INSTRUCTIONS AND PROPHECIES OF THE Blessed MOTHER ALIPIA GOLOSEEVSKY, Kyiv...
Melons are a group of creeping plants from the gourd family. Their homeland is the countries of America, Africa, Asia. They are heat-loving tropical crops that easily tolerate drought. They are grown for both food and animal feed.
What plants are classified as gourds
The list of plants includes watermelon, melon, pumpkin, zucchini, squash, cucumbers. There are a huge variety of plant varieties.These vegetables have the largest fruits of all. So, for example, the mass of one watermelon can be from five to fifteen kilograms. At the same time, they differ not only in size, but also in a very pleasant taste. First of all, this applies to melons and watermelons. Usually such crops are grown in the south of our country. Although, of course, you can grow them in other regions and even in your own garden.
So, vegetables have quite impressive fruit sizes, outwardly very similar to each other. Despite the fact that there are several types of vegetables in the group, melons and watermelons are most often referred to as gourds.
Watermelon is an annual plant that is part of the gourd family. They have thin leaves and stems that crawl along the ground. In this case, the length of the stems reaches several meters. The leaves very often differ in their shape and consist of three parts, divided among themselves.
Watermelon always blooms in the first year after planting. Upon completion of the flowering process, in place of the inflorescences, round-shaped green fruits are formed, inside of which there is a red sugar pulp. The weight of such a fruit can be from three to fifteen kilograms. Although this is not at all the maximum mass. Depending on the variety, it can be either with or without seeds inside. Yes, and interestingly, although it is considered a vegetable, but due to the presence of a lot of similarities with berries, it is formally considered a berry.
As mentioned earlier, the countries of Asia, Africa, and Egypt are considered its homeland. Although it was already eaten by the ancient Greeks. It was brought to our country at the time Kievan Rus, and since then it has become our favorite delicacy.
The next representative of melons is melon. This type more related to cucumbers. She is also annual plant, with long thin curly stems that stretch long distances along the ground. Its leaves are larger than those of a watermelon, and their shape is whole.
Inflorescences are yellow and bisexual. After they dry out, fruits form in their place. Their size, of course, is not as huge as that of the previous melon species, but nevertheless, there are also very large representatives, the mass of which can reach fifteen kilograms.
They have a dense peel, which can be either brown or yellow. In some cases, it may be green. The flesh of the fruit can be either white or creamy, yellow or even orange. The shape is round or oval, it all depends on the variety. Seeds in the center of the berry are small white.
Her homeland is Asia, India. Since the time of the ancient Egyptians, this culture has been widely eaten. It was brought to our country about five hundred years ago.
The use of gourds in folk medicine
These products are used not only in cooking, but also in cosmetology. Thanks to the most valuable composition, watermelon has a beneficial effect on the kidneys, helps to get rid of stones and sand in them. It is especially useful for men to eat it, as it improves sexual potency. For people with heart disease, it is also very useful, as it contains a large amount of potassium and magnesium, which are necessary for the normal functioning of the heart. Iron, which is also found in watermelon, helps form blood cells and fight constipation. In addition, it perfectly helps to get rid of toxins and toxins.
Watermelon is very often eaten, simply cut into pieces and peeled off. Sometimes it is added to fruit salads. Juices and smoothies are made from it. And the value of his crust is enormous. It is often dried for the winter and then used in the treatment of many diseases. They make jam, candied fruits, face masks.
Melon, like watermelon, is eaten just like that, cut into slices and peeled. Can cook different snacks, add to salads. In Asian countries, its pulp is dried and then used for tea drinking. There are a lot of Spanish dishes in which this vegetable is present. It is very useful in the presence of problems with the blood, heart, nervous disorders, intestines. In cosmetology, it is used to make face masks, as it helps to cope with dehydration of the skin very well.
Where is the best place to grow gourds
Since the plants are heat-loving, they will grow well in regions with a warm climate. In more northern regions, they will not give such a harvest, and besides, they will not even have time to fully mature. However, it is still much easier to grow a melon, it ripens perfectly even in Volgograd and more. northern cities. Hot, sunny and dry weather is necessary for a good harvest. Before the seeds are planted in the ground, they should be soaked for several days in water until sprouts appear. It all depends on the region: as soon as the temperature of the earth reaches fourteen degrees, you can plant it in the soil. They are planted in holes, the distance between which is at least one and a half meters, and the depth is five centimeters. Such long distance necessary, as the plant is very strongly woven and it needs a lot of space. A little ash must be added to each well.As for watering, it is, of course, needed, but not so frequent. To retain moisture, it is necessary to mulch the earth.
Video on the topic of the article
Gourds (watermelons, pumpkins and melons) belong to the gourd family and morphological features very similar to each other. they are grown to produce juicy fruits with high palatability. Fruits of gourds, especially watermelons and melons, contain a lot of sugar (6-13% or more), vitamins B and, B3, C, PP, etc. Watermelons contain a lot of iron salts and folic acid. In addition to being used fresh, they are raw materials for the processing industry: the production of watermelon honey (nardek), marmalade, marshmallow, for pickling.
Melon is used mostly fresh. By different recipes candied fruits, jams, honey (bekmez), compotes, mousses are made from the pulp of the melon, and the fruits are also dried and dried.
Pumpkins with yellow and orange flesh are rich in phosphorus and carotene salts, contain a lot of phytoncides. Pumpkin fruits are used for cooking, salting, pickling, as well as the manufacture of candied fruits, honey and other products. Pumpkin seed oil tastes like Provence, it is widely used as food in western regions Ukraine.
Gourds are of great medicinal value. They contain the most important physiologically active substances that are involved in important functions of the body, in the regulation of protein and fat metabolism. The use of gourds improves the functioning of the heart, liver, stomach, kidneys, lungs, and increases the overall vitality of the body. For example, folic acid, which is found in the fruits of watermelon and melon, produces anti-sclerotic and hematopoietic effects. The fruits of watermelons with a high content of pectin have high radioprotective properties that can remove radionuclides from the body, heavy metals and other toxic substances.
Fodder pumpkins and watermelons have high fodder qualities: 100 kg of fodder watermelons correspond to 9.3, and fodder gourds - 10.2 fodder, units. and contain, respectively, 4.0 and 7.0 kg of digestible protein. Ripe fruits of fodder melons can be stored fresh for a long time. They are a valuable dairy feed.
Fruits of melons and gourds are widely used for ensiling together with corn stalks, for preparing combined silage, and improving the taste of roughage.
Gourds are of great agrotechnical importance, as they help to clear the fields from weeds and are a valuable precursor for winter and spring crops.
All gourds come from sandy and rocky deserts of subtropical regions. the globe. Watermelons are native to the Kalahari semi-desert. South Africa), pumpkins - South America, and melons - Asia Minor and Central Asia. The first historical information and finds about gourds were recorded in Egyptian tombs, that is, 4 thousand years ago (parts of plants and drawings). From Africa, watermelons penetrated through India and Iran to Central Asia and Transcaucasia. In the Northern Black Sea region, watermelon and melon penetrated from the Volga region, and also because of Greek colonies. Pumpkin appeared in Ukraine in the 19th century. and spread as a garden crop in household plots.
