Squash They belong to the pumpkin family and are a shrub herb. It is better to cook dishes from young fruits that are similar in taste to zucchini. Varietal varieties of squash can not be called numerous. Their main difference is observed only in the color of the fruit and the ripening period. To taste, they are mostly identical. They are grown in open ground, in greenhouses, under temporary film shelter and in greenhouses.
Squash: plant description
Squash - an annual herb that is considered a relative of an ordinary pumpkin. This vegetable has been known since ancient times. In the wild, it does not occur and is a hybrid plant. The squash is very unpretentious, so he is able to actively bear fruit in almost any climatic conditions.
In terms of taste, texture and composition, the squash fruits are very similar to zucchini, only differ greatly in their shape. A squash looks more like a star or a flower. Thanks to this form, it is also called a plate pumpkin. Adult fruits in diameter can reach 30 cm. They are the most delicious in the period when they reach 10 cm. Squashes are also bred for decorative purposes; special varieties are selected for them with bright yellow and orange fruits.
Only about how to grow a squash in the country, they know, perhaps, not all gardeners. Squashes are attracted by the fact that their cultivation is carried out from seeds. Over-ripened fruit is left on the seeds, the seeds should be removed, cleaned and dried in a warm room, which is well ventilated and illuminated by diffused sunlight.
Lighting and temperature
You need to choose a well-lit plot of land, because the shadow has a bad effect on the ripening of the future harvest. Squashes should bask in the sun. If you have on one side various garden crops that disperse the sun's rays and do not let the wind pass, then this will only have a positive effect on the quantity, and most importantly, on the quality of the crop. It is desirable that this area is covered most of the day.
Soil requirements
Squashes feel comfortable on friable loamy soils and black-earth soils. In order not to be mistaken, it is better to choose soils with a neutral reaction. In slightly acidic soil, for example, you can add wood ash. For the squash is very important refueling soil. The leading positions for these needs are organic fertilizers. Before planting seeds in the soil that has been dug up in autumn, fill it with semi-mature manure mixed with mineral fertilizers.
How to prepare for planting squash
On those suburban areas where there is almost no free space, the squash can be grown in special prepared containers. In their quality, you can use elegant flowerpots or use a simple option - ordinary plastic bags.
Features of soil preparation
From what soil you are going to sow the seeds of squash, depends on what kind of fertilizer will be more useful. Where peat soils each square meter of land with such soil should be fertilized with 2 kg of manure and one bucket of sod land. Soil also needs superphosphate along with potassium sulfate - two teaspoons, and also wood ash - two tablespoons. After that you need to dig a strip approximately 70 cm wide and 25 cm deep.
Then there you need to pour a bucket of a warm solution "Agricola-5". When the bed is completely fertilized, it must be covered with a film so that the evaporation of moisture will decrease and the heat will be preserved. Where clay soils Before planting patissons, the soil must first be fertilized with peat, humus and sawdust. You also need to add one tablespoon of superphosphate and two tablespoons of wood ash. Sandy soil need to fertilize the turf ground and peat in the amount of one bucket per square meter. Then - sawdust with humus of 3 kg per square.
The remaining fertilizers are applied in the same proportions as for clay soils. Fertile chernozem need to mix with sawdust in the amount of 2 kg per square meter of soil. Superphosphate is applied not in the form of a solution, but in powder, one tablespoon per square. Wood ash - two tablespoons per square meter. Especially should be fertilized virgin soil. First, the soil must be cleaned from the roots and larvae of pests.
After that, 3 kg of compost, one tablespoon of nitrophosphate and two tablespoons of wood ash are applied to each square meter. Next, the site should be dug and poured with a solution of "Agricola-5".
Important! At the end of these events, the bed should be held under the film for about five days. Only then can you start planting the seeds of squash.
Autumn preparation
There are a number of rules for growing pumpkins. Firstly, the land for sowing needs to be cooked since autumn. After the previous crop, along with its plant residues, has been removed, it is loosened to allow weeds to grow. After two weeks, the area needs to be dug up to a depth of 25 cm and removed sprouting weeds. Under the digging of soil make 10 kg of manure per square meter, as well as 5 kg of compost or humus. Heavy soils fertilize more with organic fertilizer, and light soils less.
Spring Training
In spring, light soils are early harrowed and loosened twice. The first loosening should be carried out to a depth of 15 cm, the second - before sowing - already by 10 cm, destroying the ascended weeds. Under digging introduced "organic" and "minerals": up to 6 kg of humus or compost, 40 g of superphosphate and 25 g of potassium nitrate. Fertilizers are scattered evenly over the entire plot and are buried to the very bottom when digging.
Drainage, ridges and ridges should be organized in the lowlands. The width of the ridges should be one meter, and the height is 30 cm. The crests are made from steep northern and flat southern sides. Their height should not exceed 35 cm. The distance between the ridges should be about 80 cm.
Did you know? Patissons help to cope with problems of the heart, hypertension, anemia, catarrh, obesity, stress and diseases of the kidneys, liver and gastrointestinal tract.
Soil fertilizer and seed preparation before planting
Squash, planting and care for which occurs in open ground, can be grown seedlings and seedless. But whatever method is chosen, their seeds must be prepared for planting.
