For practical purposes gourd plants classified according to their use. In this regard, groups of vegetable, melons, medicinal and ornamental plants are distinguished separately, and the diversity of the use of some species is also noted (for example, for vegetable and technical purposes, etc.).

Vegetable: sponge, or luffa; vegetable marrow; torticollis, or kruknek; nara, or acanthositsios bristly; Antillean cucumber, or anguria; yellow cucumber, or momordica; snake cucumber, or trihozantes; Indian cucumber, or gourd; mandersky cucumber; Mexican cucumber, or chayote; Peruvian cucumber, or lobed cyclantera; seed cucumber; squash; telfairia stopiform and western; tladianta doubtful; gourd Malabar; fordgook pumpkin; hojosnia heteroclita.

Akantositsios nodena ( Acanthosicyos naudinianus) is sometimes included in the genus watermelon ( Citrullus). This dioecious desert plant has South Africa, the pericarp is removed, like an orange, exposing the edible sweet and sour pulp.

Akanthositsios bristly ( Acanthosicyos horridus) grows in the dry sandy deserts of South West Africa on the coast Atlantic Ocean and along the banks of the rivers flowing into it. This low leafless plant is endowed with all the features of a typical xerophyte, having a number of biological adaptations that allow it to live in extremely harsh conditions of existence. The thickened woody root of acanthositsios reaches a very long length, sometimes up to 12 m. In the rainy season, its perennial spindle-shaped tubers store large quantities water, which is gradually consumed during a drought. The bluish densely hairy stem of the acanthositsios is covered with large sharp spines spread out in all directions, and the leaves have turned into tiny scales. The whole plant is woody, hard, like stone. Even the sepals of small sessile flowers are hard, and the pale yellow petals are leathery. Dense thickets of acanthositsios, usually found on dry sand dunes, can be compared to nets that trap wind-blown sand and thus resist its movement. As a result, the shrub does not suffer from moving sands. Dense yellow-raspberry pulp of acanthositsios fruits has a sweet and sour taste and excellent aroma. Therefore, the fruits are widely eaten, and among the locals they are considered a delicacy. Jackals and hyenas also willingly eat the fruits (for dessert, after a hearty meat dish), thus spreading large, hard-shelled seeds over long distances.

Luffa cylindrical ( Luffa cylindrica) is widespread in culture. The green cylindrical fruits of the luffa resemble a large cucumber. After ripening, the fruit becomes dry, yellow-brown to brown, 30–35 cm long (up to 1 m) and 7–20 cm in diameter. . This hard frame serves as a device for the rapid release of seeds from a mature fruit after the cap on its top opens. Luffa is an ancient culture of India, Africa and China. In Russia, it is cultivated extremely rarely, in small areas and only in moderately warm regions. The pulp of immature fruits is starchy and quite edible. Dry ripe fruits are processed, removing the pulp and freeing the fibrous skeleton. Numerous household items are made from this raw material - washcloths, shoes, baskets and much more. Seeds containing fatty oil and some poisonous substances, as well as leaves and roots, are used in medicine.

Luffa sharp-toothed ( Luffa acutangula). The name luffa is well known to fans rare plants. This botanical genus of the pumpkin family combines several species. Distinctive feature genus are fruits from which, after peeling and removing seeds, a well-known washcloth is obtained. In our country, cylindrical luffa is mainly common.

Flowers about 2 cm in diameter, lemon-yellow, dioecious. Unlike the flowers of the cylindrical luffa, they bloom at night, blooming late in the evening. Flowering is more abundant than that of cylindrical luffa, there are more female flowers, and, accordingly, more ovaries are formed. www/botanik.ru

Momordica charter ( Momordica charantia). Momordica has adaptations to protect its immature seeds from external enemies. Until the seeds are fully ripe, all green parts of the plant are dotted with microscopic "explosive hairs". On a tiny leg sits a spherical head filled with caustic substances. One has only to touch the plant a little, as the heads of disturbed hairs are separated from the stem with an explosion and a viscous liquid is splashed out, causing burning of unprotected skin, especially the mucous membranes of the mouth, nose and eyes. The dark red fruits of momordica crack at the top with three wings. They contain large flat seeds encased in an orange arillus rich in starch and carotenoids. The seeds thrown out by the plant are clearly visible to the ants, which take them further. If the ants do not have time to eat the aryllus, then the embryo of the germinating seed uses this starch as a nutrient for its growth and development. The fleshy fruits of momordica are valued as a vegetable in boiled, fried and pickled form. Tubers, young shoots and leaves are also edible.

Zucchini (lat. Cucurbita pepo var. giromontina) is an annual herbaceous plant of the pumpkin genus of the gourd family, a variety of common pumpkin. The fruits are oblong green, yellow or white. An easily digestible and healthy vegetable product that has a good effect on digestion and skin health. Zucchini comes from America, where only its seeds were originally eaten. Pumpkin came to Europe in the 16th century along with other "curiosities" from the New World. Initially, zucchini, like most curiosities, were grown in botanical gardens. Today it is difficult to imagine Mediterranean 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. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Melons: watermelon; melon; winter wax gourd; large-fruited pumpkin; pumpkin nutmeg; pumpkin ordinary, or hard-barked.

