The bows of the Anzur group are known to both gardeners and people far from gardening. Perhaps the word anzur itself is not known to you, but their wide, I would even say, widespread introduction of them into ornamental gardening as a late spring flower, already from a distance looking like an exquisite design, a ball strung on top of a tall, cylindrical peduncle of soft purple shades ( depending on the variety and type, the shade can be different), which close up turns out to be a jewelry-and-magazine "construction" of small flowers on long stalks, made these bows very famous for ornamental plants.
Several closely related species of this group grow in Central Asia and adjacent regions. All species of this group of onions have long, belt-like leaves suitable for human consumption. After soaking according to a specific recipe, the onions are also edible.
Unfortunately, I do not own this recipe. Without soaking, Anzur bulbs have a very specific and unpleasant odor. Adding raw onions to any dish makes it guaranteed to be inedible.
The leaves have a slightly pungent, garlic flavor and a very soft texture. Several types of Anzur have very different leaf sizes. In my opinion, the largest species are most suitable for food purposes, such as giant onions, Suvorov and Aflutan onions.
Pronounced ephemeroids - anzur have a very short growing season. They can be grown both as a perennial crop and with the digging of bulbs after the end of the growing season.
Having bought an abandoned garden in Kaluga, I found dense clumps of this onion on its territory, the garden was abandoned for about 15 years. It is difficult to say how much these clumps have grown since the time of planting, but the fact of a very long-term, moreover, completely maintenance-free growth of anzur in the conditions of the Middle Belt is obvious.
They are not afraid of weeds, in view of the fact that the growing season begins literally under the snow, their growth at the first warmth resembles an "explosion". As I wrote above, it is possible to grow anzur in greenery and in the garden.
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The planting site should be well lit, the anzur can also tolerate partial shade, but the yield of greenery is falling. In the case of planting anzura in a garden bed, I plant it to a depth of about 1.5 times the size of the planted bulb. It should be noted here that these bulbs reach 7, possibly a little more, centimeters in diameter. The distance in the planted line is about 15 cm (less between the small bulbs), between the lines - 15-20 cm. Such a tight enough planting still allows you to make several loosening until the leaves of the planted onions do not close.
Harvesting of leaves for greenery begins early, often the first greens of anzur (meaning greens suitable for harvesting) appear by the first days of May (this is in the north of the Moscow region). I harvest the anzur leaves gradually, in the first harvest I cut off one leaf from the bulb, when the leaves of the plants have not yet begun to fall down under their own weight. If the plants do not grow in a flower bed, then I break out the flower arrows as early as possible. For plants with a flower arrow left, it is better not to cut more than 2 leaves. From plants with the arrow removed, 4-5 leaves can be harvested in 5 weeks of harvest.
The leaves of the anzur are large, the planting of the bulbs is dense, therefore the plants only need to loosen the soil, moreover, large leaves shade the soil, preventing weeds from developing. 40-60 bulbs in the garden will provide a family of 3-4 people with early green onions. The area of the garden for such a number of bulbs is no more than 2 square meters.
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The end of the growing season of these onions falls on the beginning of July, that is, the garden bed occupied by them is freed up for planting the next garden crop very early. By the end of the growing season, this culture does not look neat. The leaves and stem are partly affected by diseases, partly they simply wither.The plant, which had a very healthy appearance since spring, before mid-summer, turns into a bunch of sluggish leaves. Therefore, these obvious ephemeroids are planted on flower beds in the company of plants that develop a green mass by the beginning of July.
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As I wrote above, these species can grow for a long time without digging the bulbs, but, of course, it is much more convenient to take care of them, like a crop for greenery, when planting bulbs in the garden.
I propagate this onion so far only by dividing the bulbs, the seeds from my Anzur, I could not germinate. Anzur bulbs are divided, like garlic, into 2 large cloves every 2 years. Therefore, Anzur reproduces very slowly.
Let me remind you once again the distinctive features of species of a numerous genus Allium, Anzur groups: a white onion of a more or less classical "onion" shape, a small number of dry integumentary scales, the bulbs have a typical garlic structure, that is, they consist of either one huge clove, or two, very rarely three, the bulbs have a peculiar, very unpleasant smell. Inflorescences on high peduncles (up to 1.5 m), purple shades. Stem approximately 0.5 m high with approximately 7 belt-like leaves.
Photo by the author
