2024 Author: Gavin MacAdam | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:38
New Zealand spinach (lat. Tetragonia tetragonoides) - a species of xerophytic plants of the Tetragonia genus of the Aizovy family. The native land of the plant is New Zealand. New Zealand spinach is cultivated in huge quantities in the countries of southern and central Europe, as well as the United States. In Russia, the culture has not received wide distribution; it is cultivated on personal household plots as a leaf vegetable. Unlike regular spinach, New Zealand spinach is grown primarily in seedlings, which causes a lot of inconvenience for gardeners.
Characteristics of culture
New Zealand spinach is an annual heat-loving and moisture-loving plant with creeping highly branched stems from 35 to 110 cm long. The root system of plants is highly branched, located in the upper fertile soil layer. Leaves are dense, fleshy, dark green, toothed, short-petiolate, triangular in shape, arranged spirally. The flowers are small, inconspicuous, solitary, yellowish-green or pale yellow, sitting in the axils of the leaves.
New Zealand spinach blooms for a long time, often before the onset of stable frosts. The fruit is a shell-like capsule with thorns and contains 3-8 seeds. New Zealand spinach is characterized by a short period from the emergence of leafy shoots ready for cutting, it is only 55-60 days, and from the moment the seedlings are planted in open ground - 25-30 days. During the summer, New Zealand spinach builds up an abundant green mass, which forms from June-July to late autumn.
Growing conditions
For successful cultivation, it is desirable to allocate sunny areas with light, fertile, moist soils with a pH of at least 6, 5 for cultivation. Medium loamy soils are optimal. Heavy clay, cold and poor soils are not suitable for New Zealand spinach. The best precursors are cucumbers, all types of cabbage, potatoes and legumes.
Soil preparation
The preparation of the site for New Zealand spinach begins in the fall. The soil is dug to a depth of 20-25 cm, 3-4 kg of compost or humus are added per square meter and 60 g of nitroammofoska or azophoska. Fresh manure cannot be used. On heavy clay soils, stale sawdust and coarse river sand are additionally introduced. In the spring, the ridges are loosened and fed with ammonium nitrate or urea.
Sowing
New Zealand spinach is grown in seedlings, less often by sowing in open ground. The seeds of the culture germinate with difficulty and slowly, seedlings appear only after 18-20 days. Before sowing, the seeds are soaked in warm water for 2 days, the water is changed at least 1 time in 8 hours. This procedure will speed up the emergence of seedlings. Seeds are sown in mid-April in pots measuring 8 * 8 cm. 3-4 seeds are sown in one pot. With the emergence of seedlings, thinning is carried out, leaving one of the strongest specimens.
Some gardeners embed the whole seed box in the soil, since it is very difficult to divide it. In this case, decimation is also necessary. In open ground, seedlings are planted in late May or early June. In the southern regions, disembarkation can be made in early May. Before planting, the seedlings are hardened. The distance between plants should be about 35-40 cm, between rows - 50-60. Do not plant too often, as spinach stalks spread over the surface of the soil and take up a lot of space.
Care
New Zealand spinach develops slowly in the first few weeks, so regular weeding and loosening is vital or the weeds can overwhelm the crop. To save space in the garden, watercress, lettuce and other herbs are sown to spinach. Watering is carried out systematic and abundant, preventing waterlogging and drying out of the soil in the near-stem zone.
Top dressing for the culture is important, at least 2-3 top dressing is carried out per season: the first one - 3-4 days after planting the seedlings in the ground (with a solution of urea 10 g per 10 L of water), the second and third every three weeks (with a solution of a mullein or urea 1: 5). It is not recommended to abuse mineral fertilizers, since plants intensively accumulate nitrates, which are unsafe for the human body. The first cut of New Zealand spinach is carried out 2-3 weeks after the seedlings are planted in the ground. Cut off the lower leaves and shoots 12-13 cm long.
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