Radish - juicy, fragrant, slightly spicy root vegetable. With a meager caloric content of 19 kcal / 100g contains a lot of nutrients: vitamins, minerals, trace elements, fiber, volatile, mustard oil, essential oils. Radish improves intestinal peristalsis, reduces the level of harmful cholesterol, activates metabolism, increases the elasticity of blood vessel walls, and its cultivation is possible even on a windowsill.
Radish, cut for salad, acting with oxygen, is oxidized and loses vitamins, so it is better to eat whole root vegetable. Is it possible to grow tasty and healthy radishes at home or in an apartment almost all year round?
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Radish on the windowsill: is it possible to grow
This root vegetable very easy to plant and grow at home on the windowsill or on the balcony during the autumn-winter season. It should only follow a few simple rules, and in two or three weeks after planting seeds, you can replenish your diet with juicy, crispy radish.
Identify a place for home "beds." Make a reservation in advance, it should be sufficiently lighted and warm up to seedling. When the seedlings begin to grow, the temperature needs to be changed, transfer the radish to a cooler place.
The best varieties of radishes for growing at home
Seed preparation is perhaps the most important step. For growing on the windowsill, early early ripening varieties of radish, not too demanding to the growing conditions, are best suited:
- grade "16 days" - the name speaks for itself, ripening occurs in 16 days, bright red fruits with delicate juicy flesh, resistant to cracking and marksmanship;
- "Heat" - ripening period of 18-20 days, smooth, round root crop of red and crimson color, with white and pink dense, juicy pulp;
- "Presto" - ripens in 16 days, very juicy, does not crack, does not expel the shooter;
- "French breakfast" - the time of ripening is 21-23 days, the fruits are red-crimson with a white tip, the cylindrical roots are 6-8cm long (it is important to take into account the size of the radish for the selection of containers), excellent taste;
- "Champion" - ripening period of 18-25 days after emergence, the root crop is large, slightly oval, resistant to marksman and the main diseases of radish.
Well-proven radish varieties also Carmen, Celeste, Sachs, Ruby. You can simultaneously grow 2-3 varieties with different ripening periods, for a long time providing a table with fresh, useful fruit.
Preparing for landing
Preparation for planting does not take much time, but it involves several steps. About something you need to take care in advance, other preparations are carried out immediately before landing.
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- Radish can be grown in pre-prepared wooden boxes with pallets. Their width should correspond to the width of the window sill, height - about 15 cm. Cover the ground by no more than 2/3, leave a few centimeters for possible filling later.
- Plastic containers with drainage holes and a cell size of at least 5x5 cm.
- Plastic cups also suitable as a container, if they independently do drainage holes and install on pallets.
The soil
The simplest thing is to buy ready-made mix in the store, but you can also make a good fertile mix of several components:
- soil from a dacha or a garden plot, 2-3 year humus (radishes do not like fresh humus), sand - all in equal quantities;
- ground (one bucket), a glass of ash, ½ crushed egg shell;
- 50% land, 50% peat.
Containers and cups need to be filled with earth, leaving free 1-2 cm from the edge of the container.
To increase the yield, more rapid growth of shoots in the substrates can be applied a little mineral fertilizer.The package usually indicates the composition and amount that must be added to the soil for a certain type of vegetables and root crops.
Seeds
Having decided on the choice of variety, you need to prepare the seeds. Pour them on a platter or tray and inspect. All grains should be approximately same size, brown, odorless mildew. Too small seeds, irregularly shaped, gray discarded.
Sowing radish
When everything is prepared for planting, the ground should be slightly moistened with water, a dive stick make indentations - one in each cell or cup, and in a box at a distance of 5x5 or 6x6 cm from each other, 1.5-2 cm deep.
In each of them make one seed (it is convenient to do with tweezers). Fill the grooves with the substrate, moisten it again with water (it is best to spray it with a spray bottle) so that the soil is slightly compacted.
Then the container is covered with glass or food film (polyethylene), and put in a warm place with a temperature 18-20 degrees before germination.
When shoots appear (approximately, 6-8 days, depending on the variety), the film is removed and the seedlings are transferred for 3-4 days to a cool place with t about 8 degrees for quenching. Then again return a more comfortable place.
Care for the "bed on the windowsill"
If possible, it is better to keep the plants on the balcony so that the temperature did not exceed 15 degrees or in a well-lit room, but away from batteries. If there is too much heat, the plant will form incorrectly - luxurious greens without root crops.
Illumination should be sufficient, it is necessary to increase daylight using a lamp. With a long light day radish will be juicy, with dense pulp.
The plant loves moisture, so you can not dry out the soil. But not recommended and too moisturize, it is better to water often, but little by little.
Do not need to feedif the composition of the soil is well matched. The radish develops and ripens very quickly, managing to take all the necessary substances from the soil.
No more than 20 days, without much hassle on the balcony or windowsill, an ecologically clean crop of tasty radishes rich in vitamins and minerals will grow. You will please your family and surprise your friends with a fresh root vegetable on your table.