The main area for commercial melon growing was the south-eastern zone of Ukraine, especially the current territory of the Kherson region, where soil and climatic conditions are most favorable for growing melons. Commodity melon growing is developing in Kherson, Nikolaev, Zaporozhye, Donetsk, Odessa regions and in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea.
Gourds - watermelon, melon and pumpkin - are cultivated to produce juicy fruits that are distinguished by high taste. The fruits of table watermelon and melon contain 6-12% sugar, vitamins B, B 3 , C, PP, etc. There are a lot of iron salts and folic acid in watermelon. In addition to direct consumption of these fruits in the canning and confectionery industry, honey (from juice), candied fruit, jam, marshmallow and other products are prepared.
Pumpkin with yellow flesh is rich in phosphorus salts and carotene, contains a lot of phytoncides.
For livestock feed, fresh fruits of fodder varieties of pumpkin and watermelon are usually used. They are considered a valuable dairy feed. 100 kg of fodder pumpkin contains 10 fodder. units and 70 g of digestible protein; in 100 kg of fodder watermelon - 9 fodder. units and 40 g of digestible protein.
Edible oil is extracted from the seeds of gourds, especially pumpkins.
yield the best varieties watermelons on non-irrigated lands is 25-30 t/ha, and on irrigated lands - 40-50 t/ha and more. The yield of melon is from 16-18 to 50 t/ha and pumpkin from 35 to 70 t/ha and more.
Gourds belong to the Cucurbitaceae family, which includes three of the most important genera in the culture: watermelon (Citrullus), melon (Melo) and pumpkin (Cucurbita). Plants of these genera are annuals, very similar to each other in the structure of vegetative and generative organs.
Watermelon. It is represented by two species: table watermelon (Citrullus edulus Pang.) and candied fodder watermelon (Citrullus colocynthoides Pang.).
Root table watermelon rod, strongly branched, reaches a depth of 3-5 m and spreads to the sides up to 7 m. The stem is creeping, long-braided (2-5 m), with 5-10 branches, pubescent with hard hairs. The leaves are strongly dissected into pinnately incised lobes, stiffly pubescent. Flowers are quinary, yellow, dioecious; female flowers larger than m^bkskih (Fig. 22). Cross-pollination by insects. The fruit is a multi-seeded false berry (pumpkin) on a long stem, spherical, oval or oblong, painted white-greenish or dark green, often with a marbled pattern. The bark of the fruit is leathery, fragile, with a thickness of 0.5 to 2.0 cm. The pulp is of various consistency, carmine red, pink, less often white or yellow color, tasting sweet or slightly sweet. The pulp contains from 5.7 to 13% sugar. Fruit weight from 2 to 20 kg. Watermelon seeds are flat, ovoid, 0.5-2.0 cm long, with a scar along the edge and a hard peel of white, yellow, gray, red and black, often with a spotted pattern. Weight of 1000 seeds 60-150 g.
feed watermelon in its structure is somewhat different from the dining room. Its root system is more powerful. Leaves with larger shortened segments. The flowers are large, with pale yellow veins.
Rice. 22.
1 - female flower; 2 - male flower; 3 - pollen; 4 - part of the escape
chick. Male flowers are located on long pedicels, female - on short ones. Fruits of various shapes - spherical or oval-oblong, green or light green in color with dark stripes, marble pattern. The pulp of the fruit is pale green, contains 1.2-2.6% sugar. Fruit weight from 10-15 to 25-30 kg or more. Feed watermelon seeds without rib. The weight of 1000 seeds is 120-130 g and more. Table watermelon is one of the heat-loving, heat-tolerant and very drought-resistant plants. In wet soil its seeds begin to germinate at a temperature of 16-17 °C. Shoots appear on the 8-10th day. Frosts -1 * C are fatal for them. The most favorable temperature for the growth of stems and leaves is 20-22 °C, and for the development of fruits 25-30 °C.
Table watermelon is a photophilous plant of a short day. The best soils for him, sandy and sandy loam. Loamy and clayey soils are of little use, as they firmly retain moisture and do not warm up well.
Fodder watermelon, compared with table watermelon, is less demanding on growing conditions.
The following varieties of table watermelon are common: Astrakhansky, Borchansky, Zemlyanin, Lotus, Extraordinary, Spark, Rose of the South-East, Sinchevsky, Kholodok, Shironinsky.
Of the varieties of fodder watermelon, Diskhim is the most famous.
Melon. Represented by many species. We have common melons with soft pulp: handalak (Melo chandalak Pang.), adana, or Cilician (Melo adana Pang.), cassaba (Melo cassaba
Pang.), and with dense pulp: charjou (Melo zard Pang.), ameri (Melo ameri Pang.), cantaloupe (Melo cantalypa Pang.). These species are very similar.
The root system of a melon is less powerful than that of a watermelon, it consists of the main root, penetrating to a depth of 3-4 m, and superficially located numerous lateral branches. The stem is creeping, cylindrical, hollow, strongly viscous, hard-haired. Leaves are kidney-shaped or heart-shaped, on long petioles. Flowers are orange-yellow. The fruits are large, of various shapes and colors. The pulp is loose or dense, contains 12% sugar. Seeds are ovoid, flat, white-yellow, 0.5 to 1.5 cm long, contain 25-30% oil. Weight of 1000 seeds 35-50 g.
By their own biological features melon approaches watermelon, but is more thermophilic and less drought-resistant, it is easier to put up with loamy soils.
Varieties: Kolkhoznitsa 749/753, Kazachka 244, Koi-bash, Khandalyak Kokcha 14, Dessert 5, Ameri 696, Tavria, Golden, Livadia, Dream, Golyanka, Hoarfrost, Samara, Amber.
Pumpkin. In culture, it has three types: common table (Cucurbita rero L.), large-fruited fodder (Cucurbita maxima L.) and nutmeg (Cucurbita moschata Duch.).
The root system of all types of pumpkin is well developed. Stem common pumpkin creeping. Some of its varieties are characterized by a bush form (zucchini). The leaves are five-lobed, with coarse styloid pubescence. The male flowers are collected several times in the axils of the leaves, the female flowers are solitary, located on the side branches. The fruit is obovate, spherical or oblong, with fibrous sweet pulp containing 4-8% sugar. Seeds of medium size and small, oval, with a clear rim, white, cream or darker in color, contain 36-52% oil. Weight of 1000 seeds 200-230 g.
fodder pumpkin large-fruited has a cylindrical hollow creeping stem. The leaves are reniform, weakly emarginate, pubescent with coarse hairs. The flowers are very large, orange-yellow. The fruits are spherical, flattened or elongated, reaching 50-70 cm in diameter, various colors. The flesh of the fruit is loose, juicy, orange, less often white, contains 4-8% sugar. Seeds are large, smooth, with an indistinct rim. Oil content in them 36-50 %. Weight of 1000 seeds 240-300 g.