Watermelon ordinary (lat. Citrillus lanbus) is an annual herbaceous plant. The fruit is a pumpkin of spherical, oval, flattened or cylindrical shape; color of the bark from white and yellow to dark green with a pattern in the form of a grid, stripes, spots; the flesh is pink, red, raspberry, less often - white and yellow. Currently grown in 96 countries in more than 1200 varieties. The stems are thin, flexible, creeping or curly, usually round-five-sided, up to 4 m long or more, branched. The young parts of the stem are densely pubescent with soft protruding hairs. Leaves on long petioles, alternate, hairy, rough, triangular-ovate in outline, heart-shaped at the base, 8-10 to 20-22 cm long and 5-10 to 15-18 cm wide, rigidly rough on both sides, deeply tripartite, their lobes are pinnatipartite or twice pinnatipartite, with an elongated, acute middle lobe at the apex, lateral lobes are usually rounded, sometimes the leaves are entire, more or less lobed. Flowers unisexual, with boat-shaped bracts. Staminate flowers solitary, 2-2.5 cm in diameter, on a hairy peduncle; receptacle broadly bell-shaped, downy; sepals narrowly lanceolate to subulate-filamentous; corolla outside greenish and hairy, widely funnel-shaped, its lobes oblong-ovate or oval; stamens five, of which four are fused in pairs, and one is free. Pistillate flowers solitary, somewhat larger than male ones; ovary more or less pubescent; the column is thin, about 5 mm long; stigma five-lobed, greenish.

The common belief that the watermelon fruit is a berry is botanically incorrect. The fruit of all representatives of the genus Watermelon is a multi-seeded, juicy pumpkin. Watermelon fruits in shape, size and color can vary greatly from each other depending on the variety; fruit surface is smooth. Seeds are flat, often bordered, variously colored, with a scar. The flesh is pink or red, very juicy and sweet, but there are varieties with whitish-yellow flesh. Blooms during the summer months. The fruits ripen in August-September.

Melon (lat. Cucumis melo) is a plant of the Cucurbitaceae family ( Cucurbitaceae), species of the genus cucumber, gourd, false berry. The birthplace of the melon is considered to be Central Asia and Asia Minor. Melon is a warm and light-loving plant, resistant to salinity and drought, does not tolerate high humidity. On one plant, depending on the variety and place of cultivation, from two to eight fruits can be formed, weighing from 1.5 to 10 kg. Melon fruits are spherical or cylindrical shape, green, yellow, brown or white, usually with green stripes. The aging period is from two to six months. Wild-growing melon is now practically not found. Cultivated forms were obtained by selection from Asian weed-field species, which have survived to this day. Cultivation occurred presumably in North India and in the adjacent regions of Iran and Central Asia many centuries BC Gradually, the cultivated melon began to spread to neighboring areas both to the west - to Central and Asia Minor, and to the east to China. It is known that it was grown in ancient Egypt. In Europe, they recognized the melon in the Middle Ages. In Russia, in the Lower Volga region, melon was brought from Central Asia in the 15th-16th centuries. Basically, melon is eaten raw, cut into slices, with the outer peel removed, and it is also dried, dried, processed into melon honey, jam, candied fruit. Melon contains: sugar, vitamins P, C, carotene, folic and ascorbic acid, fats, mineral salts of iron, potassium, sodium, fiber. It quenches thirst well. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

wax gourd ( Benincasa hispida) is widespread in tropical Asia, as well as in countries Latin America and Africa. This creeping annual plant with large, cucumber-like leaves is native to tropical Asia. Giant spherical or oblong fruits of the "wax gourd", similar in shape to a pumpkin or melon, can reach a length of 2 m and weigh about 35 kg. The fruits are covered with a thin protective wax shell, which contributes to their long-term storage. The wax is easily removed from the fruit, and in many tropical countries is a commercial product used in medicine and for making candles. Ripe fruits with white, elastic, juicy, slightly sweetish pulp, containing a lot of pectin, are used for food, and are also used in the confectionery industry. Unripe fruits are usually pickled. The fatty oil obtained from the seeds has medicinal uses and is edible.

Medicinal: actinostemma lobata; white step, dioecious and chokeberry; crazy cucumber.

Actinostemma lobata ( Actinostemma lobatum) a perennial creeping plant with thin three- to five-lobed leaves and inconspicuous flowers, grows in the Ussuri region of the Far East along the valleys and banks of reservoirs. The fruits of actinostemma are greenish, ovoid, up to 2 cm long, opening with a lid, seated with soft spines in the lower part; in the fruit 2-4 flattened pitted-wrinkled large seeds. Some species of the genus containing alkaloids and saponins are used in Chinese medicine.

Mad Cucumber ( Ecballium elaterium) grows in the Azores, in the Mediterranean, in Asia Minor, as well as in the south of the European part of Russia, in the Crimea and the Caucasus, mainly along the seashore, on light sandy soils or as a weed near housing. This is a large herbaceous perennial with a thickened, fleshy root, rough short stems without antennae and large, rigidly pubescent lobed leaves. Bright yellow flowers solitary or collected in small groups. Prickly greenish fruits resemble small cucumbers. This plant is not in vain called " squirting cucumber": by the time the fruits ripen, a colossal hydrostatic pressure arises in them (almost 6 atmospheres). Even a light touch on a ripe fruit causes an amazing effect. A crazy cucumber shoots like a spray gun. In an instant, the cucumber comes off the stalk, and from the one formed at the base fruit of the hole, a strong jet of sticky mucus is thrown out, dragging the seeds along. With such an "artillery shelling" the seeds are thrown out by the plant at a distance of more than 12 m. after another they fall off, thus spreading over long distances.In folk medicine and homeopathy, the juice of unripe fruits is used.Large doses of fruit juice can cause serious poisoning.

