Arugula: planting and care in the open field
Content:
Now in the store, on the market, you can find spices and herbs for every request and taste. If you have a plot, you can grow greens yourself, such as arugula, for example. For many, such an activity will bring not only benefits, but also pleasure. In this article, you will learn how to grow arugula at a low cost in your area. Read further in our article: Arugula planting and care in the open field.
Arugula - planting and care in the open field
This culture, like many others, has a different look and taste. Even if you sow seeds from one package, you may end up with something completely different from what you see on the package. There is a simple explanation for this: there are two crops of the cabbage species and 1 of them is Indau sowing, Eruka sowing. This culture grows for one year, the height reaches twenty to sixty centimeters. The highly branched shoots of arugula may be covered with dandelion-like leaves. The flowers have a yellowish tinge, with time they fade from yellow, leaving streaks of purple.
Two-rowed thin-leaved is the second culture. It is also often called wild arugula. Leaves oblong, not wide, pinnately dissected. Buttercup-colored inflorescences. The taste of this plant is sharper than that of the first species, and even after cutting it can grow back, thereby giving a second crop. If you leave it in the winter, then in the spring this species will grow back.
Arugula - outdoor cultivation
You can plant arugula, at your discretion, both with seedlings and seeds. The period of planting arugula in open ground is from the end of the second month of spring to the middle of the last month of summer.
Arugula tolerates small negative temperatures: up to minus seven below zero, but mostly it must be cultivated in a warm place. If you want to harvest arugula all summer, you need to plant it all season with a frequency of 14 days. Remember that the most nutritious and delicious arugula is the one that is at least twenty five to fifty days from the moment of germination.
To grow seedlings of this culture, you need to sow seeds in late March - early April. The place where this crop will be grown should be chosen where there will be moderate lighting. The soil on it should be alkaline, slightly acidic or neutral. It should be remembered that the leaves will be bitter and tough if they grow in the sun, and if in the shade, they will lose color and smell.
Arugula seeds
Their seeds are different in appearance: the two-row seed has 1.1-1.3 mm seeds, and the Indau sowing seeds are 2-3 mm long.
Predecessors
It is known that crops can be planted together or one after the other, which will favorably influence the cultivation. Supportive plants that should be planted near arugula are carrots, potatoes, tomatoes, beans. And vice versa, when planting arugula, where radish, cabbage, radish, rutabagas, horseradish and other cabbage used to grow, then you should not expect a good harvest. It is recommended to wait about three years.
How to prepare a site
For arugula, the soil should be loose and level. In an area with acidic soil, add crushed chalk or dolomite or lime flour. Concentrate with respect to acidity and approximately twenty five to sixty kilograms per 100 sq. M.
How to plant arugula seeds outdoors
Planting arugula in open ground with seeds is carried out as follows. When the site is prepared for sowing, we make grooves in the form of tracks, down one to one and a half centimeters in increments of 30 centimeters. These grooves must be watered and sown in 5 cm increments.Landings must be covered with earth and stretched over the film. The covering material should be removed during the day when temperatures can drop. As soon as seven days have passed since planting the seeds, the first shoots appear. To increase the germination of the seeds of this culture, you can soak the seeds in potassium permanganate before planting.
Important information. When buying seeds, always read the information, because the picture may not match the type of seed variety inside. Large leaves - indau, two-rowed with small shoots.
The most common types of Indau are: "Corsica", "Poker", "Sicily", "Rococo". "Solitaire", "Rocket", "Taganskaya Semko", "Euphoria" - the name of the two-row varieties.
Arugula salad planting and care
If the soil was properly prepared and the planting technology was followed, then the necessary care is cultivation, irrigation, getting rid of weeds.
It should be remembered that the optimum germination temperature is five to twelve degrees above zero, for plant development - eighteen to twenty four degrees above zero.
Watering the arugula correctly
Watering arugula is imperative. With insufficient moisture, the leaves of the culture will be rough and bitter.
Watering should be done once in the morning or in the evening, sprinkling water.
How to weed and loosen properly
When the seedlings have 2 leaves, and the rows are dense, the rows must be unloaded. Moisture and air pass better into the soil when it is constantly loosened, the best time to do this is after watering.
When weeds appear, they should be weeded out. When the seeds sprout, sometimes mulching is carried out, covered with hay or grass, then loosening and watering are reduced.
Top dressing
There are several versions on this score. Some believe that arugula from fertilizers can accumulate harmful substances, others feed with chicken dung. Definitely, it is useful to add not fresh peat or humus. Although the culture is already quite fruitful.
What can hurt and what pests are
Peronosporosis or powdery mildew in another way. Mainly spreads to the top of the shoots, to fresh leaves. Infected leaves curl up and may appear corrugated. Another common and dangerous fungal disease is fusarium. It manifests itself at any stage of the growing season, starting with seedlings. The leaves begin to turn yellow and lose density. How to deal with this? Observe crop rotation and weed.
Holes on the leaves are left by the cabbage moth, cruciferous flea. How to prevent? Cultivation, cover the sprouts with a dense material not made of tissue. Most of all, fleas attack in heat and drought, so you should increase the humidity, water and irrigate more often. Pests are afraid of plants with a strong odor and where there are essential oils in the leaves. If they are planted next to arugula, they will scare away pests. If the site is treated with ash and fluff.
Collecting arugula
Cut greens with a leaf size of 10 centimeters. The culture ripens in about 25 calendar days. In order not to lose in taste, it should be cut off before flowering. You can cut off a few leaves or all of them.
Arugula withers quickly, so use it immediately after cutting. Can be stored in a cool place for several days.
With this knowledge from our article, you can consume fresh arugula all summer and cook with it all the most beloved and incredible dishes.
