Growing and gathering of greenery

Planting of parsley root for winter growing of greenery

It is easy to get a harvest of of root parsley at home. Plant rhizomes in a deep pot and sprout, maintaining moderate moisture and temperature. When harvesting, you should cut only old leaves, so you will stimulate the growth of young leaves and harvest for a long time. In the early autumn, you can plant in a pot and healthy plants of ordinary leaf parsley, prepared in advance for use as a winter crop. However, in this case, success is not as secure as in the case of root parsley. In pots or crates, you can also sow dill or a fork as a winter crop and grow on a window sill. It is important that your plantings receive a sufficient amount of daylight and they do not damage the waterlogging of the soil.

To have fresh greenery throughout the winter, sow the white mustard and the gander, which are especially suitable for growing in indoor conditions. Mustard seeds, like the seeds of a goulash, rise quickly, and after 3 weeks the harvest can be harvested. Therefore, these crops should be sown with an interval of 2-3 weeks. The fastest growing is the

watercress. Flat trays, ground-filled with a layer of 1 cm, can be used for growing cress. You can also use blotting paper folded in several layers and paper towels or napkins and between their layers to sow the seeds of cress.

Seeds of watercress are sown fairly tightly, the soil is always kept moist.

After a few days, the first shoots appear, and after 1.5-2 weeks, after the plants grow to 5-6 cm, you can harvest. Leaves carefully cut with scissors. Since the plant develops very quickly, it has enough nutrients contained in the seed, and no additional fertilizing is required.

If every 2 weeks you plant a new portion of cress, it will never be transferred to you in the kitchen.

For children, the cultivation of a watercress with a rapid development cycle is very informative, they are doing it with enthusiasm and are looking forward to the harvest.

A good solution when growing herbs in the room is a combination of them with spicy aromatic indoor plants. Such plants can together create a green niche, decorating and animating the room.

Perennials are especially suitable as indoor plants, also used for flavoring tea, baking and other dishes, such as geranium, high in aromatic oils, laurel noble, rosemary, lavender, sage, lemon balm, thyme, oregano and tarragon.

Grass in pots can be placed on the window on the additional shelf where they will get enough light and fresh air

But, despite the clear advantage of perennials, do not give up the breeding of one- and two-year-old herbal crops in the room.

Collection of plants

Healers and healers, who know what healing power plants have, have always considered the collection of medicinal herbs as a sacred act and treated plants as part of the universe, inseparable from the whole and living according to general laws. Therefore, they believed that the location of celestial bodies, the phase of the moon, the time interval before or after the full moon have a direct effect on the healing power of plants.

In addition, each plant and even each part of it has a strictly defined, rather limited in time period, when the medicinal qualities, strength of the plant or some of its organs reach their highest development.

Plants and their parts must be harvested at the time when the concentration of biologically active substances in them is the highest. In some species of plants, these substances accumulate in the kidneys, leaves, stems, in others - flowers or fruits, in the third - in the roots: the fourth in the bark, and the number of them in the various elements of vegetation does not remain constant and fluctuates even during the day. If the collection is not timely, plants with the lowest content of active substances can be harvested and their value will be very small. Therefore, it is so important to choose the right optimal time for the collection of plants, whether medicinal herbs or greens from your garden. The time and place of accumulation in the plant of biologically active substances actually determine the period of its preparation.

The kidneys are harvested in the early spring, when they have already swollen, but have not yet moved into growth. Usually it is done in March-April.

The bark of trees and shrubs should be harvested in the spring during a period of increased littering, when it is easily separated from the wood.

leaves are collected during the budding period, when the green mass has reached full development, and the reserves saved by the plant for flowering and fruit formation have not yet been spent. This should be done in dry weather, tearing off the leaves with your hands. Do not take faded flabby or damaged leaves, they do not represent value.

Herbs are usually collected at the beginning of flowering plants, in some species with full flowering. They are cut at the level of the lower leaves, the thick non-leaf part of the stem is left.

Flowers and inflorescences must be collected at the beginning of flowering. During this period, immediately after the blossoming of the flower, they contain the greatest number of active substances, they are better able to withstand drying and retain their individual coloration.

The fruits and seeds of are richest in the period of maturity with medicinal substances, so they are harvested as they fully mature. To ripe fruit, for example seeds, do not fall off, you can collect them before full maturation, when they begin to burn, and leave to ripen in a dry indoor.

The most suitable time for collecting herbs and flowers is pre-established, as the plants have already dried out from the dew. The most suitable time for collecting seeds is early morning, as ripe seeds that are slightly damp from the dew fall off much less than in the dry state. Root collection is not associated with any time of day.

. The roots, rhizomes and bulbs of are usually collected in autumn during the dying off of the aboveground parts of the plant, when it passes into a period of rest, metabolic processes slow down and are suspended and all valuable substances concentrate in the underground part of the plant. They can be collected also in the early spring before the onset of the growth of the aerial organs, in the spring the harvesting period is limited to only a few days.

All above-ground parts of the plant are harvested only in dry weather. If it rained in the morning, then the blanks can be started only when the plants completely dry. The best time for collecting plants during the day is from 10 to 11 am and from 16 to 17 o'clock in the afternoon. During this period the plants in dry weather have already dried from the dew, but the internal tone of the vessels of the plant is high. Leaves, grass and plant flowers are collected mainly by hand, roots are digged with a shovel or forks. Cut plants when harvesting in such a way that there are still a sufficient number of healthy leaves and the plant was able to give new shoots in the future. Yellowed, decayed or dried plants are removed. The collected plants are immediately laid out in the sun and give the plants a quick podvyat and only after that begin the usual process of drying. This reduces the risk of crop damage. The rhizomes of medicinal plants after harvesting are thoroughly washed and cut into pieces 2-3 cm long. This allows them to dry quickly. Rhizomes, intended in the future for food, do not wash and store in a cool place in boxes, pouring earth or sand.

Bulbs harvested in bundles or braided with braids. Store onions in a dry room with fresh air. Fresh fresh herbs are harvested immediately before use, quickly and simultaneously gently washed under running water and shaken to allow the water to slip off the twigs.

Storing greens and herbs

The peculiarity of this tender kind of garden culture is that the greens are practically not subject to storage in fresh form. In the open air, the cut greens wilt and turn yellow after 2-3 hours, at positive temperatures it quickly loses the entire stock of vitamin C. Therefore, the storage time for the greenery is extremely low and does not exceed 2 weeks in a cold place. Dill, sorrel, parsley, rhubarb stems and petioled celery can be stored at a temperature of 0 ° C and relative humidity of about 95 %, loosely packed in a basket or box in a refrigerator or dark cool room. For better preservation, you can transfer greens to ice cubes. All kinds of greenery are well preserved in plastic bags in the refrigerator at a temperature of 0-1 ° C.To do this, dry greens immediately after collection, not allowing it to lie at room temperature, should be cooled in a refrigerator, packed in bags, tightly bound and re-put in a refrigerator. When laying uncooled greens, the inside of the bag fogs and becomes covered with droplets of water, which causes premature rotting of the green.

Rapid cooling of greenery in the refrigerator at a temperature of 0-1 ° C immediately after its collection:

helps to slow down the life processes inside the cut plant, delays the development of microorganisms, reduces the loss of moisture of the plant, preserves the quality of the product. In addition, a constant temperature and humidity are maintained inside the plastic bag, which allows to keep the greens in good condition for 2-3 weeks.

You can also store greens by folding it in a glass jar or enameled pot and covering it with a lid.