How to grow Margelan radish in the country or in the garden?

Features and benefits

Margelan radish is called the record holder for the amount of macro- and microelements that a person needs. It contains vitamins, sugars, pectin, fiber, essential oils, but it is from it that a person can get the maximum amount of elements needed by the body in the process of growth and functioning. In addition, the ability to stimulate appetite, speed up metabolism, cleanse internal organs of sand and congestion make it even more desirable in our menu. The minimum amount of mustard oil explains the advantageous difference in its taste - green radish has almost no bitterness, it is sweet and juicy, goes well with other vegetables, so that even the most capricious children eat it.

Traditional medicine has long been using the specific features of the radish, so the Chinese one is used as an anesthetic and antiseptic, in the fight against colds and flu. It is recommended for those who adhere to diets (medicinal or for some reason), who have liver problems, kidney or gallbladder problems. It also helps people with reduced gastric acid secretion.

The beneficial qualities of Margelan radish can become dangerous for some people if consumed excessively. So, in the presence of stones in the internal organs, the radish juice can move them without having time to dissolve, therefore it is recommended to mix it with other juices (carrot, beetroot), and it is better to do this under the supervision of a doctor.

Passion for radishes during pregnancy can tone the uterus. And at the moment of exacerbation of stomach diseases, even the most harmless salad will provoke discomfort. You just need to be reasonable and careful, because only useless food does no harm.

Margelan radish is the most diverse type of radish according to external data. Its roots can be white, green, red or purple on the outside, but the upper part under the tops is always green, even sometimes not only white, but light green, creamy, pink and even red. Watermelon varieties are gaining more and more popularity, in which round green root crops on the outside in the cut delight with red pulp. Even the shape and size can surprise - round, cylindrical and simply elongated root crops can grow from 300 grams to one and a half kilograms in weight.

Video “What is Margelan Radish?”

In this video, experienced gardeners and gardeners will tell you what this vegetable is.

Growing rules

Margelan radish: planting and care, planting dates - everything is similar to other species, but it has some nuances that you should pay attention to in order not only to grow a rich harvest, but to collect it without the help of pests, and even save it for the winter.The radish needs to be watered, weeded, sometimes spud and fed, protected from pests. It is very important that watering is regular - drought will make the root crop tough, and abundant watering after it can provoke cracking.

Soil preparation

Chinese radish is an undemanding plant, it can grow on any soil, but if a gardener wants to grow tasty, large, juicy roots, then you need to create the best conditions for it. The soil should be fertile and non-acidic, but if you apply a lot of fertilizers, there will always be a risk that they will accumulate in root crops (especially nitrogen). Therefore, it is best to prepare the land in advance: in the fall, the future bed must be dug at least 30 cm deep, compost or humus into it, add mineral fertilizers (superphosphate, ammonium sulfate and any potash), wood ash. You can add peat or sand if the soil is very heavy, but the roots can grow even in clay. If the soil is acidic, then 2 or 3 weeks before that, it is advisable to add lime or dolomite flour, let it digest.

Radish should not be grown after its relatives (cabbage, radish, turnip) for 3-4 years, it will grow best after tomatoes, cucumbers, onions or potatoes. Under these vegetables, you need to fertilize the garden well, then the radish after them will get a perfectly enriched soil. And fresh manure should not be applied even in the fall before spring crops, root crops will be tasteless, tough and branched, and too much nitrogen will turn out.

Green radish grows well on raised beds, and in areas located in lowlands, it is imperative to raise the beds 15 - 20 cm above the general level of the garden. In the spring, before sowing, compost or humus is scattered over the site, then they are dug up again, grooves are marked.

Timing and methods of planting

Green radish can be grown twice in one season. In the spring, they are usually sown early, which is planned to be eaten fresh immediately. And in the fall, a radish is planted, which can be eaten immediately, but can be put in a cellar or basement for long-term storage. So in the spring they usually sow at the beginning of May, when the heat has already established, and the harvest is harvested at the end of June. The radish can perfectly survive a cold snap, even small frosts, and the seeds will germinate at an air temperature of +3 or +5 degrees, but such conditions will not allow the root crop to grow, but will provoke rapid flowering. It must be planted so that growth falls on not the longest daylight hours, and the air temperature remains within the range from +18 to +22 degrees. If the temperature drops below +15 or rises above +25 degrees, then the plant forms a peduncle, which means that it will no longer work for food, it will have to be thrown away or wait for seeds. This is what you need to focus on when determining the timing of sowing seeds in the ground, which means that these terms will be different for each area. Someone else will sow in April, and someone else in mid-May.