Black step ( Bryonia melanocarpa) a rare endemic species of Uzbekistan, found only in the South-Eastern Kyzylkum, was included in the Red Book of the CIS. This climbing plant creeping along the ground local population enjoys great popularity as a medicinal plant and, as a result of immoderate harvesting, will soon completely disappear from the face of the earth, if urgent measures are not taken to protect it.

Decorative: blackberry, or prickly echinocystis; melotria drooping and punctate.

Echinocystis prickly ( Echinocystis echinata) was brought from North America to Europe, subsequently spreading in the south and in the middle zone of the European part of Russia, as well as in the Ussuri region of the Far East. It can be found along the banks of rivers and lakes, in bushes, as a weed in gardens. Single female and male flowers collected in a brush are located in the same leaf axils. This is annual plant with dissected leaves, it has an extremely fast growth, reaching a height of 10 meters in one season. Its thin, weak shoots are supported on supports by strong branching tendrils, twisted into a steep, strong spiral, similar to a clock spring. The plant can be pollinated not only by insects, but also by the wind. Its fragrant male flowers are always higher than the female ones. Even with a weak wind, pollen easily flies down, right on the stigmas of female flowers stretched upwards. In autumn, the plant develops bluish-green, oval, prickly, extremely peculiar fruits that open. At the top of the fruit there is a cap that opens when ripe, causing the seeds to scatter around. www/botanik.ru

Some species have a wide range of applications. So, winter wax gourd belongs to vegetable and melon plants. Her fruits are used both in technical and biological ripeness. Vegetable and technical include sponge, or luffa; Indian cucumber, or gourd; to vegetable and decorative - Antillean cucumber, or Anthuria; yellow cucumber, or momordica; snake cucumber, or trichosanthes; Peruvian cucumber, or lobed cyclantera; gourd Malabar; to medicinal and decorative - the step is white, dioecious and chokeberry.

According to the duration of life, pumpkin plants are: annuals: watermelon; sponge, or luffa; melon; blackberry, or echinocystis; vegetable marrow; torticollis, or kruknek; yellow cucumber, or momordica; snake cucumber, or trichosanthes; Indian cucumber, or gourd; mandersky cucumber; seed cucumber; squash; winter wax gourd; large-fruited pumpkin; gourd Malabar; pumpkin nutmeg; ordinary pumpkin, or hard-bark; fordgook pumpkin; hojosnia heteroclita; one - and perennial: melotria hanging and dotted; Mexican cucumber, or chayote; Peruvian cucumber, or lobed cyclantera; perennial: actinostemma lobed; nara, or acanthositsios bristly; mad cucumber; white step, dioecious and chokeberry; telfairia stopiform and western; tladianta is doubtful.

Among the cultivated genera and species of the pumpkin family, cucumber, watermelon, melon and pumpkin, which also includes zucchini and squash, have the greatest economic importance and wide distribution in the CIS. Other genera and species of this family are less common, and their practical significance in Ukraine is small. However, many of them deserve attention from experts. Agriculture and vegetable growers.

Pumpkin

Family Cucurbitaceae

Genera - 120 (8), species - 700 (9)

Distribution - tropical and subtropical areas

Life form - annual and perennial herbs, creepers

Pollination - insects

Fruits - berry or pumpkin, rarely capsules, seeds are spread by animals

In the natural flora of the temperate zone is absent

The family belongs to the monotypic order Cucurbitales. Its representatives are characterized by unisexual flowers with a cleft corolla and a lower ovary (some species are dioecious). Large, well-developed nectaries of female flowers are filled with very sweet nectar and are available to everyone, so about 150 species of insects visit pumpkin flowers. In male flowers, insects feed on highly nutritious pollen.

As a rule, gourds are fast-growing plants, their stems are climbing with tendrils (metamorphosed shoots) and large leaves. Fruits - pumpkins - sometimes reach colossal sizes and weights of more than 100 kg.

Predominantly in the ruderal flora of the southern part of Russia, sporadically one can find about ten feral or alien species of gourds. Among them, the most naturalized are the white step ( Bryonia alba) and an alien North American species of vesiculocarp lobe-leaved ( Echinocys tislobata). The vesicle, or echinocystis, grows very quickly and can reach a height of 10 m in the summer, it is pollinated not only by insects, but also by the wind.

However, the family is primarily interested in cultivated food, ornamental and technical plants, such as pumpkin and squash ( Cucurbita rero, originally from America), cucumber ( Cucumis sativus), melon ( melo sativa), luffa ( Luffa cylindrica, these three crops come from India), watermelon ( Citrullus lanatus, originally from Africa).

Spitting fruits. In the southern steppe regions of Russia, an unusual plant from the gourd family grows - "mad cucumber" (Ecballium elaterium), in which the seeds, surrounded by mucus, are forcefully ejected from the fetus under the action of turgor pressure.

The largest fruits. In many countries, competitions of large-fruited pumpkins are still held. In Canada, fruits weighing 284 and 287 kg were obtained, and in the USA a record fruit weighing 302 kg was grown in 1986.

According to the textbook Higher Plants: short course systematics with the basics of the science of vegetation. Authors Mirkin B.M., Naumova L.G., Muldashev A.A., 2001

The Cucurbitaceae family is very extensive. Its representatives live in both the Old and the New World and do not refuse either the humid tropics and subtropics, or deserts - it would be warm! Pumpkins have large seeds, grow rapidly at a young age, and in adulthood they reach impressive sizes.