Butternut squash has a creeping branched stem. Leaves are reniform, cordate-notched or lobed, pubescent with fine hairs. The flowers are green or reddish-orange. The fruit is elongated, with interception, the pulp of the fruit is dense, contains 8-11% sugar. Seeds of medium size, dirty gray, with a clear rim, contain 30-46% oil. Weight of 1000 seeds 190-220 g.
Pumpkin is less thermophilic and drought-resistant than watermelon and melon. Its seeds begin to germinate at a temperature of 12-13 °C. Seedlings are less affected by frost. Pumpkin works best on loamy soils.
Varieties: Bashkirskaya 245, Biryuchekutskaya 27, Hybrid 72, Gribovskaya winter, Donskaya sweet, Zorka, Almond 35, Prikornevaya, Troyanda, Khersonskaya, Khutoryanka.
Cultivation practices. Gourds are demanding on soil fertility and cleanliness of fields from weeds. They work well on virgin and fallow lands, on a layer of perennial grasses and on floodplains. In field crop rotations, winter cereals, corn, and annual grasses are good predecessors of melons. For specialized melon-growing farms, crop rotations are recommended with the following alternation of crops: 1 - winter rye + grasses; 2 - herbs of the 1st year; 3 - herbs
2nd year; 4 - herbs of the 3rd year; 5 - gourds; 6 - melons; 7 - spring wheat; 8 - corn for silage. In such a crop rotation specific gravity gourds is 25%.
It must be remembered that the fields on which herbicides were used in the crops of previous crop rotations are unsuitable for the placement of gourds.
The correct use of mineral and organic fertilizers increases productivity, accelerates ripening and improves the quality of gourds. As an organic fertilizer for watermelon and melon, manure is applied (with deep autumn tillage) in the amount of 15-20 t/ha and for pumpkin - 30-40 t/ha. Higher doses of manure for these crops can cause a delay in fruit ripening and deterioration in their quality.
At the same time with organic fertilizers contribute minerals. It is recommended to apply per 1 hectare n^PcLo or N 60 P 45 K 50 for autumn tillage and N IO P 15 K, 0 in rows when sowing. Mineral fertilizers increase the yield of watermelons by 25-30%, and the sugar content by 2-3%.
In addition to the main and sowing fertilizer, it is also desirable to feed plants before flowering - N ^ R ^ K ^.
Soil tillage for melons and gourds includes autumn (8-10 cm peeling and plowing with plows with skimmers to a depth of 25-30 cm) and spring tillage, consisting of harrowing and cultivation (at least two) followed by harrowing. In the northern areas of melon growing on highly compacted soils, the first spring cultivation is often replaced by plowing. When the topsoil dries out, rolling is applied.
For sowing, seeds are taken from fully ripened healthy fruits. Seed germination should be at least 90%. Before sowing, the seeds are subjected to air-thermal heating in the sun for
3-5 days or heated for 4 hours at a temperature of 50-60 ° C, soaked in water at room temperature for 24 hours 1-2 days before sowing. Warming up the seeds increases the yield of watermelons by 11-20%.
Seeds of gourds are treated in advance against diseases with 80% sp. TMTD (4-5 g per I kgeemyan). The seeds are treated with a suspension of the drug - 5-10 liters of water per 1 ton of seeds.
The optimal sowing time is the establishment of soil temperature at a depth of 10 cm for watermelon and melon 12-14 ° C, for pumpkin
9-10 °С. Watermelon seeds sown under these conditions sprout after 9-10 days, melons - after 8-9, pumpkins - after 6-7 days.
When sown in insufficiently warmed soil, the seeds of melons and gourds can rot and give sparse shoots. Late sowing also greatly reduces their yield.
Sowing of gourds is carried out with gourds seeders. For sowing, corn and cotton seeders are sometimes also used on farms.
The feeding area depends on the variety, climatic conditions, soil fertility. Recommend the following schemes sowing, m: watermelon -
2.5 x (1.5 ... 1.7); 2.1 x (2.1 ... 1.4); 1.8x1.8; melon - 2.5 x (0.8 ... 1.0); 2.1 x(0.8...1.2); pumpkin - 2.5x (1.8 ... 2.0); 2.8x (1.5 ... 1.8).
The seeding rate for watermelon seeds is 1.5-3.0 kg/ha, pumpkins 3-5, melons 2-4 kg/ha. The sowing depth of watermelon and pumpkin seeds is 6-8 cm, melon 4-6 cm.
Care of crops of gourds includes harrowing and loosening with rotary hoes until shoots appear to destroy the crust and destroy weed seedlings, as well as inter-row tillage to a depth of 12-15 cm during the first and 8-10 cm during subsequent loosening. When processing row spacings, overgrown lashes of plants must be removed to the side so that they are not damaged by tractor wheels and tillage implements.
To do this, in the same unit with the cultivator, a lash layer is installed, which pushes the lashes from the middle of the aisle to a width of 50-60 cm, sufficient for the passage of the wheels of the tractor and the cultivator.
For inter-row tillage, cultivators KRN-4.2, KRN-5.6 and melon cultivator KNB-5.4 are used, for weeding in rows - weeding unit PAU-4.
To prevent tangling of the lashes by the wind, they are sprinkled with damp soil. This causes the formation of additional roots, which improves plant nutrition. Good results are obtained by pinching (chasing) the ends of the lashes during the flowering of male flowers.
In the fight against peronosporosis, crops are sprayed with Bordeaux liquid, a 1% solution, over copper sulfate (600 l / ha), against powdery mildew, they are dusted with ground sulfur powder (15-30 kg / ha). The processing of melons is stopped 15 days before the start of the harvest.
Irrigation is of great importance in the cultivation of gourds in Russia. Under melon crops, 3-5 vegetation irrigations are given with an interval of 10-15 days. They begin long before flowering, then temporarily stop and resume when fruit is set. Irrigation rate is 600-800 m 3 /ha.
Cleaning. Gourds do not ripen at the same time. Therefore, table watermelon, melon and zucchini are harvested in 2-3 doses (as they mature), and pumpkin and fodder watermelon - in one go, before the onset of frost. Signs of ripening watermelon fruits are drying of the stem, coarsening of the bark and the appearance of a clear pattern on it. Ripe melons acquire the color and pattern characteristic of the variety. The ripeness of a pumpkin can also be determined by the color and density of the peel.
For selective harvesting of gourds, a wide-cut conveyor TSHP-25 is used. Ripe fruits are plucked and placed in the meshes of a conveyor belt, which guides and stacks them directly into the body of a nearby vehicle. During the last continuous harvesting of watermelons, one-time harvesting for seeds and when harvesting pumpkins, mechanized harvesting of fruits into windrows with a UPV-8 windrower, picking up windrows with a PBV-1 pick-up and soft laying them in vehicles give a great economic effect.
The described harvesting technology reduces labor costs by 5-6 times compared to the technology of harvesting with the removal of fruits to the side of the field.
When transporting melons and gourds, container transportation should be used more widely, which reduces manual labor in loading and unloading operations, improves product quality and reduces transport downtime.
