Winter Sowing Of Beets

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Video: Winter Sowing Of Beets

Video: Winter Sowing Of Beets
Video: Beetroot: succeed with early sowings & harvest, same method for autumn/winter roots 2024, May
Winter Sowing Of Beets
Winter Sowing Of Beets
Anonim
Winter sowing of beets
Winter sowing of beets

Podwinter sowing of beets is an excellent solution for regions with short summers, because with a standard planting, bright root crops do not always have time to fully ripen. The soil in such areas warms up quite late, and sometimes you have to plant beets in the warmed-up soil even in June. Accordingly, before the autumn cold comes, the beets do not always have time to grow to their usual size, and it is not possible to speed up this process. An excellent way out in this situation will be just podwinter sowing

Pros of winter sowing of beets

There are quite a few advantages of this agrotechnical technique. When sowing in winter, beetroot shoots appear early enough, which in turn makes it possible to harvest the long-awaited harvest early. Before last year's stocks of juicy root crops run out, new ones can already be made.

Another undoubted advantage is that beets sown before winter develop well regardless of weather conditions. Often, due to cold weather, it is necessary to postpone spring sowing, and in the meantime, subwinter seedlings calmly continue their further growth and development.

It is no secret that the germination period of the planted beets is rather extended in time, and during the wintering period, dense seed coats swell much faster, respectively, seed germination will be much better. In addition, the winter months provide them with excellent natural hardening, which favorably affects their viability - the seeds become much more resistant to unexpected spring frosts, as well as to a lack of watering and various diseases.

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In addition, podzimny sowing allows you to relieve the spring period, which in turn makes it possible to devote more time to other, no less important garden work.

Where to start

The first step is to choose beet varieties suitable for winter sowing. If you do not get puzzled by this issue in time, beet crops can die under the influence of low autumn temperatures, or, in the event of germination, give a large number of flower arrows instead of the long-awaited root crops. Mid-season varieties such as Podzimnyaya-474 or Cold-resistant-19 are ideal for this. Both varieties are characterized by increased frost resistance and are originally intended for late autumn plantings. Moreover, they are not at all prone to shooting.

It is important to choose the places for the beds correctly - as a rule, intensely colored and high-quality root crops grow in well-lit areas with a sufficiently deep groundwater. If the groundwater is close, then beds with a height of at least twenty-five centimeters should be formed. As for the soil, in no case should it be excessively acidic or clayey. In principle, excessive acidity can be easily dealt with by liming the soil during digging. Lime and chalk work well, as well as dolomite flour or wood ash.

It will be just great if onions and peppers and potatoes are among the predecessors of beets. Can be predecessors and cucumbers with tomatoes. But after cabbage with carrots, you should not plant beets. And it is also not recommended to constantly cultivate it in the same area. If this recommendation is disregarded, the soil will be noticeably depleted, and various pests and numerous pathogens will begin to accumulate in it.

Presowing soil preparation

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After the site for podzimnogo sowing of juicy root crops is selected, it is necessary to remove all the roots of perennial weeds from the ground so that they do not interfere with the full growth of beet seedlings in the spring. Then the soil is dug about twenty-five centimeters in depth, introducing well-sifted ash with humus for digging along with phosphorus-potassium fertilizers.

Next, the beds are formed, leveling their surfaces with a rake. And finally, with a twenty centimeter interval, grooves are cut with a depth of three centimeters each. It is not necessary to cut them to the very edges of the beds, so that the resulting rows do not erode the melt water.

You should also prepare a nutritious and loose enough soil for the subsequent filling of seeds. It may well consist of well-rotted compost and sand with garden soil taken in equal proportions.

Planting beets

You can start planting beets before winter in early November. It is best to proceed from the temperature - as soon as the air temperature drops to zero degrees, and the soil temperature reaches a negative value of minus four degrees, you can immediately start sowing. If you hurry, the seeds can easily germinate in the event of autumn warming, which will be extremely undesirable - all the seedlings will die immediately after the frost is established. By the way, some summer residents are guided by a folk omen and start sowing beets in winter after the leaves fall off the cherry.

The most important thing is to plant dry seeds in dry soil. If the ground is already slightly powdered with snow, it is swept away with a broom. All seeds are laid out along the grooves, keeping a distance of ten centimeters between them. After that, the grooves are sprinkled with a prepared soil mixture and mulched with a three-centimeter layer of peat.

In order to protect against severe winter frosts, the beds can be covered with material such as sawdust, needles or fallen leaves, and a little sprinkled with snow on top of it.

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