Cucumber

India and China are recognized as the birthplace of this wonderful vegetable, but Russian gardeners have long brought it far to the north and created varieties that are phenomenal in terms of early maturity and cold resistance. In the southern gardens, the cucumber is inferior in area only to the tomato, and in the northern beds it loses only to cabbage. Local Russian varieties have long been bred in almost every province throughout the vast country (with the exception of the Far North). The nationwide love for a modest and "frivolous" product seems surprising. Moreover, cucumbers contain about 96% water (although, according to the catchphrase of the founder of the vegetable growing department of the Moscow Agricultural Academy, V. I. Edelstein, “this water is not tap water ...”). But the craving for fresh cucumbers is not at all accidental - their juice is rich in physiologically active substances. In addition to mineral salts, including the most important trace elements, it contains vitamins and enzymes that promote their absorption.

For thousands of years, cucumber has been used both in medicine and in cosmetology. Fresh fruits are known for their pronounced diuretic effect, as well as a laxative and antipyretic. The alkaline reaction of the pulp makes it an indispensable product for people suffering from high acidity of gastric juice. In addition, the fiber in the fruits is not coarse, it does not injure the gastrointestinal tract, but only helps to cleanse it.

Variety selection

Finding the “right” cucumber variety or hybrid is not an easy task. On the one hand, there are plenty to choose from: there are almost 2,000 of them in the state register of registered breeding achievements! But there is another side of the coin: with such a multitude, it is not surprising to get confused in search of what is necessary for specific conditions. Therefore, we will try to divide the selection process into 6 steps (in this case, we will talk about growing for the needs of the family).

Step 1: in a salad or in pickling? According to their purpose, varieties and hybrids of cucumber are divided into salad, pickling, suitable for canning and universal. The most popular pickling and universal varieties. It's hard to argue with lovers of classic pickles, but it's a pity that we grow few real lettuce varieties. After all, the most useful cucumber is fresh, and of them, the one that is more tender and juicy is better, and these qualities do not combine well with the strength necessary for canning raw materials. Universality in this case is conditional, for the sake of it you have to sacrifice something. So isn't it better to use special varieties? In a salad, for example, - Zozulya, put small be healthy on the table, salt in a tub of Teremok, and close in jars Hit of the season?

Step 2: inside view. The taste of fresh cucumber depends on many reasons. Here and chemical composition(content essential oils salts, sugars, acids). The consistency of the pulp and the stiffness of the skin also play a role. It should be noted that the cucumber fruits of modern high-quality hybrids do not bitter under any circumstances, but old pickling varieties have bitterness, which disappears during the fermentation process. So it makes no sense to put up with this drawback in lettuce cucumbers - it’s easier to immediately choose the right hybrid.

If you choose cucumbers for pickling, look for descriptions of strong fruits without voids and with dense pulp.

Step 3: relation to light. Having dealt with what kind of greens and gherkins we need, let's pay attention to the properties of the plants themselves. Let's start with the fact that the cucumber is "winter" and "summer". The word “winter” in this case has nothing to do with the ability to endure frost (it didn’t exist, and it doesn’t exist), and even in terms of resistance to cold weather, winter hybrids (varieties) are inferior to summer ones (it would seem a paradox). But they are shade-tolerant, able to bear fruit in rather poor lighting. This moment is relevant for those who grow cucumbers in shaded beds or on balconies.

Step 4: gender issues. It is very important whether the plant can produce fruit without pollination or not. Parthenocarpy is necessary in cases where there is no one to “work as bees” or there is not enough pollen (for example, there are few or no male flowers at all). Plants of bee-pollinated cucumber have their own tastes - under certain conditions they show high productivity: the pollinated ovary has an increased competitive ability in the struggle for nutrients. By the way, a fruit with developing seeds always contains more biologically active substances compared to a parthenocarpic cucumber.

Step 5: a bouquet of fruits. The number and arrangement of female flowers also matters. In those cases when they grow in the axils of the leaves in bunches of 3-7 pieces or more, we get a lot of medium-sized fruits. If the plant simultaneously forms only 1-2 ovaries, then they receive “enhanced nutrition” and can very quickly turn from undergrowths into overgrowths (in these cases, you have to harvest every other day).

Step 6: attention to the bushes. For those who care for plantings, great importance has the character of branching plants. Is it important for you to spend less time on shaping? Look for hybrids that are characterized by weak branching - usually their main stem is more loaded with fruits (until the plants "unload" from them, side shoots almost do not grow). After harvesting the first wave of the crop, some varieties of this type form normal, while others (Alphabet) have short shoots ending in flowers, and then the cucumbers are again compactly located along the main stem. The longer the season, the more such waves of fruiting can be.

However, the longer the summer lasts, the more pests and pathogens accumulate on plants. And then plants with strong lateral shoots and a large leaf surface show great viability - it is they who bear fruit until frost in the open field and until a short day in October in a greenhouse. Of the domestic hybrids of this type, the following can be mentioned: Maryina Grove, Chistye Prudy, Secret of the Firm; from imported ones: German, Meringue and others.

How to get a harvest?

Two elements at once

I decided to write about an interesting way to grow pumpkins, which allows you to get larger and more ripe fruits. I first saw its use in the late 90s. Pumpkin seedlings were planted in a greenhouse close to the wall. When she grew up and began to obscure the sun to her neighbors, besides, the danger of frost had passed, the lash was taken out of the greenhouse through the side transom or into a specially made hole. If the covering of the greenhouse is film, a gap is cut in it, the stem is threaded out through it (part of the leaves are cut off so as not to interfere), after which the edges of the gap are glued with adhesive tape so that they do not diverge. The roots remain in excellent conditions, and pumpkins grow well. O. Danilova, Moscow region

Cucumber is grown both in open ground and in greenhouses, greenhouses, tunnels, under temporary frame shelters and simply in furrows covered with non-woven material.