For storage, fruits are selected without damage. Watermelons are stored at a temperature of 2-3 ° C, melons - at 0-2 ° C and optimal humidity air 75-85%, pumpkin - at 10 ° C and relative humidity 70-75%.
Gourd cultures. We plant, we grow, we harvest, we treat
Gourd cultures. We plant, we grow, we harvest, we treat
Nikolai Mikhailovich Zvonarev
Nikolai Mikhailovich Zvonarev
gourds
We plant, we grow, we harvest, we treat
Foreword
Gourds - plants of the gourd family (watermelon, melon, pumpkin, zucchini) - are of great nutritional and fodder importance in our life.
Melon crops come from tropical and subtropical countries of Asia, Africa and America. Their fruits are eaten fresh and used as fodder crops, as well as in medicine.
Stems of gourds are creeping, strongly leafy, branching. The leaves are long-petioled. Lateral shoots are formed in the axils of the leaves of the main stem. The length of the main stem of the pumpkin reaches 10 m. There are bush and short-leafed forms.
The root system is powerful, highly branched. The flowers are dioecious, unisexual or dioecious, solitary, rarely in bunches, located on the nodes of the stems. Plants are monocotyledonous, cross-pollinated. The fruit is a pumpkin; the shape of the fruit is varied - spherical, oval, flattened, cylindrical. Coloring from white to dark green, often with a pattern in the form of a grid, stripes, spots.
The gourds are most widespread in Central Asia, Transcaucasia, the North Caucasus, the Lower and Middle Volga regions, Ukraine, Moldova, the Trans-Urals, Siberia and the Far East.
Melons are very drought-resistant, thermophilic and photophilous, do not tolerate frost.
Pumpkin because of its bright color and, apparently, because of its very impressive size, is considered in some countries the queen of vegetables. For many peoples, this vegetable is a symbol of abundance and prosperity. And not only the size of the pumpkin is “guilty” for this, but also the abundance of seeds in its fruits. Pumpkin seeds have a lot of fans.
In the notorious fairy tale of Charles Perrault, the good fairy, gathering Cinderella for the ball, turned a pumpkin into a carriage. And this is no coincidence, because pumpkin is the largest of all existing vegetables on Earth. There are individuals weighing 200 or more kilograms, and not so long ago, a champion pumpkin was grown in the USA - 302 kilograms.
But there are decorative baby pumpkins. Their forms are unusually beautiful and graceful, bizarre and of various colors. Dishes are often made from such pumpkins. They hollow out the core, grind, polish and get bowls, scoops, ladles, original spoons.
Pumpkin is considered one of the oldest food plants. The very first mention of a pumpkin, or rather a vessel from it - a calabash, is dated 8 thousand years ago. The inhabitants of Mexico have been cultivating a pumpkin for 5 thousand years, it was also known to the ancient Egyptians, and the ancient Greeks and Romans made bottles for water and wine from a pumpkin (most likely from lagenaria). The ancient Indians made troughs for bathing children, various utensils and musical instruments from pumpkins.
So the types of pumpkins are apparently invisible. And how useful pumpkin is and it’s not necessary to say, it’s a storehouse of substances necessary for human health!
Zucchini comes from America, where only its seeds were originally eaten. The zucchini came to Europe in the 16th century along with other “curiosities” from America. Initially, zucchini, like most curiosities, were grown in botanical gardens. Today it is difficult to imagine not only Mediterranean cuisine, but also European cuisine without this vegetable. It is believed that it was the Italians in the 18th century who began to use unripe zucchini, as we do today. Zucchini - a cold-resistant crop - has taken root perfectly in Russia. Today, this popular vegetable is cultivated everywhere in our gardens.
It is rare in which garden you will meet squash now. Everyone was carried away by zucchini and pumpkins, because it is known how healthy and fruitful they are. And their closest relative patisson is undeservedly forgotten.
Young (definitely young!) Squash fruits have a high nutritional value. They taste like artichoke and asparagus. For us, this is something unknown, and French gourmets even call patisson Jerusalem artichoke. But in canned form, squash is clearly valued in our country, because from the cans, where they swim in a fragrant marinade along with cucumbers, they are caught first of all. Their flesh is elastic, crispy and at the same time tender. Patissons are delicious and fried, stewed.
As you can see, plants of the pumpkin family have taken root well with us and are used in nutrition along with potatoes, cabbage, tomatoes, and cucumbers.
Pumpkin
Pumpkin - ancient culture originating from the regions of Central America, Persia, Asia Minor. It was brought to Russia in the 19th century. Currently, pumpkin is common in almost all regions of our country, with the exception of Far North. For cultivation, three types of pumpkin are used - large-fruited, hard-barked and nutmeg. At the same time, in the south, mainly varieties of large-fruited and butternut squash, in the central regions - hard-bark varieties.
Pumpkin is an annual, monoecious, dioecious herbaceous plant. Its root system is very powerful, consisting of the main tap root, penetrating to a depth of 1–1.7 meters, lateral, adventitious and small suction roots. Their main part is located at a depth of 40-50 cm, and individual roots penetrate to a depth of 4-5 meters. Horizontal lateral branches of the roots extend from the stem within a radius of 4–5 meters or more. total length The roots of one plant reaches 25 kilometers.
The stem is creeping, long, reaching 4-5 meters. Shoots of the first order depart from the main stem, shoots of the second order depart from them, and so on.
The leaves are large (reach 25 centimeters in diameter), with long petioles. In the axils of each leaf, tendrils and flowers are formed.
More resistant to heat and drought varieties have a strongly dissected leaf blade. In some forms, air-bearing tissue can form under the epidermis - aerenchyma, which protects the leaves from overheating (sometimes gardeners mistakenly take areas of aerenchyma on the leaf surface as signs of the spread of diseases).
The flowers are large, solitary, yellow or orange. Female flowers come in a wide variety of shapes, sizes and colors, depending on the type and variety.
Most often, the flowers are unisexual, solitary, there are hermaphroditic. Total number male flowers on the plant are 20–25 times higher than the number of female ones. The male flowers of the pumpkin are located on the main stem, and the female flowers are more often on the lateral branches of the 1st order.
The fruit is a multi-seeded false berry (pumpkin), reaching enormous sizes. The shape (from round to serpentine) and the color of pumpkin fruits are very diverse. The seed cavity of the pumpkin is partially or completely filled with placentas with seeds. Flesh color ranges from pure white and cream to orange and reddish yellow.
The fruits of most varieties reach 4–10 kilograms, for large-fruited pumpkins - up to 100 kilograms. Seeds are ellipsoid, skinned or naked, of various sizes and colors depending on the species and variety. They remain viable for 4–5 years.
Pumpkin is a heat-loving and moisture-loving plant: seeds begin to germinate at +13...14°С, but the most favorable temperature for germination is +20...25°С. Pumpkin is especially sensitive to temperature at an early age: at a temperature of -1 ° C, it dies. For the growth of stems and lashes, the temperature should not be lower than + 12 ... 15 ° C, the optimum temperature for fruit development is + 25 ... 27 ° C.
