Useful information

Vegetable flowers - squash

Rarely in what garden do you find squash now. Everyone was carried away by zucchini and pumpkins, because it is known how useful and fruitful they are. And their closest relative, squash, is undeservedly forgotten.

Young (certainly young!) Squash fruits have a high nutritional value. They taste like artichoke and asparagus. For us, this is something unknown, and French gourmets even call the squash the Jerusalem artichoke. But in canned form, squash is clearly appreciated in our country, because from the jars where they float in a fragrant marinade along with cucumbers, they are caught first. Their flesh is firm, crispy and at the same time tender. Fruits contain a lot of sugars, vitamins, pectin.

Patissons contain a large percentage of dry matter, so they make very tasty pancakes. They can also be fried, stewed, boiled. And stuffed squash will decorate any festive table. The only drawback of this culture is the intricate shape of the fruit, which makes them difficult to peel. So, you need to use them in a young form along with the peel.

Squash fruits are very useful for obesity, anemia, kidney disease. They have choleretic properties, and are also recommended for patients with cardiovascular diseases, because they contain a lot of potassium salts.

Patissons are very beautiful. Snow-white, creamy, light green, bright orange and even lilac fruit plates with scalloped edges often decorate vegetable growers' exhibitions. Abroad there are also varieties with dark green fruits, and even speckled.

Agrotechnics

The planting site is chosen warm and sunny, protected from northern winds, because the squash is more thermophilic than the vegetable marrow. Its roots are especially fond of warmth. You can sow on beds with a distance between the bushes of at least 80 - 100 cm, because the patisson bushes are very large. Since it is often enough to have two or three bushes on the farm, you can plant them one at a time at the ends of the ridges with other vegetables. Squash bushes are able to beautifully complete a garden bed with carrots or beets. Why not plant a bush in the most unexpected place to decorate your garden? It turns out very effectively. And I successfully grow squash in a leaky barrel and get very large yields.

The soil should be fertile, well filled with organic matter. Patisson, like other pumpkin crops, does not tolerate acidic soils. The optimum acidity is 6.5-7.5. Grows well after carrots, tomatoes, beets, green crops. The depth of the fertile layer is on the bayonet of the shovel.

Sowing

You can sow with dry seeds under a film at the end of May, when the soil warms up, or at the beginning of June. Seeding depth - 5cm. Seedlings must be protected from night frosts. In the afternoon, in warm weather, it is better to remove the film from seedlings. Then they will grow stronger.

If you want to get an earlier and plentiful harvest, it is better to pre-grow the seedlings. The age of the seedlings is 25-30 days, which means that it is necessary to sow around April 20-25. Since the squash suffers from transplants, each plant must be grown in its own container - a peat pot or a paper cup. In case of an emergency, you should make a backup sowing - 1-2 seeds.

The seeds are placed flat to a depth of 2-3 cm, covered with foil and placed in a warm place. When the shoots loops appear from the ground (after about 5-7 days), the pots will need to be moved to a bright place, and at night they should be kept in a cool room - 15-18 degrees so that the seedlings do not stretch out. When the cotyledons unfold, the film will need to be removed.

In early June, the seedlings are planted in the ground along with the pots. You can grow seedlings in plastic cups, then when planting in the ground, you need to try not to disturb the earthen lump with roots.

They are planted about 1 cm deeper than it was in the pot.Before planting in the ground, the seedlings must be hardened for at least a week, otherwise it will cause an ultraviolet burn of the leaves, as well as shock from the wind and night cold: the leaves can shrink, growth will stop, and the entire effect of early sowing on seedlings will be lost. After planting in the ground, the plants must be watered with warm water and shaded with a newspaper until they take root.

Care

Patissons need to be weeded regularly; the soil should not be loosened deeply. Starting from the phase of three to four leaves, the plants are gradually spud to form additional roots. Water the squash if necessary, not often, but abundantly, not with cold water. They are fed with slurry, herbal infusions, mineral fertilizers. Mineral and organic dressings alternate. The first feeding is done when the plant, after planting in the ground, will grow, then every 7-10 days.

With a strong thickening of the bush, 2-3 leaves are cut out of it (one leaf per week) to enhance airing. Over time, the lower aging layer of leaves is also cut out. In a cold, damp summer, it is useful to cover the roots with a film - for warmth.

Squash are cross-pollinated plants, so it is required that other pumpkin crops grow nearby. Sometimes you have to help them in pollination, working as a "bee".

Harvesting

Patisson is a plant of continuous fruiting. As soon as one fruit is cut, the next one will immediately begin to grow on the bush. While the fruit is growing, it delays the formation of new ovaries and their growth, so it is not necessary to grow the fruit to a very large size. In addition, large fruits have a rough skin. They are grown only for exhibitions and for winter storage.

Ripe fruits can be stored indoors for several months. For food, you need to remove young ovaries with a diameter of no more than 10-12 cm. At this time, they are tender and good for any dishes. For canning, you need to collect fruits with a diameter of 4-5 cm. Fruits of a larger diameter will have to be cut into shares.

Squash varieties

The most famous old varieties are mid-season White 13, Orange, Sun - beautiful, moderately fruitful.

However, more interesting are the new varieties and hybrids that give significantly higher yields. Variety Disk - early maturing, forms disc-shaped smooth fruits of white color, which are stored for a long time. Very productive. The pulp is white, not very juicy.

Patisson Disc

Variety Umbrella - has been known for a long time. The fruit is cupped, the upper part is in the form of a cone. The pulp is white, firm.

Variety Cheburashka - early ripe, powerful bush, white plate-shaped fruit, white pulp, tender, juicy. The variety is fruitful, cold-resistant.

New product: variety Gosh - a powerful plant with fruits of lilac color, exotic for squash, and an early ripe variety Piglet - a bush plant with small leaves. Fruits are white, weighing up to 200-300 g. The flesh of both varieties is white, juicy, dense.

Of particular note is the new mid-early hybrid of mini-squash Solar Blast F1 for whole-fruit canning. The period from sowing to the beginning of fruiting is 45-50 days. Fruits are bright yellow, weighing 70-100 g. The pulp is creamy, dense, with a small amount of seeds. Fruits outgrow very slowly. The plant is bushy, compact.

"Garden affairs" No. 7 (23)

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