The soil for cucumbers is prepared so that it is loose, nutritious, with a reaction close to neutral, free from weeds, pests, so that there is no threat of stagnant water. culture is responsive to organic fertilizers, which improve the structure of the soil and contain growth-stimulating substances.

If there is a need for an early harvest, it makes sense to grow cucumber through seedlings. When planting fairly mature plants with 3-4 true leaves, the gain in time will be maximum. For the rest, the seedlings are treated like this: if the weather is already warm and the conditions at the planting site already meet the needs of young plants, they can be planted with the first true leaf. In all cases, when sowing seedlings, we can keep the process under control: at a temperature of 25-27 °C, at least 90% of good seeds will sprout already on the 3rd-4th day. True, for this, the seeds must be carefully sown horizontally, planted to the same depth of 1-1.5 cm and evenly heated.

If sowing is carried out immediately to a permanent place, then it is started when the soil warms up to at least 16 ° C. At the same time, one must be prepared for the fact that seedlings will appear only on the 6-10th day and may be unfriendly.

Planting density depends on varietal characteristics ( small leaves or large, poorly growing side shoots or they are powerful), on the place of cultivation (in a greenhouse or open field) and on how long we are going to keep the plants (the longer, the more space they need to be given). On average, 2.5 vigorous plants or 3.5 weakly branching plants in a greenhouse and 3-4.5 in open ground are obtained per 1 m2.

Most convenient way placement - two-line tapes. 40-50 cm are left between rows in the tape so that an irrigation pipe or a furrow for irrigation or a strip of black nonwoven fabric. Between the ribbons (pairs of rows), wide row spacings are left - 110-120 cm, and in a row between plants - 20-30 cm. When using a trellis, plants can be planted in one line with a step of 20 cm, and their tops in checkerboard pattern tie to two parallel wires fixed 50 cm apart along the bed.

Developing plants often have to be watered (in the heat - every other day) and fed (every 10 days). After all, the root system is the weak point of the cucumber. Not only does she hardly cope with the supply of a large mass of leaves and fruits, - in case of shortage nutrients with a massive pouring of the ovaries, the roots begin to die off! Cucumber is more responsive to organic fertilizers than other vegetables (an infusion of manure or manure 1: 5-10, diluted before application in a proportion of 0.5 liters per bucket).

When grown in open ground, the shaping is carried out according to the "minimum program" - pinching the tops at the beginning of the growth of the ovaries to speed up the process, and side shoots, if there is a real threat of thickening. It is possible to do without surgical intervention at all, when growth is limited by the generous sun for heat and light and actively growing fruits.

In the greenhouse, cucumber plants must be tied up so that they use its volume. Remove flowers and shoots from the axils of the lower leaves so that they do not interfere with air circulation and do not provoke the development of rot. In the future, several lateral shoots are pinched on one leaf and the fruit (or fruits, if they grow in a bunch), even higher - on two fruits, so that the leaves do not block each other's light. If the top grows to the trellis, it is thrown over it and two or three internodes are placed on the wire.

For maximum yield, fruits should be harvested every other day in hot weather and twice a week in cool weather. Weekend-only gardeners need to control growth with ventilation (sometimes you can leave greenhouses open all week), moderate watering, and reduced nitrogen fertilization. The harvest will be less, but you will not have to worry about overgrowths that have not found application.

Zucchini and company

Zucchini, like all vegetables discovered along with America, first came to the Mediterranean and spread across the continent in subsequent centuries. At the beginning of the 19th century, Russia got acquainted with white-fruited zucchini, which were grown in Greece, in connection with which they first received the name "Greek". At the age of 7-10 days after pollination, white-fruited zucchini have a delicate skin and good taste, they can be fried, stewed or cooked in another way without peeling, but after a week the skin begins to turn into a bark, which is difficult to even pierce with a knife, let alone clear. These classic zucchini keep just as well after ripening as their sister squash.

In the twentieth century, amazing multi-colored zucchini, bred in Italy, were brought to our country, where they are called "pumpkins" - "zucchini". They differ in powerful indented leaves with inclusions of whitish air-bearing tissue (like a watermelon), but the main thing is that the yellow, green, dark green, striped or speckled skin of the fruit does not become woody: a two-week mini-zucchini and a two-kilogram "boar" are subject to the knife with mature seeds. The latter can be safely cleaned even months after harvest, so if you have a lot to do at the end of the season, you can postpone cooking squash caviar for later dates.

Patisson has fruits resembling a disk with rounded edges (or a flying saucer, it was not for nothing that a variety called UFO appeared), and a dense crispy pulp. The skin of most varieties hardens when ripe, like "Greek" zucchini.

Crookneck fruits look like zucchini, curved at the stalk - not without reason they got their apt name (translated from English, it means "crooked neck"). In the company of vegetable varieties of hard-skinned pumpkin, they have the most nutritious and dietary valuable pulp, but they are more thermophilic and demanding on growing conditions compared to zucchini and squash, and therefore are inferior to them in popularity. In addition, domestic varieties have not yet been registered.