Beneficial features
Pumpkin fruits are the most valuable food product.
In terms of the content of medicinal substances, pumpkin surpasses many other vegetables. It contains sugars, carotene, vitamins C, B 1, B 2, B 5, B 6, E, PP and such a rare vitamin T, which accelerates metabolic processes in the body, vitamin K, which is necessary for blood clotting, fats, proteins, carbohydrates, cellulose, pectin, minerals, including potassium, calcium, iron.
Carotene in pumpkin is five times more than in carrots and three times more than in beef liver. For this reason, ophthalmologists recommend that people with visual impairments consume pumpkin and pumpkin juice.
Pectin substances found in pumpkin in in large numbers, contribute to the removal of toxic substances and cholesterol from the body.
Application in cooking
Pumpkin dishes are a guarantee of maintaining health, easy well-being after eating. Pumpkin is very well absorbed by the human body and eliminates problems with the stomach or intestines. It has a lot of water and little vegetable fiber. Most pumpkin dishes are prepared very quickly, in any case they do not require long processing. Americans have a traditional pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving. In South Asia, pumpkin is used mainly for desserts. In India, pepper and other hot spices are added to pumpkin dishes.
In China, even pumpkin leaves are eaten. In Japan, small pumpkins are used to make tempura. In Thailand, small pumpkins are stuffed with mustard and steamed. In Italy, pumpkin with cheese is a popular filling for ravioli.
The easiest recipe is to make pumpkin puree from the pulp. The pumpkin can be rubbed on a grater or, which is much easier, cut the pumpkin into cubes and simmer under the lid until soft. Then crush with a spoon or potato crusher. Puree can be salted, spicy or sweet - to your taste. You can add herbs and spices, herbs, in general, everything that diversifies the neutral taste of pumpkin.
Pumpkin mass can be harvested for future use and stored for some time in the refrigerator. It is combined with carrots, tomatoes, zucchini, potatoes and other vegetables. Pairs well with meat or minced meat. Pumpkin can be used to make pancakes, a pie, or pumpkin mass can be used to stuff pies.
pumpkin salad
500 g pumpkin, apples optional, 2 tbsp. l. honey, half a glass of walnuts, half a glass of raisins, sour cream, a little lemon juice.Grate the pumpkin on a coarse grater, salt a little, add honey or sugar. Cut apples into cubes, mix with pumpkin and pour over lemon juice. Add crushed walnuts, raisins, season with sour cream.
Pumpkin salad with honey
300 g pumpkin, 2 apples, 1 turnip or swede, 4 tbsp. l. honey.Cut the peeled raw pumpkin into cubes, mix with honey and let it brew for about 40 minutes. Cut the peeled apples, turnips or turnips into cubes as well. Combine all ingredients and mix well.
Pumpkin fritters
1.5 kg of pumpkin, 0.5 cups of flour and 0.5 cups of semolina, 2 tbsp. l. sugar and salt to taste.Grate the pumpkin, peeled from seeds and skin, on a coarse grater. Add flour and semolina, sugar, a little salt to the mass. Mix everything well and fry in well-heated fat. Serve sour cream for pancakes.
Fine preparations can be prepared with an orange beauty for the winter.
Fillings for pies
Table pumpkin is finely cut and stewed with the same amount of viburnum fruit pulp. The mixture is well mixed. Sugar can be added if desired. The benefits of such a blank are twofold - and delicious stuffing, and a whole "bouquet" of vitamins.Pumpkin puree
1.5 kg pumpkin, 4 tbsp. l. sugar, 1 tsp citric acid, 0.5 kg of apples.Clean the pumpkin from the skin and seeds. Remove core from apples. Pass pumpkin and apples through a meat grinder and cook the resulting mass for 2 hours. In hot form, lay out in jars and roll up.
You can also close with plastic lids, after cooling the puree. In this case, store in the refrigerator or cellar.
Apple-pumpkin puree
1 kg of apples, 1 kg of pumpkin, 1 tsp. grated lemon or orange zest, sugar to taste.Cut pumpkin into small pieces. Then take sour apples and cut them into slices. Then steam the pumpkin and apples together in a double boiler or pressure cooker for 10-15 minutes until soft. When hot, rub through a colander or sieve, add zest and sugar to taste.
Warm the puree with stirring to a temperature of 90 ° C and put it hot in half-liter jars. Pasteurize for 10-12 minutes at a temperature of 90 degrees.
candied pumpkin
Wash pumpkin, peel and remove seeds. Cut the pulp into cubes. Cook sugar syrup: for 200 g of water or juice without pulp, take 1200 g of sugar, 1 lemon or 3 g of citric acid and vanillin (per 1 kg of pumpkin).Pour the chopped pumpkin with syrup and cook for 5 minutes. After that, keep the pumpkin in sugar syrup for 6–8 hours. Then bring to a boil again, boil for 3-5 minutes and let stand for 10-12 hours.
Then throw the pumpkin on a sieve, let the sugar syrup drain. Dry the pumpkin, sprinkle with fine sugar or powdered sugar. Store in glass jars.
Application in medicine
Due to the harmonious combination of proteins, vitamins, enzymes in the pumpkin, it is easily absorbed and quickly digested, therefore it serves as a dietary food for children and patients. Use pumpkin for digestive disorders, gallbladder function. pumpkin pulp in its raw form acts as a laxative, it is recommended to apply it to the skin when inflammatory processes, burns, rashes, acne, eczema.
Thanks to potassium salts, pumpkin has a diuretic effect.
Pumpkin juice with honey is used at night as a sedative. Pumpkin seeds are also very nutritious. They contain up to 55% of the most valuable for the body vegetable oil and have healing properties.
Also, this vegetable is very useful for people suffering from diseases of the cardiovascular system and hypertension.
Fresh pumpkin juice is good to drink for chronic constipation, inflammation of the urinary system, kidney failure, hemorrhoids and nervous disorders. Pumpkin perfectly removes salt and water from the body and does not irritate the kidney tissue.
In addition, healers believed that pumpkin juice helps a man to maintain his sexual tone.
Pumpkin is also great for those who suffer from gastrointestinal diseases with high acidity.
With toxicosis of pregnant women, pumpkin can be used as good remedy from nausea.
Pumpkin porridge is suitable for those who want to lose weight: it normalizes metabolism and removes toxins from the body. If you are worried about insomnia, then at night it is useful to drink pumpkin juice or a decoction of pumpkin with honey.
A decoction of the pulp quenches thirst and reduces fever in patients.
Pounded with honey, pumpkin seeds are one of the ancient anthelmintics. Dried pumpkin seeds are very useful for men, they treat prostatitis, for this, at the very beginning of the disease, 20-30 seeds should be eaten daily on an empty stomach and in the evening.
Due to the presence of zinc, it is useful to eat pumpkin seeds in handfuls for problems associated with its deficiency, namely, acne, oily dandruff, seborrhea.
Seeds are not only tasty, but also nutritious, as they contain up to 28% protein, and also have medicinal properties. On the basis of pumpkin seeds, the drug "Tykveol" was created for the treatment of liver diseases.
