Technology for growing ornamental cabbage

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Ornamental cabbage is a biennial plant that will make a great garden decoration. There are many varieties that allow you to create an original landscape design. The culture is adapted to a temperate climate, withstands frosts, care and cultivation are simple, even beginners can do.

Technology for growing ornamental cabbage

Characteristics of ornamental cabbage

Ornamental cabbage (Brassica oleracea var. Acephala) is a type of common garden cabbage (Brassica oleracea). According to some reports, such varieties began to be grown in ancient Greece, but the Japanese created modern varieties. From the Land of the Rising Sun, the ornamental plant spread throughout the world. It is famous for its variety of colors and bizarre leaf shapes. It is grown as an annual, less often as a perennial crop.

The height of ornamental cabbage is from 30 cm to 120 cm. It is edible, although more often it is used exclusively for feeding animals. Plants differ in the shape of their heads, in some they are absent altogether. Most have curly leaves, painted in different colors. The width of the leaf plate is 10-30 cm, the length is 20-60 cm.

Varieties of varieties

By the shape of the head

There are such varieties:

• Ovate;
• Obovate;
• Elliptical;
• Truncated ellipses.

According to the shape of the sheet

The edges of the leaves are serrated, which makes the bush curly, resembling lace. On this basis, varieties are distinguished:

• scalloped-coarse curly;
• scalloped-thin curly;
• mossy curly.

By color

The colors are different. The most common are:

• green with white stripes;
• light green;
• green with a blue tint;
• with pink or lilac spots;
• gray-green;
• red;
• burgundy;
• dark purple;
• yellow;
• cream;
• white.

The garden culture ripens in late summer or early autumn. If you bring the cabbage into the house, it "blooms" until the end of December. The culture is very frost-resistant, able to withstand the harsh Russian climate, and grows in almost any conditions. The bush does not freeze even in 5-degree frost. Some varieties can withstand -10-12 ° C.

Ornamental cabbage varieties

There are many varieties of ornamental cabbage.

Today, there are several dozen varieties of ornamental cabbage plant. Let's try to break them into groups, depending on their appearance, country of origin.

Japanese varieties

Japanese rose-like varieties resemble large roses. They have curly leaves, a bright centerpiece and green edging. All of them are hybrids, therefore ready-made seeds are bought for planting. The most popular varieties and their brief description:

• Tokyo. The shape of the head is round, the leaves are wavy and corrugated. The average height is 35 cm. The bush is pink, red, cream.
• Osaka (pink, red and white).The shape resembles a hybrid of Tokyo, small in size. It grows up to 60 cm in height, the head circle has a diameter of about 45 cm.The leaves are double and smooth at the edges, their shape is smooth.
• Nagoya (pink and white). The round leaves of this layer have a multilayer dense fringe at the edges. The rosettes are large, up to 60 cm in diameter.
• Peacock. Shrub about 30 cm high, leaves with deep cuts. The color of the center is cream or violet-pink.
• A princess. She has a loose wide rosette. The stem is not too high, up to 30 cm. The color range is as follows: dark green edging and a purple center.
• East colors. The head is 30-35 cm in diameter and up to 40 cm high. The leaves are gray-green at the edges, purple in the center.

Japanese hybrids can be transplanted into flower beds when summer flowers have faded. One plant covers an area of ​​40-60 cm, therefore such decorations are very economical.

Palm varieties

Palm varieties are large varieties that do not form heads, but grow in height. Their leaves hang down to the tops, resembling palm trees. Hence the varieties and hybrids got their name. The most popular ornamental palm cabbage in landscaping:

• Lark tongue. Stretches 120 cm in height. The leaves are strongly corrugated, cut at the tips, hanging down in a beautiful cascade. Their length can reach 120 cm. Why the variety is so called is difficult to say, because no one really saw the tongue of a lark.
• Tall red. In appearance, the plant is similar to the previous variety. The leaves are colored burgundy or purple, their length is up to 60 cm, they do not hang down in a cascade.
• Calais varieties. It has a height of up to 70 cm. The leaves are very strongly corrugated, lyre-shaped. The color depends on the variety, it is green, gray and red.

Ornamental palm cabbage in landscaping is used to take an empty spot in the middle of a flower bed. It often becomes the centerpiece of a composition. She looks beautiful in pots and tubs.

Landing rules

To get ornamental cabbage seeds for cultivation, you need to leave the bushes for the second year. In the southern regions, they can easily overwinter in the garden bed. For reliability, the soil is covered for the winter with straw or agricultural film. In the middle lane and in the north, it is better to dig up plants along with a large clod of earth. The roots are wrapped in plastic and hung upside down somewhere in the basement or any other cool room. There is no need to take care of the heads of cabbage. In the spring, they are again planted in the garden.

Flowering begins in mid-summer. When the flowering arrow withers and pods appear on the stem, they need to be wrapped in gauze or cloth so that the birds do not eat them. The pods are torn off when they are completely dry. The seed is stored for 5 years. Hybrid ornamental cabbage seeds are best purchased from a specialty store. The varietal qualities of the hybrid may not be preserved if the material is independently obtained. As a result, it turns out that we sow one variety, and another grows.