Anyone who wants to eat radish in winter and immediately thinks about where and how to store it, sows late varieties in the first half of July. For most varieties, the technical maturity of root crops occurs 60 - 90 days after germination. When frosts come, every summer resident knows approximately. Here, based on these parameters, you can determine the timing of summer sowing for each area. In the south, they sow in August, and in the north, in September they are already harvested. In the second half of summer, the weather is usually not so hot, daylight hours are reduced, this reduces the possibility of plant shooting, if you take good care of it, you can think about how to store a large harvest.

The radish grows large, it needs a lot of space, so they sow, leaving at least 35 cm between the rows. You can put 3 - 4 seeds in a row, and then the next portion every 15 cm. If you sow by the nesting method, then 3 or 4 seeds should also be placed in each nest, and the nests should be staggered.Sowing is usually carried out in moist soil to a depth of 2 cm, then the seeds are poured, the soil is slightly tamped, and if necessary, water a little more.

Many gardeners soak the seeds before sowing, they sprout in about 5 days, dry seeds sprout a few days later. Experts recommend disinfecting planting material with a weak solution of potassium permanganate in order to reduce the possibility of diseases. Soaking will help sort out completely empty specimens that will not sprout at all.

Thinning

Such sowing of several seeds together assumes further thinning of the seedlings. The first time this is done at the stage of appearance of the second leaf - the weakest plant is plucked from the nest, and 15 cm (or even 18 cm for large-fruited varieties) are left in a row between small groups of 3 sprouts. When roots begin to form, remove all plants whose leaves are not colored with real green. The last time the crops are thinned out, when the roots have grown to 5 mm in diameter, one strongest plant is left in the nest, and in the row it is checked that 15 - 20 cm remain between the plants.

It is better to pinch off the plants, and not pull them out, so as not to disturb the roots of the remaining ones. Young plants cannot be transferred to a new place, except with a clod of earth, so it is better to sow less at once in order to lose fewer good sprouts.

Overgrowth of plantings can lead to shooing of plants. Even without this, you need to ensure that there is air circulation inside the garden under the leaves, sunlight gets to the root crops that stick out of the ground. Dry yellow leaves should be removed along with weeds, even good green leaves should be picked off if they create extra shade.

Top dressing

After sprouting or after the first thinning, the bed is sprinkled with chopped wood ash. This is the first feeding and at the same time protection against many pests. If necessary, then you can water at the stage of the beginning of the formation of root crops with a solution of nitrophoska (30 g - per large bucket), usually this is limited, except that you can still add ash when the leaves turn pale.

If the site was well fertilized for the previous crop, or prepared in the fall, then additional fertilizing may not be needed, except on sandy or completely depleted soils.

Pest control

The main pests that can add hassle or even diminish yields are cabbage flies, cruciferous fleas and slugs. Insects do not like ash; periodic treatment of crops with crushed ash, tobacco dust, crushed into flour with bitter wormwood or needles can be a good preventive measure. You can also plant marigolds in the garden, whose smell drives away the cruciferous flea and cabbage fly. A small moat, dug around the perimeter of the garden bed and filled with ash, helps a lot from slugs.

It is necessary not to allow thickening, remove excess leaves so that the air can freely penetrate to the root crops, and periodically spud them, protecting the skin from coarsening, and the root crop itself from slugs.

Collection and storage

Selective harvesting of root crops will show the degree of their ripeness. In the summer, the whole harvest is gradually harvested, which goes to fresh salads and is used immediately. But autumn harvesting is carried out en masse - the entire main crop is harvested at the same time upon reaching ripeness. Leaving it in the ground is not worth it - voids may appear inside the root crops. More often it happens that close frosts force the harvest to be harvested earlier than desired. But it is better to dig up the radish before frost, since it is not possible to store frozen root crops, it is better not to risk it.

On a cool cool day, you need to remove all the root crops from the ground and leave them to dry for 2 - 3 hours. From light soil, you can simply pull them out with your hands, like a turnip in a fairy tale, and from dense soil you will have to take them out with a pitchfork or a shovel.After the remnants of the earth have dried up and crumbled (they can be shaken off with your hands or with a soft dry cloth), the stalks are cut to 2 - 3 cm, and the crop itself is sorted. A whole undamaged radish can be stored in the cellar. It is carefully piled up in one pile or placed in wooden or plastic boxes. For several months it is perfectly preserved at temperatures from 0 to +2 degrees, only you will have to periodically sort it out, removing perishable root crops.

Or you can put it in boxes and sprinkle it with wet sand so that the roots themselves do not touch. The boxes can stand in the cellar, it is advisable to moisten the sand so that the radish does not dry out. Such conditions will help preserve the harvest until spring.

Video "How to Grow Green Radish"

In this video you will learn how to grow Margelan radish.