Pumpkin seeds are just a storehouse of high quality edible oil (from 32 to 52%). In many European countries, for example, in Austria, Germany and Romania, oil is eaten for preparing various vegetable salads.
Growing pumpkin
Soil preparation
The best predecessors for melons are perennial and annual grasses, winter cereals, corn and vegetable crops. It is not necessary to sow melons on melons in order to avoid the development of fungal diseases. You can return to the areas of melon again in at least four to five years.
Good predecessors are cabbage, onions, potatoes, root crops.
The soil is dug deep in autumn (25–30 cm) and 4–6 kg of manure or compost, 25–30 g of superphosphate and 10 g of potassium chloride are applied per 1 m 2. In spring, the soil is leveled with a rake, weeds are removed, and in late April - early May, pre-sowing digging is carried out to a depth of 12–14 cm, under which 20 g / m 2 of ammonium nitrate is applied.
Pumpkin is sown in well-cultivated and manure-fertilized soil with germinated seeds or planted with seedlings, which already have two or three true leaves. Dry seeds are also used when sowing, if the soil is warm and moist enough.
When making holes with a hoe, they remove dry upper layer soil, avoiding mixing it with damp soil. On ordinary non-insulated ridges, humus (0.5 buckets), ash (glass) is introduced into each well, thoroughly mixed with the soil. If the soil is dry, 1-2 liters of warm water are first poured into the wells. Then, 3 large-fruited pumpkin seeds, 3-4 hard-bark and 4-5 nutmeg pumpkin seeds are sown in each hole. Seeds in the nest should be at a distance of 3-4 cm from one another. From above they are covered with soil, slightly compacted and mulched with peat or humus. After germination, leave one plant per hole.
Growing in a seedless way
Most pumpkin varieties are sown when the soil at the seeding depth warms up to 12-13°C, as the seeds begin to germinate at this temperature. In cold soil, they can quickly rot.
Seeding depth for medium loamy soils is 5-6 cm, for light soils - 8-10 cm. To reduce the risk of damage to seedlings by night frosts, many gardeners sow seeds thickened at different depths. If from finely planted seeds, early shoots fall under frost, then later shoots that appear will survive and time will not be lost. If there are no frosts, then late shoots are simply removed.
By the time the seeds are sown in the ground, there is often not enough moisture in the soil. This can lead to delayed germination and slow growth. Therefore, 1.5–2 liters of warm water with a temperature of at least 50 ° C should be poured into each well. After it is absorbed, seeds are placed in the ground and the holes are covered with a nutrient mixture. After sowing, the holes must be mulched with humus or peat chips. Due to this, the field germination of pumpkin seeds increases dramatically.
In order for the seeds to germinate faster, gardeners often cover the holes with a film, sprinkling its edges with earth. When shoots appear, holes are cut in the film above the plants or pulled over a wire frame installed above the holes. Many gardeners remove the film when sprouts appear, but this should be done in warm weather.
Shoots of pumpkin normal conditions appear 6-7 days after sowing. After the formation of one or two true leaves, the seedlings are thinned out, leaving one strong plant each for a large-fruited pumpkin and two plants each for hard-barked and nutmeg. After the appearance of 4-5 leaves and in these varieties, weaker plants are plucked. They should not be dug up, as the root system of the remaining plants will be severely damaged.
plant care
During the growing season, until the plants grow and close, the soil when growing pumpkins is constantly maintained in a loose and weed-free state by 3–4 loosening of row spacings and 2–3 manual weeding in rows. In the first days after sowing, in case of precipitation, harrowing is carried out to prevent the formation of a soil crust, and on small areas loosen the surface of the ridges with a rake.
The first tillage in nests and between rows is carried out in the cotyledon phase (when rows are marked).
With a delay in seedlings, pre-emergence cultivation is advisable. Loosening around plants is useful after heavy rains or watering, as it prevents crusting and drying of the soil. Aisles, on the contrary, are loosened before watering, so that water penetrates to the roots faster. Raw soils are also loosened before watering. Near the plants, the depth should be 5–6 cm, in the aisles during the first loosening - 12–15 cm. In this case, more favorable conditions are created for the development of the root system of plants.
The second tillage between the rows is carried out when 4–5 true leaves are formed to a depth of 8–10 cm. Subsequent loosening is carried out as weeds appear and the soil is compacted (every 10–15 days). In the nests, the soil is loosened 2-3 times, in the aisles - 3-4.
Until the plants are completely closed in the aisles of bush forms, at least three loosenings are made. In long-stemmed pumpkin varieties, before the third inter-row treatment, the stems are shifted in a row along the course of the cultivator. After processing, they are laid out again and sprinkled with soil. During the third and subsequent loosening, the soil is cultivated to a depth of 6–8 cm, and in dry years (to avoid drying out the soil) to a shallower depth.
Usually crops are weeded 2–3 times, but sometimes one high-quality tillage in rows is enough, especially in dry summers. After closing the plants in the aisles, selective weeding is carried out. For greater stability and the formation of additional roots, the plants are lightly spudded with moist soil.
Pumpkin is a moisture-loving plant. It has a large root system and "pumps out" a lot of water from the soil, which evaporates into the atmosphere through the leaves. It consumes a lot of water during all periods of growth, but it especially needs it during the period of mass flowering and fruit formation. Therefore, in prolonged dry and hot weather, before the start of blooming of female flowers and during the filling of fruits, plants should be watered abundantly with water at a temperature of at least 20 ° C. It is impossible to take water for irrigation from a well or from an artesian well - you will destroy the plants.
At the same time, thanks to their strong root system, pumpkins tolerate short dry periods more easily than cucumbers.
Irrigation is usually timed to remove weeds and loosen the soil. First, the soil is loosened by 8-10 cm, and then 5-6 cm, so as not to damage the roots of the plant.
top dressing
To get large fruits, plants need to be fed. The first time this is done with the formation of three to five leaves, the second - at the beginning of the formation of lashes. It is best to use nitrophoska for this - for the first time, 10 g, the second - 15 g per plant. In wet weather, fertilizers can be applied dry, in dry weather - dissolved in water. Feeding with ash (1 glass per plant) and mullein solution (1: 8, 1 bucket per 5 plants at the beginning of growth and 3 plants during the fruiting period) are very effective.
plant formation
To obtain good harvest pumpkins, plants must be formed - usually in one or two stems.
When forming into one stem, all side shoots and extra ovaries are removed immediately after they appear. Two or three ovaries are left on the whip. After the last ovary, 3-4 leaves are left and the growth point (apex) is immediately pinched. If you leave more ovaries or do not pinch the top, then you will not get large fruits. After that, it is necessary to mercilessly cut off all the flowers that have appeared - both male and female.
When forming into two stems, two fruits should be left on the main lash, and one on the side. On each lash after the last fruit, 3-4 leaves should be left and pinch the tops.