Before planting the scallops, you need to carry out pre-sowing seed preparation, which includes the following steps:
- Five-hour heating in the oven at 50 ° C. The need for this arises solely because of these seeds, more female flowers appear, which later give the ovary. An alternative, but longer option is to warm up the seeds laid out on the cardboard on the battery for one week.
- Sowing seed squash seeds in 1% manganese solution.
- Sprouting seeds. This process takes two days.
- Hardening involves putting the seeds in the fridge on the bottom shelf for six hours.
- Soaking in stimulating solutions is a very fast method of preparing seeds for planting. Experienced gardeners are advised to use aloe juice with water for this purpose. You can purchase and special formulations: "Bud" and "Energen", for example. After soaking the seeds should be washed and let them rest for two days under wet gauze at 23 ° C.
How to plant squash with seeds
Before planting the patissons, make sure that the soil prepared for planting in the fall is warming well by the end of May and the frosts will not descend. Smooth the soil with a rake on the plot, remove the weeds, form the required number of beds and dig holes 7 x 7 cm. This is the optimal size necessary so that the plantings are not very thick and the squash does not rot.
Plant seeds to a depth of 8 cm in several pieces per well and sprinkle with earth. Then gently pour and seal the surface. Cover the beds with a film until the first shoots appear.
Features care for seedlings
Having set up a bed with patissons in your garden, be aware that those vegetables that have been sown in the soil ripen slower than those grown from seedlings. Well born those vegetables that were planted in the form of seedlings in a greenhouse or under film. If there is not enough free space, then the seedlings can be grown in containers, flowerpots or ordinary plastic bags.
How to care for the squash seedlings
To the squash gave the earliest harvest, you need to grow seedlings. Vegetables on the seedlings are planted closer to the end of April, two seeds in small plastic cups. They mix a mixture of humus and forest land with a layer of 4 cm. Sowing is placed under glass and kept until germination at a temperature of 30 ° C.
When the first sprouts hatch, the glass should be removed, and the temperature should be reduced to 22 ° C during the day and 18 ° C at night. This is done by necessity, because the seedlings can stretch upward, having expended on it a lot of excess energy. As a result, the root system may not develop completely, as does the cotyledon leaves. A week later, you can return to the old temperature.
Rules for the care of seedlings of squash are in the proper soil moistening and feeding. Ten-day seedlings should be fertilized with a mullein solution with the addition of infusion of superphosphate. A kilogram of cow manure is diluted with 10 liters of water, 15 g of superphosphate is poured with water until completely dissolved, insist for a day and mix everything. When it comes time to plant the seedlings in the ground, they are again fed with a solution of nitrophoska in a ratio of 50 g per 10 liters of water.
Terms and rules for planting seedlings in open ground
Sowing seedlings of patissons in open ground occurs in late April or early May, when the weather no longer presents surprises in the form of unexpected night frosts. But still the weather is unpredictable, so the ray seedlings covered with a film in order to protect. A thin spanbond will fit, under which you do not need to build a frame, but simply put it on top of the seedlings. But nevertheless it is better to be engaged in planting the squash when spring finally took the reins in its hands and the threat of frost has passed.
If the weather is sunny and warm, then in two weeks the first flowers will appear. Then protection from possible frosts will only interfere with pollination and the formation of ovaries. Properly prepared and mature seedlings with two or three true leaves that have grown (that is, already 20-25 days after sowing seeds) are suitable for planting.
Planting seedlings is best early in the morning or after sunset. In this way, shock from a sudden change in habitat will be minimized. They should be planted together with an earthen clod of glass into a dug hole with compacted walls. Seedlings immediately pritenite and pour water. Squash need to sit at a distance of 80 cm from each other. So the plants will not be able to interfere with each other and will freely bask in the sun.
The secrets of growing squash: how to care for the plant?
To look after the squash is very simple and not at all burdensome. The task is even easier if the soil is well fertilized and seedlings are properly planted in the ground. The main thing is to water them more often, weed the beds and remove constantly emerging weeds.
Important! Do not let the fruits that have just begun to ripen touch the ground so that they do not rot. Tie branches and arrange the supports. You can enclose the board.
Watering rules
While the seedlings are still not fully rooted, they need to be watered frequently and abundantly. Reinforced watering is also necessary during the period of active fruit formation. Water should be used only separated and warm (about 25 ° C). Watering is carried out every five days at 8 liters per square meter - this is before the flowering begins, and during the flowering and formation of ovaries - 10 liters per square every three days.
Water should be poured either under the root or into a specially made small ditch around the plant. Water should not fall on the leaves, flowers, and especially on the ovary. Intensive watering helps to expose the root system of squash, so they must be protected by adding mulch during the growing season.
Did you know? Due to the unusual shape of the patissons, they are not cut like squash, in simple cubes or rings, but neatly cut out the middle and stuffed. The filling can be any: sweet, vegetable, mushroom or meat.
Basics of feeding patissons in the garden
Squash planted in the ground, fertilized twice. Before they begin to bloom, they need to be fed 15 g of double superphosphate, 20 g of potassium sulfate and the same amount of ammonium sulfate. If organic fertilizer is closer to you, then mullein, diluted in water at the rate of 1:10, or chicken litter - 1:20 will be the best for squash.