Growing seedlings

After a month, seedlings can be planted

Planting ornamental cabbage and caring for seedlings are simple. You can start the procedure at home from mid-March to mid-April. Seedlings grow best in soil, which consists of equal parts of turf, peat and river sand. The seeds are planted in containers with a height of about 15 cm, they are deepened into the ground by 1 cm. The sowing is carried out so that there is a distance of 3-5 cm between the seeds. Then it will be possible to grow healthy and strong seedlings.

For the first week, the pots, where ornamental cabbage are sown for home seedlings, are kept in a cool place at a temperature of 8 ° C-10 ° C. Then the seedlings are rearranged to a warmer and well-lit place. The optimum temperature is 14 ° C-18 ° C. The first shoots appear in about 4 days. When there are 2 real leaves on the sprouts, a pick is carried out.

Seedlings are transplanted into small pots measuring 6 × 6 cm, one plant each.During the growing season, young plants are fed twice. Suitable nitroammofosk or kemira-wagon. For 1 m² take 1 tbsp. l. fertilizers.

For the prevention of blackleg in seedlings, watering rules are strictly observed. The soil is moistened before sowing seeds, and then only slightly irrigated. When the ornamental cabbage grows up, it is watered sparingly as the earthen coma dries. It is necessary to take out seedlings into open ground in 35-40 days, after the sowing of ornamental cabbage has been carried out. If there is a greenhouse in the garden, seeds can be planted there in early May. A month later, a pick is carried out on a flower bed.

Outdoor cultivation

In open ground, seedlings should be planted at the end of May or at the beginning of June in order to grow heads of cabbage until the end of summer. Pre-pots with plants are hardened, put in a cool place with a temperature of 12 ° C-16 ° C. Growing and caring for ornamental cabbage is pretty simple. The main thing is to choose the right site. The culture is photophilous, therefore it needs to be planted in an open, well-lit place. The lighter, the more beautiful the plant will look.

The ornamental cabbage loves loamy or sandy soil. Before planting, the bed is pushed, holes are made about 20 cm deep. The distance between the bushes should be 30-60 cm, depending on the variety. Previously, the holes are watered with water, then the seedlings are placed there at a slight angle and sprinkled with earth.

Watering and feeding

Further cultivation of ornamental cabbage provides for regular watering and proper fertilization. The culture loves moisture, but under overflow conditions it grows poorly and is sick. It is enough to irrigate the soil with water every other day. Daily watering is needed if the yard is drought. The water at the roots should not stagnate. No more than 1 liter of liquid is poured under one bush.

Fertilizers should be applied several times per season:

• 10-14 days after planting, add urea or mullein at a dilution of 1:10.
• After another 2-3 weeks, mineral fertilizers need to be applied (10 g of ammonium nitrate and potassium chloride each, 20 g of superphosphate is diluted in 10 liters of water).

If necessary, the procedure is repeated every 20 days, alternating urea (mullein) with mineral fertilizers. You can grow a crop without additional feeding, but then the bushes will not be so lush and beautiful. When 8-9 leaves appear on ornamental cabbage, it is necessary to loosen the ground. It is important to weed the beds on time. Weeds not only drown out the growth of bushes, but also become a good breeding ground for pests.

Disease and pest control

Ornamental cabbage is quite resistant to diseases and pests, but improper care, bad weather, can lead to the fact that the plants will get sick. It is not always easy to protect heads of cabbage from pests, especially if they crawl from neighboring fields and plots. A few of the most common growing problems and how to solve them:

• Fleas. These pests are afraid of ash, tobacco and red pepper. A mixture is prepared from these components in a ratio of 1: 1: 1 and the heads of cabbage are pollinated. You can simply wash off the parasites with thin streams of water from the watering can.
• Slugs. To protect themselves from these cabbage lovers, the ground around the bushes is sprinkled with crushed shells or needles, pests are scared off by dill, calendula, and basil. To combat slugs, you can also use the drugs "Meta", "Thunderstorm", "Slime-eater".
• Caterpillars. To prevent butterflies from laying eggs on the leaves, you can plant marigolds. These flowers decorate the flower bed and will reliably protect the plants. If the tracks do start, it is best to assemble them by hand. A superphosphate solution (1: 100 with water) helps to scare off butterflies.
• Root rot or black leg. The best prevention of this disease is proper watering. For treatment, fungicides are used, for example, "Fitosporin".

The use of cabbage in landscape design

Ornamental cabbage in a flowerbed will delight the eye until late autumn, which is why many summer residents appreciate this culture so much.In recent years, it has been grown more and more often. Even professionals use it to create landscape design. The plant can be planted in tubs, decorated with borders, even create beautiful vertical flower beds. Here are some helpful tips:

• It is best to buy several varieties of contrasting colors, from which you can create beautiful patterns on a flower bed.
• Tall cabbage is planted in the center, 1-2 bushes, rose varieties are planted around. They can also be planted on the back line near the fence.
• Large pink cabbage can be used to plant a large area. This requires no more than 30-40 plants.
• Ornamental kale can be first planted in the greenhouse and then transferred to the garden bed.
• If you transplant the plant into a pot in late autumn, and then bring it into the house: it can stand there until Christmas.
• Cut heads of cabbage can be put in a vase: they retain their appearance for about a month.

Ornamental cabbage in a flower bed will look beautiful and original. The variety of colors will be pleasing to the eye, even when most flowers fade. At the same time, there will be no difficulties in growing. Before choosing a variety, be sure to carefully inspect the site. Plan how to plant cabbage, what shades to combine.