An obligatory agricultural method for growing pumpkins is the powdering of lashes. When they reach a length of more than a meter, they are unraveled, laid in the right direction and sprinkled with earth in several places. If this is not done, then the wind easily turns over and twists the whips, while the leaves break off, and this negatively affects the development of the plant. But the most important thing is not this. On all internodes of the lash, especially in places of powdering, strong roots are formed, which additionally nourish the plant. This should not be forgotten when watering plants.
Getting fruits
When growing pumpkins, you can often see rotting ovaries. This is due to the fact that the female flowers are not pollinated. The reasons can be very different, especially so often in inclement weather, when insects fly less. This is very disappointing, especially when growing large-fruited late-ripening pumpkins.
To prevent this from happening, it is necessary to do artificial pollination of flowers. To do this, early in the morning in the south and in the first half of the day for the middle and northern regions, when the female flowers bloom, the male flowers are collected, the petals are removed from them, and two or three anthers are alternately pressed against the stigma of the pistil of an open female flower.
If your pumpkin lashes have covered a fence or a gazebo, so that they do not tear under the weight of the crop, ordinary nets are hung from the fence and a growing fruit is placed in them.
Giant pumpkins must be protected from soil dampness, otherwise they may rot. To do this, you need to put four stones on the ground, on top - wide board or a stove, and on it - a pumpkin. But this must be done while it is small, because, when handling a giant fruit, you can break the stem.
Growing in a greenhouse
Some gardeners use the original pumpkin growing scheme, in which the plants grow in a cucumber greenhouse, and the crop is harvested on the street. With this method of growing pumpkins can be cultivated in direct culture, and seeds can be sown 7-10 days earlier than in open ground. That's how they get high yields pumpkins.
In the corners of the cucumber greenhouse, holes are made under the pumpkin with a depth of 50 and a diameter of 40 cm. The hole is filled with a nutrient soil mixture, for which they take 1 bucket of peat, humus, sod land, half a bucket sawdust and river sand. AT soil mix add 2 cups of wood ash and 2 tbsp. spoons of nitrophoska, nitroammophoska or other complete fertilizer. The mixture is prepared in a well, all components are mixed and poured with warm water (40°C) at the rate of 5 l per well. 2 plants are planted in each hole or 2 seeds are sown. Before sowing, pumpkin seeds are prepared in the same way as zucchini seeds. Seeds are sown in the center of the hole and at a depth of 5-6 cm, at a distance of 10-12 cm from each other. After germination, one or both plants are left.
Planting seedlings or sowing seeds in a greenhouse is carried out at the same time as cucumbers, from May 1 to May 20.
Pumpkin care - fertilization, watering - is carried out simultaneously with the care of cucumbers. When the plants reach a height of 50-60 cm, the film is lifted or cut and the whips are sent to the open ground. Pumpkin roots (and they are located in the ground much lower than the roots of cucumbers) remain in the greenhouse, develop and serve nutrients plant.
To obtain up to 3 large fruits on each plant and accelerate their growth, plants are formed into 1, 2 or 3 stems. Formation methods are described above.
Caring for pumpkins is the same as for cucumbers, with the only difference being that the rate of watering and feeding is doubled.
During flowering, additional pollination is required to fertilize the ovaries. In warm sunny weather, the male flower is plucked, the yellow corolla is cut off so that the stamens are exposed, and they touch the stigma of the female half-open flower. The entire procedure should be carried out with extreme caution.
When growing pumpkins in the conditions of the Non-Black Earth Region, covering the soil with a film gives big effect. After the emergence of shoots on each plant, cuts up to 10 cm long are made in the film to improve ventilation. At the end of the danger of spring frosts, the cuts are increased to 15 cm in diameter, through which the plants are released from under the film, and then they spread along the film. This creates extremely favorable conditions for the development of plants, since the soil temperature is 4–5 ° C higher than usual, and the evaporation of moisture from the soil is sharply reduced.
Harvesting and storage
The pumpkin is harvested in September, in dry weather. By this time, the leaves on the plants lose their green color, begin to turn yellow. In some varieties, the maturity of the fruit is determined by the dried and hard stem, as well as by the change in color and pattern of the fruit. Ripe specimens have dense pulp and well-ripened seeds with a hard skin. However, varieties with other characteristics have now appeared: if the peel does not squeeze through when pressed with a fingernail, the fruit is ready for harvesting. Pumpkins are removed carefully, always along with the stalk. Undamaged fruits without scratches are selected for storage. They are left in the sun to dry and thicken the peel (this creates a barrier that reduces moisture loss).
The harvest is stored indoors at a temperature of + 10 ... 20 ° C or in a dry, well-ventilated basement, where it is not colder than + 4 ° C.
Large-fruited pumpkin ripens well and lies almost until May, and its taste and nutritional qualities are only improving. Immediately after harvesting, there is a lot of starch in the maturing varieties of such a pumpkin, which turns into sugar during long-term storage (up to 3–4 months).
Pumpkin varieties
Hardbark is the most cold-resistant and early ripening, but its fruits are not stored for a very long time. A weighty large-fruited pumpkin in a cool, dry place can be kept all winter. Its flesh is thick and tastier than that of hard-bark. And the most delicious of the pumpkins is nutmeg, but it is a southerner, it requires a lot of heat. In the open field in our climatic conditions it can be grown using temporary shelters.
There are many varieties approved for cultivation in the non-chernozem zone - fruitful, sweet, with thick pulp and a small seed chamber.
Varieties of hard-skinned pumpkin
Gribovskaya bush. Early ripe. Fruit 2.3–4.8 kg, light orange, with black-green stripes. The pulp is dark yellow, dense, sweet.
Mozolevskaya 49. It differs from Biryuchekutskaya by the presence of scalloped green or light yellow stripes on the yellow surface of the fruit. Included in the group of medium-early and, nevertheless, it is distinguished by high keeping quality and productivity. The pulp is dense, orange, with high taste indicators. The plant is short-haired, the shape of the fruit is ovoid.
Varieties of large-fruited pumpkin
Dining room winter A-5. Late-ripening (vegetation period about 135 days); fruits are flat-round, segmented, light gray; the pulp is dense, orange, sweet; seeds are large, glossy, yellow. Ripens in bed; transportable.
Mammos golden. Climbing; fruits are very large, weighing more than 10 kg, rounded, pale golden in color.
Volga gray 92. early ripe; fruits slightly segmented, light gray; the flesh is egg-yellow with an orange tint, dense, sweet, good taste. The color of the peel is light gray with a slight greenish tint, the shape of the fruit is slightly flattened. The pulp has an excellent taste, dense, juicy, its color is orange or egg yellow.
stands out high yield and resistance to fungal diseases. Fruit preservation is excellent.
Gribovskaya winter. Outwardly, it differs from early ripening varieties in a spherical or slightly flattened shape. Belongs to the late-ripening group.
In the conditions of the Non-Black Earth Region, it gives high regular yields of products well stored in winter with tender, juicy and at the same time dense pulp of orange or egg-yellow color. Outside, the peel is gray, with a smooth, uniform surface. The fruits are distinguished by excellent taste.
Gribovsky varieties have recently gained particular popularity.