Pumpkin

In reference books, especially old ones, pumpkin can not be found among vegetable crops: it, like melon with watermelon, was isolated in separate category- "melons". American pumpkins, hard-skinned and large-fruited, have been grown in Russia for more than 400 years. Pumpkins have a powerful root system, which allows them to absorb water from great depths (up to 2 meters or more) and supply large leaves, which is very important in the south. At the same time, they are quite cold-resistant, thanks to which they have moved north, including the Non-Black Earth region. “Fatties” show their taste qualities only in biological ripeness, and it takes a long time to wait for it: about 120 days from germination, even for early varieties. However, pumpkins have a remarkable property: they ripen for another 2-3 months after they are harvested, and during this time, as the starch is broken down and turned into sugars, they become sweeter. And after that they may not lose their qualities for several more months, almost until spring. For storage and ripening they are removed to a cool, but not cold room, not without reason their traditional place in a peasant's hut is under a bed or a bench.

When sown with seeds in open ground pumpkins north of Voronezh do not ripen every year, so it is better to sow under cover, in large holes fertilized with manure, or plant seedlings. Plants take up a lot of space: bush plants need at least 1 m2, climbing plants - up to 4 m2. To obtain seedlings, seeds are sown no earlier than 20-25 days before planting in liter pots with a nutrient mixture, taking into account the fact that the "babies" are large (and grow like a fabulous hero, "by leaps and bounds"). Seeds are planted to a depth of 2-3 cm; closer to the surface, seedlings do not shed their hard seed coat and are strongly elongated. The temperature before germination is maintained at the level of 23-25 °C, after the full emergence of shoots, it is reduced to 17-20 during the day and 14-15 at night. Seedlings, like all heat-loving crops, are planted with the expectation that they do not fall under frost.

Care consists of periodic loosening, abundant watering in the first half of summer, top dressing (if the pumpkin does not “sit” on compost heap, where there is enough food) and pinching a whip to accelerate the ripening of fruit that has set (where summer is short).

exotic

Acquaintance with momordica, melotria, anguria, lagenaria and chayote has for residents middle lane more educational than practical. But in the Krasnodar Territory, they feel great and find admirers. In Sochi, they showed me lagenaria, a pumpkin "with a waist" - a gourd, from which you can make a jug. Chayote was planted in a film greenhouse at the Adler Station of the Research Institute of Vegetable Growing. One plant was enough to form a huge light green umbrella by the middle of summer, under which several people could hide from the unbearable heat (the lashes of the “Mexican cucumber” are such that if they are not pinched in time, they will grow up to 8 meters). Numerous chayote fruits are white-greenish in color and resemble quince in shape. The pulp is dense: to prepare a salad, it had to be planed on a grater.

Animals in numbers:

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PUMPKIN family
(CUCURBITACEAE)

/ / Pumpkin /
/ / Cucurbitaceae /

Family Cucurbitaceae (CUCURBITACEAE) This family includes 130 genera and about 900 species, growing mainly in tropical and subtropical regions from tropical rainforests to deserts. Africa is especially rich in wild-growing pumpkins, as well as Asia and America. AT temperate latitudes There are relatively few members of this family. Cucurbitaceous annual or perennial, climbing or creeping herbs, rarely shrubs, with alternate, palmately or pinnately lobed (less often separate) or simple leaves. Most members of the family are equipped with antennae, which are modified shoots. Flowers are usually unisexual, unisexual or dioecious, rarely bisexual, actinomorphic, solitary or collected in axillary inflorescences - bunches, brushes, panicles, umbrellas. The perianth, together with the base of the filaments, forms a flower tube attached to the ovary; cup is five-lobed. Corolla sympetalous, five-lobed or five-parted (up to dissected), yellow or white, rarely greenish or red. Stamens 2-3-5, very rarely 2, more often 5, of which usually 4 are fused in pairs; sometimes all filaments or anthers of all stamens grow together. The gynoecium consists of 3, rarely 5 or 4 carpels; ovary inferior (sometimes semi-inferior), often three-celled, with numerous ovules in each nest; column with thickened fleshy stigmas.

Cucurbitaceae are mostly insect pollinated plants. Large, well-developed nectaries, filled with very sweet nectar, have such a structure that they are accessible to everyone. Therefore, the flowers of gourds are visited by about 150 species of insects. The flowers of many species do not have a strong aroma and lure pollinators either with large bright yellow corollas (like those of a pumpkin, watermelon, cucumber, etc.), or their petals have the ability to reflect ultraviolet rays invisible to our eyes. The main pollinators of gourds are bees (especially honey bees) and steppe ants, as well as wasps and bumblebees. Insects visit male flowers more often, as pollen serves as an excellent food for insects; it contains more than a hundred useful substances, including proteins, fats and many vitamins. In the vast majority of representatives of the family, the fruits are similar in structure to a berry, but very peculiar, called "pumpkin". A classic example pumpkin, watermelon, melon and cucumber can serve this type of fruit. In pumpkins, sometimes some of the most ripe and viable seeds germinate inside the fruit. As a result, when an overripe fruit cracks, not only seeds fall out of it, but also fully developed seedlings, the roots of which quickly penetrate into loose soil and take root. Most modern classification the gourd family belongs to the English botanist Ch.Jeffrey (1980). According to this classification, the family is divided into two subfamilies and 8 tribes.

A large subfamily of gourds (Gucurbitoideae) contains 7 tribes, including 110 genera. One of the most primitive representatives of the gourd subfamily is the genus Telfairia (Telfairia), belonging to the tribe Joliffieae. The same tribe includes the genera Momordica and Tladiantha. The paleotropic genus of momordica includes about 45 species, most of which are annuals. climbing vines with a thin stem and long-leaved leaves, cultivated in the tropical countries of Asia. In the genus Tladianta, there are about 15 species that grow in East and Southeast Asia.

