Rukola - growing

Thanks to the spread of Italian cuisine, our cooking included a rucola. Rukola, or as it is also called, eruka, a rocket, is an extremely useful plant for the human body of the cabbage family. The leaves of the vegetable contain a record amount of vitamin C, iodine, macro and microelements. Rukola is useful to people who adhere to dietary nutrition. There are several varieties of culture, the most popular of which is "Poker".

The rosula grows rosette, the bush reaches a height of 60 cm. The plant has feathery leaves, blooms with white or yellowish flowers. Seeds are located in elongated pods in an amount up to 30 grains. Seeds of arugula are used for making mustard. The greens have a pleasant aroma and a refreshing taste.

When growing arugula must take into account that the plant is cold-hardy and hygrophilous. In addition, it is precocious - to obtain a vegetable product, the arugula is sown with an interval of 3 weeks. The first crops can be done already in late April - early May, as the plant can withstand temperatures of -7 degrees, and then, throughout the summer period, grow young leaves. Planting and caring for the handle are simple - about the same they grow a salad.

How to plant a handshake?

Roukola grows well in neutral and slightly alkaline soils. If the land is weakly acidic in the garden, then the area under the arm should be limed by adding slaked lime. Sowing arrows can be produced directly in the open ground, but to get a better harvest, and that it is more abundant, it is preferable to grow seedlings.

How to grow arugula?

To grow seedlings, rucola in the cups with garden soil sow 3 to 4 seeds, slightly sprinkling the earth. Place the cups on a well-lit window sill, balcony or loggia. The first shoots are already observed on the fifth day. Sprouts in glasses do not need a pick, they can be transplanted together with containers in the open ground. If the germination capacity of the seeds is good, then the glass is divided into two halves, and the plant is planted without disturbing the earth coma. Plant the seedlings in a well-sunlit place, observing the distance between the rows of 30-35 cm and in the row between the bushes 8-10 cm, so as not to thicken the crops.

Although, as already noted, the handle is resistant to cold, it is better to hedge and prepare a kind of mini-greenhouses from half-cut plastic bottles. With the expected frost, the seedlings take shelter at night. Care of the crop includes watering, weeding and loosening. In the heat, watering should be frequent and abundant, otherwise the leaves will have a bitter taste and will be excessively coarse. During the entire growth of the plant, rucola does not require fertilizing with fertilizers.

Ogorodniki, who do not have any experience, are interested in how to collect a rucola? The plant is harvested as the young leaves grow. The weight of one rosette socket varies from 20 to 60 g. Torn greens can be stored in a package in the refrigerator on the bottom shelf for about a week.

Pests and diseases of arrows

Wreckers bypass the handle with the side, because the plant, thanks high content of essential oils, insects for food is not suitable. The culture can be affected by fungal diseases, most often the keel that damages the roots of cruciferous. Sick plants wither, they look oppressed. If you look at the roots of arrows, you can see small bulges of brownish color on them. In the case of the spread of the fungus, the infected handle is eliminated and treated with chemical antifungal agents or hydrated lime. The soil is digested, so that the fungus spores that have fallen into the soil have been destroyed.

Lovers of arrows can grow a lowly plant on a window sill in spacious low pots all year round.