Chit. Medium late variety. The plant is medium climbing, forms 2–3 small fruits of 2.5–3 kg each. The color is light gray with pale pink spots. The flesh is thick, bright orange, firm, sweet, but not very juicy.
Therapeutic. early ripe high yielding variety. Plant of average power. The fruit is light gray, with a pattern in the form of a grid. The pulp is orange, sweet, juicy.
Varieties are also widespread: Hundred-pound, Record, Kherson, Donskaya sweet, Dawn, Troyanda.
Varieties of hard stone pumpkin
The print is bright red. Late ripe, fruitful; fruits are large, more than 35 cm in diameter, thickened, bright red; the flesh is yellow-orange.
Bush orange. Early ripe, bushy; fruits weighing 5–6.5 kg, obovate, orange; the pulp is yellow, medium thickness, crispy, juicy. Weakly affected powdery mildew.
Therapeutic. early ripe; bush. Fruits weighing 4–7 kg; the pulp is orange, thick, crispy, sweet, contains an increased amount of vitamins and dry substances. Weakly affected by powdery mildew. Stored until May.
Almond 35. Mid-season, climbing (lashes are long, up to 8–10 m). Fruits weighing up to 5 kg, flattened, smooth or weakly segmented, ribbed at the stem, brown-orange with wide dark green or light brown stripes; the pulp is orange, dense, sweet.
It stands out for its excellent taste, elegant coloring of orange-red fruits. Average weight one ripe pumpkin - 5-6 kg. 4 months after germination, the fruits ripen and can be harvested. Timely harvested pumpkins have a high safety in winter.
Winter sweet. Fruits weighing 7–12 kg, flattened; pulp with a high content of sugars. The grade possesses good keeping quality and high transportability.
The varieties Biryuchekutskaya 27, Gribovskaya bush 189, Altaiskaya 47, Hutoryanka, Mozoleevskaya are also widespread.
Muscat varieties of pumpkin
Muscat pumpkin varieties (the most suitable for the non-chernozem zone).
Marble. Late ripening (about 135 days); fruits are medium, weighing 5–6 kg, flattened, the surface is wrinkled-segmented, tuberculate, the bark is gray and dark gray, with marble-like specks; the pulp is intense orange, thick, firm, crispy, very sweet, tasty; seeds are large, yellow-orange. Shelf life 8-9 months.
Golden pear. Not only pumpkin lovers, but also those who, until recently, treated this vegetable with coolness, will appreciate this new original variety of pumpkin.
End of introductory segment.
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Gourd cultures.
These include watermelon, melon, pumpkin. The fruits of these plants are very rich in sugar, vitamins, organic acids, salts of potassium, iron, phosphorus, and in terms of the content of provitamin A, it surpasses carrots.
Melons are light-loving and heat-loving plants that develop normally only at high air and soil temperatures.
Seedlings, after sowing seeds, appear on the fifth, sixth day. The formation of the first true leaf begins after three to five days; the second true leaf again in three, five days, and so on. The plant branches in five or six days, then the first flower appears in the same way in five or six days.
Watermelon more heat-loving than melon and pumpkin, but melon is more drought-resistant. Pumpkin is more cold-resistant than watermelon and melon.
Optimum temperature for flowering and fertilization of gourds, at least 20 degrees of heat at night and from 20 to 25 degrees during the day. Frosts are detrimental to melons and gourds.
These crops are considered drought tolerant, as the plants have strong root systems, dissected leaves covered with hairs, but these crops, especially pumpkin, require a lot of soil moisture.
Good predecessors for gourds are all vegetable crops and corn.
In the fall, deep plowing (digging) of the area for melons is necessary; weeding and loosening the soil are carried out before sowing.
To obtain friendly shoots, the seeds are soaked, germinated, treated with various preparations. The bent seeds are planted in warm and necessarily moist soil.
Since the pumpkin is a more cold-resistant plant, it is sown first, then melon and watermelon. Seeding depth from three to seven centimeters. The embedment depth depends on weather conditions, soil type, how dry the topsoil is. When sowing in holes, it is better to place the seeds at different depths. If the top layer of soil is dry, it must be removed to a wet layer, the seeds should be planted in moist soil, and a thin layer of dry soil should be sprinkled on top so that a crust does not form on the moist soil.
For creating favorable conditions growth and development of gourds, weeds must be destroyed; carry out thinning of plants in the holes; loosening the soil; powdering and pinching lashes; pest and disease control; watering; top dressing.
When weeding and loosening in the rows, the soil is poured under the cotyledon leaves, while creating a favorable air regime of the soil, additional roots are formed in the plants.
Very useful powder lash melons. So that the wind does not turn over and twist the whips, a knot is sprinkled, located from the base of the whip for three-fourths of the length. If the pinching of the branches is done, this increases the yield, and also increases the size of the fruit.
In order for the plant to form additional roots at the beginning of growth and development, during weeding and loosening, the plants are spudded, adding soil under the cotyledon leaves.
Gourds, and watermelon and melon especially, need watering during the period of flowering and fruit formation.
To obtain early production of melons, use a protected ground; early-ripening varieties are sown; cultivation through seedlings, it is obtained in greenhouses and greenhouses or film shelters are used.
As they mature, gourds are harvested. A watermelon is considered ripe if the tendril dries out in the axil of the leaf, near the stalk. On the surface of the fetus, a shine and a clearer pattern are acquired, and when hit with a click, a dull sound appears.
A melon is considered ripe by the change in color of the bark from green to yellow; a fragrant smell is acquired; the fruit is easily separated from the stem.
The ripeness of the pumpkin is determined by the dried, corked stalk, it is harvested before frost.
Zucchini, squash, zucchini, belong to the gourd family and are early maturing crops. The fruits are harvested already 1.5-2 months after sowing and harvesting is completed before the appearance of frost.
For food, zucchini and squash use 6-8-day fruits, they are harvested after 2-3 days.
These plants are bushy, the internodes are short, there are almost no lateral shoots. The leaves are large, green, the root is highly branched, goes deep into the soil. The flowers are unisexual, pollinated by insects.
In zucchini and zucchini, the fruits are elongated, the color of the fruits is from pale green to dark green with a pattern. In zucchini, the fruit pulp is very tender, juicy.
The fruits of squash are dish-bell-shaped, the pulp is denser than that of zucchini.
Grow zucchini and squash by sowing in the ground or seedlings when the threat of spring frost has passed.
The best predecessors for zucchini and squash are early vegetables, onions, root crops, tomatoes, legumes, potatoes.
Before sowing or planting seedlings in open ground, the site is dug up and organic and mineral fertilizers are applied, as well as fertilized with ash.
Seeds are sown in holes in three pieces, the distance between the holes is 60-70 cm.
Seeds can be soaked before sowing for faster germination, but required condition sowing, only in moist soil.
During the period of seedling development, they need watering, in the future, watering may be less frequent, but plentiful. After germination, weak plants are removed, leaving one plant per hole.
Further care for plants of zucchini, zucchini, squash, consists in regular watering; loosening the soil; hilling and fertilizing plants.
These fruits have good keeping quality and transportability.