Another tribe (benincaseae tribe) includes genera acanthosicyos (Acanthosicyos, 2 species), wild cucumber (Ecballium. monotypic genus), watermelon (Citrullus) and others. Akanthositsios is a typical desert plant with tendrils turned into spines and a thick, sometimes very long root. Of the other genera of the same tribe, watermelon (Citrullus) must be mentioned first of all. These are annual or perennial pubescent creeping herbs with dissected leaves. The flowers are large, solitary, unisexual or bisexual; sepals and their petals grow together at the base. Corolla yellow, stamens 5. Stigma three-lobed, ovary three-celled. The fruit is a multi-seeded juicy pumpkin with flat seeds. Watermelon is common in tropical and subtropical regions. the globe. The genus includes 3 species: edible watermelon, colocynth, whiskerless watermelon, the range of which is limited to the Namib Desert region in Southwest Africa. The tendrils of this plant are completely reduced. The same tribe, in addition to watermelon, includes the genera Bryonia, Lagenaria, or gourd (Lagenaria), Benincasa, and some others. The genus step includes 12 species growing in the Canary Islands, the Mediterranean, Europe, Western and Central Asia. These climbing perennial tall plants can be found in the Caucasus and Central Asia among shrubs, on forest edges, in ravines, and also as weeds near hedges and walls. The antennae of the feet have a particularly fine sensitivity to the touch of solid objects, which causes them to grow very rapidly and bend towards the stimulus. For relatively short term tendrils tightly wrap around the support, securely holding the weight of the heavy mass of the plant. Small inconspicuous flowers of the step, collected in sparse inflorescences, almost do not stand out against the background of the leaves and smell very weakly, however, insects willingly visit them, attracted by the ultraviolet pattern of the corolla, invisible to our eyes. In the pumpkin family, only representatives of this genus have a fruit that is a real berry. Numerous small seeds of the footstep are covered with strong and strong armor. The embryo of the seed that has passed through the bird's digestive tract remains intact and capable of germination. Overripe berries of the footstep are crushed at the slightest touch, and the seeds are glued with mucus to the skin of the animal that touched them, thus spreading too. Some species of the genus are poisonous plants, some are used in a number of countries as medicinal. Berries and roots containing glycosides brionin and brionidine are especially poisonous.

The Cucurbiteae tribe includes 12 genera, including the genus Cucurbita, which has about 20 species that grow wild exclusively in America. Some of them have long been introduced into culture. By now there is great amount varieties of food, fodder and ornamental pumpkins. Representatives of the genus are perennial or annual herbaceous plants with a rounded or faceted stem, often prostrate, sometimes climbing. It occupies a somewhat isolated position in the tribe gourd genus luffa (Luffa), which has much in common with the next tribe of cyclanthers (Cyclanthereae). There are 5 species in the genus.

The cyclanter tribe (Cyclanthereae) includes 12 genera, growing mainly in the tropical and subtropical zone. In all representatives of these genera, the stamen filaments are fused, the fruits are prickly, often opening. An example is the large American genus Echinocystis (Echinocystis), which unites about 15 species, with white small monoecious flowers. Another interesting genus of the tribe is the cyclantera (Cyclanthera), which includes about 15 species. All of them grow in the Central and tropical South America. It's grassy climbing plants with pubescent stem and five-seven-lobed leaves. Yellow, green or white flowers without nectaries. therefore, plants are pollinated mainly by the wind. Ripe fruits are suddenly opened by two valves, each of which is folded back with force. As a result, the seeds are scattered over quite considerable distances. The Sicyosovye tribe (Sicyoeae) is characterized by female flowers with a single-celled, less often three-celled ovary; stamens of male flowers fused, with sinuous anthers. To the tribe belong 6 genera, of which the most interesting are Sitsios (Sicyos) and Chayote (Sechium). The genus Sitsios includes about 15 species that grow in the Hawaiian Islands, Polynesia, Australia and tropical America. Most of them are vine-like annual herbs with alternate, slightly lobed or angular thin leaves. The genus Schizopepone (Schizopepon), which forms a separate tribe of Schizopeponeae (Schizopeponae), has only 5 species, is distributed from North India to East Asia.

The Trichosanth tribe (Trichosaiitheae) includes 10 genera. All are characterized by long tubular flowers with fringed or entire petals. The fruits are cylindrical or trihedral, often non-opening or opening into three equal parts. The most famous is the genus Trichosanthes (Trichosanthes), which includes about 15 species distributed in Southeast Asia and Australia. The morphological structure of these plants is common for most gourds - a liana-like appearance, wide lobed leaves, unisexual flowers; men's are collected in a rare brush, and women's are single. Often the petals are spirally curved inwards, giving the long-tubular flowers a somewhat unusual appearance. Unripe fruits are edible, so some of these species are introduced into the culture. In addition, mature fruits are often very showy, which, together with the abundant lush greenery of the leaves, makes the plants very decorative. The monotypic Indo-Malaysian genus Hodgsonia, close to Trichosanthes, is also interesting.

The Melothrieae tribe includes 34 genera, including the cucumber genus (Cucumis), represented by more than 25 species, distributed mainly in Africa. Only a few species are found in Asia. A number of species are cultivated as food plants for their edible fruits. Other interesting genera of the tribe include Corallocarpus, Melothria, and Kedrostis. The genus kedrostis (about 35 species) is distributed in tropical and subtropical regions of Africa, Madagascar, tropical Asia and Malesia. In the steppes of South Africa, one can often find creeping liana-like, densely pubescent, gray-green, herbaceous plants belonging to the genus Kedrostis creeping along the ground.

