collecting greens... For any type of reproduction, the crop is harvested as soon as the leaves begin to grow. They can be cut or plucked, but no more than a third of them can be removed at a time.
