Chervil

2024 Author: Gavin MacAdam | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:38

Chervil (lat. Anthriscus) - an annual plant of the Celery family, or Umbrella. A plant widely used in cooking and folk medicine. Under natural conditions, chervil grows among shrubs, in light forests, in low and hilly places, as well as on open sunny grassy slopes in southern Europe and the European part of Russia. Cultivated mostly in Western Europe and America.

Characteristics of culture

Chervil is a plant 15-50 cm high, with a fusiform stem and a straight, branched, short-pubescent and swollen stem at the nodes, ending in an umbrella. The leaves are green, triangular, three times pinnately dissected. The flowers are medium-sized, fragrant, white in color. Fruits are smooth, glabrous, linear-oblong, equipped with a short spout, reach 7-10 cm in length. Seeds are small, long, black.

Chervil blooms from June to August. Bee flowers are pollinated. The fruits of the culture ripen in August-September. all parts of chervil contain essential oil. The plant is rich in mineral salts, vitamins and other useful substances. Currently, five varieties are included in the State Register - Openwork, Izmailovsky Semko, Aromatic, Caprice and Curly. Almost all varieties are characterized by increased cold resistance and shade tolerance.

Growing conditions

Chervil is not picky about soil conditions, although on light, loose, moist soils with a rich mineral composition and a neutral pH reaction. Under such growing conditions, chervil leaves are tender and the yield becomes many times higher. Insufficiently moistened soils are not suitable for the culture, the leaves become coarse, and the shoots are formed prematurely. Chervil grows well both in open sunny areas and in partial shade.

Sowing

Chervil seeds are sown directly into open ground in early spring. Before sowing, seeds are germinated for 24 days. Sowing with not soaked seeds is not forbidden, but seedlings in this case do not appear so "together". The distance between the rows should be about 45-60 cm. When the plants reach a height of 5-6 cm, the seedlings are thinned out, leaving an interval of 15-20 cm between them. The planting depth is 1 cm. Since the chervil has a short growing season, it is often grown as compactor of other crops, usually vegetables or herbs. Seedlings appear in 2-3 weeks, when sown with germinated seeds - in 1-2 weeks.

Chervil is sown in the summer, but under the condition of a long day and high temperatures, the plants quickly throw out flowering stems, so it is better to plant a crop in shaded areas. Sowing at the end of July allows you to get a harvest of leaves in late autumn, especially since chervil is cold-resistant, and withstand small frosts without problems. You can cultivate a crop in greenhouses for an autumn harvest, but it is not recommended to do this in a greenhouse.

Care

Care consists of regular weeding, loosening, watering and feeding. Leaves are harvested 3-5 weeks after germination, but before flowering. Cutting is carried out at the surface of the soil, or rather, 2-3 cm above it. Often, plants are affected by diseases and pests, as a rule, this happens under the wrong conditions, including too thick crops. Chervil moth is especially dangerous for culture. To combat it, effective drugs have not yet been invented, and the only way to get rid of the pest is to dig up and burn plants by the roots.

Applicatio

As mentioned above, chervil has found its application in cooking and traditional medicine. Along with spring greens, the plant is rich in vitamins and other useful substances. The aerial part of the chervil is used as a sedative and tonic. The plant is also suitable for those who suffer from diseases of the gastrointestinal tract. Chervil is used in the treatment of jaundice, respiratory diseases, and also as a diuretic. In cooking, chervil is used mainly for making soups, sauces and as an additive to meat and fish dishes.