Pumpkin is without a doubt the largest vegetable in our beds. The plant is very thermophilic, so it is best to grow it in the southern regions. There are cases when in Central Asia the sizes of some specimens reached 200 or more kilograms.
Pumpkin is very useful, it has a lot of carotene, it helps with visual impairment, with diseases of the stomach and intestines. Pumpkin juice is treated with constipation , and seeds are excellent antihelminths. From this orange vegetable prepare a lot of delicious dishes.
Pumpkin cultivation and care
The plant can be planted with the onset of stable heat, when the average daily temperature is established at a mark not lower than + 10 ° C. If the ground is still not warmed up enough, the seeds will simply rot and not germinate.
When planting, 2 liters of warm water are poured into each well and seeds are laid as it is soaked. On top, they are sprinkled with a nutrient mixture and then mulched with humus or peat. If you are not too lazy and do everything according to the rules, the shoots will not take long to wait. The distance between the holes should not be less than half a meter, as the pumpkin grows very much and trails along the ground. Do not plant a pumpkin next to the upright plants, as the pumpkin will fly them. Try to choose open areas for it with direct sunlight and heat.
To accelerate the appearance of seedlings, the whole area of sowing can be covered with a film, installing a wire frame over the holes. Generally, it is possible to grow a pumpkin not only by seeds in the soil, but also by seedlings, previously grown in greenhouses or at home.
Required conditions for growing pumpkin:
- fertilization with manure, peat or humus during planting;
- sheltering crops with film to maintain the desired temperature regime;
- watering with warm water;
- limited watering during ripening;
- top dressing every 2 weeks;
- prevention of contact between the ripening vegetable and the ground (laying of non-rotting materials under the poke).
Pumpkin - a plant hygrophilous, it needs to feed its large shoots and leaves. Moreover, through a large area of leaves, moisture quickly evaporates and forms a greenhouse effect, which is necessary for the formation of female inflorescences. Accordingly, it is necessary to water abundantly during the period of flowering and laying of fruits.
Water for irrigation should not be icy, but at room temperature. It is inadmissible to water a pumpkin with artesian water or water from wells - such cold water can simply destroy the plant. Before watering you need to loosen the soil and remove the weeds.
Growing a pumpkin in a barrel
Very interesting farming techniques for growing pumpkins. She has a lot of pluses. You will need a few old and unnecessary barrels, best of all - holey and without a bottom. If there are no holes, you will have to punch them on the sides and in the bottom for drainage.
Set the barrels in a sunny place, paint them with dark paint to attract sunlight and secure the edges with an old rubber hose, cut in half. Next - zatarivayut barrels biomass: first slowly decaying organic (paper, small branches, weeds with roots), then - easily compostable (grass, tops, leaves). You can do this from the fall, and in the spring add semi-rotten compost, humus, fresh grass and turf. Well trampled all this, you can directly kicked.
At the end of April, we pour the barrel with water, a solution of the EM-preparation, and a month later, seedlings can be planted in the barrel in the barrel obtained. They can be covered with a film, it is very important to water a lot of seedlings.
In a barrel, due to the constant processes of decomposition of biomass, heat and many nutrients are provided. Pumpkin sprouts will begin to lengthen and hang on the sides. Usually, on each such overgrown shrub, 3 fetuses are left and the stem is pricked. To make the fruits grow large, you need to think up the supports for them. After harvesting, the contents of the barrel can be used for dressing beds and houseplants.