Turnip
Until the appearance of the second bread - potatoes - in Russia, turnip was used very widely, primarily because it grows rapidly and it is possible to grow two crops over the summer. In addition, turnip well stored and, most importantly, preserves all vitamins and beneficial properties until the spring.
Features of growing
Turnip plant is cold-resistant. Seedlings appear at a temperature of 5 degrees a week. At a higher temperature, the plants rise on the 3rd-4th day. Shoots take short-term frosts to -5 degrees, so turnips can be planted in early April, in the not yet thawed bed. To do this, it is sufficient to flush the top layer of the soil, cover the bed for a couple of days with a film, then remove the film, thaw the soil to a depth of 6-7 cm and sow the seeds of turnips. She does not need a deep arable layer.
Seeds are very small, so when planted, they barely cover the soil.
In order not to thicken the crops, they are mixed with sand: 1 teaspoon of seeds per 1/2 cup of fine sifted sand. Sow, how to salt. The turnip can be grown according to the scheme of 10 x 10 cm. Immediately cover the crops with a film, which will be removed as soon as the shoots appear. If the weather is too cold, cover the shoots from above with lutrasil.
Turnip - a plant photophilous, in the shade, it badly binds the root crop.
Turnips like moisture, it is especially important that the surface layer of the soil does not dry out. Irregular irrigation leads to the cracking of root crops.
If a 1 tsp dust fraction of AVA fertilizer is added to the mixture of seeds and sand, then there is no need to worry about the feeding of turnip. If you do not use this fertilizer, then fertilizing should be given twice. The first time immediately after the emergence of sprouts, it is necessary to feed a reputation with azofovskaya or kemira( 1 tablespoon per 10 liters of water, spending a watering can of a solution per meter of planting), the second time - with 2 real leaves at the beginning of root formation.
Top dressing is best done with potassium sulfate, which increases the sugar content of the root vegetable( 1 tablespoon of fertilizer per 10 water, consuming a watering can for 5 m of turnip plantings).
Turnip does not tolerate chlorine, so it should not be given fertilizing with fertilizers containing this element. Excessive content of nitrogen in the soil, including organic matter, drastically reduces the taste of turnip and its shelf-life during storage, so do not zeal with top-dressing the infusion of weeds and do not apply organics to the soil before planting turnips.
As thickening of crops is quite a phenomenon, I remind you that the shoots should be weeded out as soon as they appeared. First, leave the plants at a distance of 2 cm from each other in the furrow. Then a part of the plants with a second thinning in the stage of the 2-3rd leaf can be carefully removed with a teaspoon and transplanted. At this age turnip quite well tolerates the transplant. In the furrow, the plants are left at a distance of 10 cm from each other.
Turnips grow quickly, the root crops mature about 60-70 days after emergence. Do not delay with cleaning, otherwise the root crops will become stiff. Since the harvest ripens unevenly, then do the cleaning selectively, as soon as the root crop reaches 4-5 cm in diameter. At this moment it is the most sugary and delicious.
The second crop for winter storage and consumption is made in the very beginning of July and the root crops are removed all at once, as soon as their diameter reaches 5-10 cm. The crop is cut off leaving a small scotch. They are stored in the sand like carrots.
The main pests in the turnip are the same as in all cabbage crops, so the measures to combat them are the same. The main pests - cruciferous flea, turnip whiting and vegetable fly.