The subfamily Zanonievye (Zanonioideae) includes 18 genera, which are combined into one tribe. Most of the plants of this subfamily live in countries of the tropical and subtropical belt. The monotypic Iido-Malaysian genus Zanonia most fully characterizes the entire subfamily. Its flowers are dioecious with a two-three-celled ovary; fruits - hairy club-shaped boxes, when ripe, opening with a lid, scattering light winged oblate seeds that are spread by the wind over long distances. The genus actinostemma (Actinostemma), numbering about 6 species, is distributed in East Asia and the Himalayas. All of them are perennial herbaceous vines with climbing stems. One of the species is found within Russia.

The Cucurbitaceae family includes about 30 species of cultivated plants, divided into 9 genera. These are vegetable and melon crops cultivated for edible fruits (cucumber, pumpkin, watermelon), obtaining oil from seeds (watermelon oil varieties), fibers (luffa), utensils (lagenaria - bottle, or utensil pumpkin).
Pumpkins are among the first plants introduced by man into culture. Pumpkin species played an important role in the agriculture of the ancient civilizations of South and Central America. Cucumber has long been cultivated in India and China.

Rice. 58. Physalis:
b
a - wrapper (flashlight); b - a fruit with an open wrapper
The most widespread cultivation of cucumber, melon,
watermelon and pumpkin. Watermelon, melon and pumpkin cultivated in the field culture belong to melon crops.
All plants of the Cucurbitaceae family are represented by vines originating from tropical forests. Some of them (watermelon, melon and pumpkin) in the process of evolution with climate change (decrease in humidity) have adapted to the conditions of dry tropics and subtropics. Climbing vines under these conditions were transformed into creeping ones, and later, under the conditions of cultivation in arid regions, weakly branching short-branching and branching bush forms appeared among them.
With the advent of these life forms, there was a tendency to transition from monopodial to sympodial branching (determinant plants).
Pumpkin cultures are distinguished by a relatively small proportion of biomass attributable to axial organs, large seeds and strong initial growth, which ensures the rapid formation of an assimilation apparatus.
A characteristic feature of the representatives of this family is the presence of antennae, well expressed in climbing vines (luffa, lagenaria, chayote, greenhouse and Far Eastern varieties of cucumber), much weaker in creeping vines (ground European varieties cucumber) and relatively weakly, up to reduction, in short climbing and bush varieties of pumpkin, zucchini and cucumber.
Leaves pinnately or palmately lobed, arranged alternately. Cirro-lobed (watermelon) have most varieties of watermelon, fig-leaved gourd (ficifolia), some varieties of hard-bark gourd and zucchini squash, originating from the arid regions of the Mediterranean.
Some varieties of watermelon have a whole (long) leaf. A device for lowering leaf temperature is the presence of shiny, light-reflecting areas (spots) of aerenchyma on the leaves of watermelon, certain varieties of pumpkin and lagenaria, as well as the pubescence of leaves observed in watermelon and lagenaria. Under conditions unfavorable for growth in cucumber and pumpkin, plants with fasciated stems often appear.
In the axils of the leaves are inflorescences with male, female and bisexual flowers. Sometimes heterosexual flowers are formed in one node, which is associated with the genotype and growing conditions. Perhaps the formation of single, usually female, flowers.
The family is represented by monoecious and dioecious cross-pollinating (entomophilous) plants. The flowers are pollinated by bees, bumblebees, ants and other insects.
Flowers vary greatly in size within the family. In all species, they have a five-lobed calyx and corolla, often bright yellow in color. male flowers have 5 (in most cases fused) stamens with longitudinally opening anthers and rather large pollen.
For female flowers, the lower ovary and gynoecium are usually characterized by 3 or less often 4-5 carpels.
The seeds are large, without endosperm, with large cotyledons and a direct embryo. The fruit is a false multi-seeded berry (pumpkin). The mass of the fetus ranges from a few grams to 100 kg. The gourd family has the largest fruits among angiosperms. The shape of the fruit in individual crops (cucumber, watermelon) depends on the sex of the flower. Female flowers give rise to elongated fruits, hermaphroditic - rounded.
All members of the family form a highly developed root system, which at the first stages of ontogenesis is significantly ahead of the above-ground in its development. In a cucumber, for example, at the age of 18 days, the surface of the roots can be several tens of times larger than the surface of the leaves. This feature and low regenerative ability of the roots exclude the possibility of growing pumpkin seedlings without pots.
Cultures differ greatly in the structure of the root system, which covers, for example, a pumpkin, a soil volume of up to 5 m3. In a watermelon on a rainfed water, the roots penetrate to a depth of 2 m or more. All crops included in the family are very heat-demanding and do not tolerate not only negative temperatures, but also prolonged exposure to low (below 10 ° C) positive ones.
A decrease in soil temperature is especially unfavorable for plants. According to the degree of cold resistance, the cultures are arranged in the following order: large-fruited pumpkin, hard-barked pumpkin (pumpkin, zucchini, squash), nutmeg pumpkin, cucumber, watermelon, melon. Due to the shorter growing season, hard-skinned pumpkin, and especially zucchini, are less heat-demanding than large-fruited pumpkin. Less heat-demanding than watermelon, and early-ripening varieties of melon.