Tarragon planting and outdoor care

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Tarragon easily takes root in our latitudes, but like any culture, it has certain preferences. To grow a good aromatic herb, you need to consider the following points:

• the areas where the spice planting is planned should be well lit by the sun - the growth of greenery and the intensity of the aroma depend on this, however, the culture is quite capable of developing in the shade, but in this case the taste and aroma of the greens will be less pronounced;

• tarragon prefers light and fertile soils with good drainage properties, and grows best in sandy loam soil - if the soil is heavy, it must be diluted with sand, peat;

• the culture does not tolerate acidic soil - you can bring the soil to normal acidity by adding chalk, lime, furnace ash or dolomite flour;

• lush and aromatic grass is easier to grow on fertile soil rich in mineral salts and organic substances - manure, humus, and superphosphate is introduced into the soil during the autumn digging of the garden;

• the plant does not tolerate excessive soil moisture - when choosing a place for planting spices, you should abandon low-lying areas, and give preference to a bed on a hill;

• when sowing and transplanting tarragon, the distance between rows (holes) should be at least 30 cm, since some plant species have a fairly developed deciduous part and can grow to a height of 1.5 m;

• tarragon is a perennial crop, but due to the fact that it is grown in one place for many years in a row, the greens become coarse and lose their taste, so the spice beds must be renewed every 5-7 years;

Planting spices can be carried out both from seedlings and from sowing seeds directly in the open field. Growing through seedlings is preferable, since this method allows you to plant already grown plants in the garden, and thereby speed up the harvest. To sow tarragon on seedlings, it is necessary to prepare a container and soil. A soil mixture consisting of equal parts of turf, humus and sand is considered the best for seedlings.

Sowing seeds is carried out in moist soil in mid-March. The planting material is evenly distributed over the surface and embedded to a depth of no more than 0.5 cm. To grow strong and healthy seedlings, it is necessary to constantly maintain the correct temperature. From the moment of sowing until the emergence of shoots, it should be 22-24 ° C, then the degree should be reduced to 17-20 ° C.

With the correct temperature regime, the first shoots appear in 2-3 weeks. Subsequent care of the seedlings consists in timely watering (the soil should be moderately moist), light loosening, periodic hardening of plants and picking when 3-4 leaves appear.

Planting seedlings in the garden is carried out at the end of May, when the threat of night frosts has passed.The area where the spice will be grown must be prepared in the fall: dig up the soil, clear of stones and weeds, fertilize with humus at the rate of 4 kg / sq. m, and also add potassium salt 20 g / sq. m and superphosphate 40 g, respectively. It is possible to sow seeds directly into the ground not earlier than the last decade of May.

Video "Properties of tarragon"

Informational video with all the necessary information about the plant, as well as its beneficial properties.

Reproduction

Tarragon can be propagated in several ways: by sowing seeds, cuttings, dividing the bush and rhizomes. Growing from seeds is the easiest, but not the most successful way in terms of the quality of the grass. The fact is that planting tarragon from its own seeds over time leads to the degeneration of the culture - a decrease in the concentration of ethers, and, consequently, a decrease in the intensity of the aroma. For this reason, experienced gardeners try to propagate tarragon vegetatively: from a cuttings, or by dividing a bush.

Dividing the bush allows you to preserve the varietal characteristics of the culture, but at the same time the plant experiences a certain stress, since individual parts from an already formed bush take a long time to take root. You need to divide and plant the bush in the spring or early autumn. The plant should be carefully dug up, divided into two parts (no longer desirable), then each of them should be placed for a while in a solution that stimulates growth, after which the roots can be dug in pre-prepared holes and watered abundantly.

Growing tarragon by cuttings is quite simple. Planting the cuttings in the ground is carried out at the beginning of May, and the branches for germination must be cut a few days before the expected date of planting. Cuttings 10-15 cm long should be placed in Kornevin's solution (a biostimulant that accelerates root formation) or another growth stimulator for a day, then dig into wet sand and cover with foil.

Make sure that the sand is always slightly damp, but not wet. If the care was correct, then within a month the roots germinate, and the vegetative process begins. At this time, the cuttings are planted in the garden, where their further cultivation will take place. It is convenient to resort to cuttings if it is necessary to grow a large amount of tarragon, since 60-80 cuttings can be obtained from one adult plant.

Care and cultivation

Crop care includes standard activities consisting of watering, weed removal and timely feeding. As a perennial plant, tarragon only develops in the first year of life, and blooms and bears fruit in the second year, and even then, in a cold climate, this can be expected longer. Therefore, the cultivation and care of tarragon to a certain extent depends on this feature:

• watering is carried out systematically, but as necessary (you need to make sure that the soil does not dry out and is not excessively wet) - in the first year, while the plants are forming, watering needs to be carried out often, an adult plant should be watered 3-5 times / season and only in arid periods;

• cuttings require more careful care: until the roots grow, the soil should always be moist, the shelter must be periodically removed for ventilation, cuttings that do not develop must also be removed;

• weed removal is carried out as needed, simultaneously with loosening the row spacings;

• if the cultivation of tarragon was initially carried out in the garden, then with the appearance of the first 2 leaves, the seedlings must be thinned out so that the distance between them is at least 10 cm;

• it is impossible to grow lush greens with excellent taste without organic and mineral dressings - fertilizers are used starting from the second year: mineral mixtures with a minimum nitrogen content are introduced in early spring, since this element negatively affects the taste of the grass, after each cut, the bushes are fed with a liquid mullein, droppings or fermented grass (1:10);

• it will be easier to grow young plants if you tie them to small supports, since the stems of the seedlings are very thin and break easily;

• the last cut of greens is carried out in August - it is not recommended to harvest tarragon later, since this deprives the plant of the opportunity to accumulate nutrients necessary for wintering;

• in September, when the leaves turn yellow and dry, the bush is trimmed at a level of 6-10 cm from the soil surface, a layer of compost is placed on the remaining stumps, humus is scattered around, and all this is covered with any organic mulch: sawdust, fallen needles, dry foliage;

• some types of tarragon grow with the help of underground shoots - so that the plants do not move to a neighboring garden, they must be protected with pieces of slate buried in the ground.

Collection and storage

Like all herbs, tarragon must be harvested before flowering. It is not recommended to cut the plant in the first year, since it is just being formed, and for harvesting the grass must be grown completely. In addition, young greens have a less intense aroma and flavor.

Starting from the second year, young shoots 20-30 cm long can be cut off. Tarhun grows quickly - 3-4 harvests of young greenery can be harvested per season. The woody twigs are also used as a flavoring agent for canning and pickling vegetables.

To prepare tarragon for future use, they resort to drying or, less often, freezing. The difficulty with freezing is that it is not advisable to cut the greens - the leaves and young twigs must be separated from the stems by hand, rinsed, dried, folded into a bag and frozen. The grass is dried easily and quickly, since its shoots contain only 5% moisture. For drying, tarragon is collected in small bunches, which are hung by the ends under a canopy in a dry place. When the bunches are completely dry, the leaves are manually separated from the stems, crushed, and placed in jars for further storage. Dry tarragon can be stored in hermetically sealed containers for 1-2 years.

Video "About cultivation and care"

Informational video about the tarragon plant and its cultivation.