Ornamental cabbage reveals its beauty in late autumn, when other plants are already dying or going into a dormant stage. Lace leaves deserve special attention. The color of cabbage can be different: cream, purple or light green. The culture is unpretentious, but still I want to share my experience and talk about the basic rules for sowing and caring for seedlings.
What is this culture
Ornamental cabbage is a collective name that combines several varieties of cabbage derived from leafy fodder forms of the crop. These are biennial plants. In the first year they form a rosette of leaves or heads of cabbage, and in the second they bloom. After flowering, you can collect seeds. The height and color of cabbage is different.
Ornamental cabbage is most attractive in autumn. Especially bright tones appear after the arrival of frosts.
The culture tolerates transplantation well, thanks to which it can decorate those places in the garden area where summer plants have already faded. To transplant an adult cabbage bush, it must be dug from all sides and removed along with an earthen clod. After planting, water it well.
Sowing dates
The optimal planting dates are March or early April. But in different climatic conditions, this time is slightly different:
- in the middle lane - the middle or end of March;
- in the south - the beginning of March;
- in the Urals and Siberia - mid-April.
Growing seedlings
After sowing the seeds, you will find the first shoots on the fifth day. At this time, containers with crops should be transferred to a cool and well-lit place. Otherwise, the seedlings will stretch out a lot.
After the formation of two true sheets, you need to pick. Young plants should be buried in the soil to the cotyledon leaves. In the process of seedling growth, the earth is poured.
So that the root system is not injured, you can immediately lay the seeds not in common boxes, but in individual cups. I usually use peat pots - it's both convenient and time-saving.
Seedlings need a lot of light. For normal development, be sure to illuminate them with special fitolamps.
Planting seedlings in open ground
Transplantation is carried out only when warm weather is established and there is no risk of returning spring frosts. Young plants do not tolerate extreme temperature changes and cold.
Most often, transplantation is performed in May. As a permanent place, choose a sunny area with sandy or loamy soil. On other soils, cabbage will also take root, but its decorative effect will suffer.
Put a handful of wood ash and humus in the planting holes. You can also add additional complex mineral fertilizers.
To protect plantings from insects and the scorching sun, some gardeners cover each bush with a cut plastic bottle, creating a kind of greenhouse. I'm used to using a film that I stretch over the arcs.
Most varieties of ornamental cabbage can decorate not only the backyard, but also your table. There are varieties that are unsuitable for food because of their bitterness. But there are also quite edible ones.
Have you grown ornamental cabbage on your plots? It will be very interesting if you share your experience in the comments.
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