Клубника и огурцы.

Вкусный Огород: Посадка и уход за клубникой:
вырастить рассаду земляники из усов подлежащих удалению.

Побеги (усы), желательно подлиннее, отрезают от куста, наматывают на указательный палец, а затем осторожно, чтобы не размотались витки, садят на грядку в неглубокие лунки. Размещают такие спиральки на расстоянии 8-10 см друг от друга, не засыпая верхушку с листочками. Участок для школки лучше найти в затененном месте, например, под деревом.
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выращиваю огурцы на обычной грядке прямо на земле.
Место под огурцы выбираю еще осенью обязательно с учетом севооборота, так, чтобы их предшественниками были помидоры, лук или капуста, и года 3-4 на этом месте не было огурцов, арбузов и дынь. На выбранную грядку (шириной 1 м, длиной 5 м) вношу перегной куриного помета – 1 ведро, перегной из компоста – 1-2 ведра, и песок – 5 ведер. Песок вношу, потому что почва на моей даче очень тяжелая, а огурчики этого не любят. Осеннюю перекопку грядок я не делаю, а оставляю так все до весны.
Рядом по обе стороны с грядкой огурцов, как правило, располагаю грядки редиски или салата. Когда в июне урожай этих культур будет собран, освободившееся место как раз понадобится для разрастающихся плетей огурцов.
Причем прямо по грядкам редиски или салата на расстоянии 1,5-2 м от грядки огурцов с каждой стороны высаживаю кукурузу. Она не только даст осенью хороший урожай вкусных початков, но и будет все лето защищать огурчики от холодных ветров и чрезмерно жгучего солнца, создавая тем самым для них отличный микроклимат.
Дважды за сезон делаю для огурцов жидкие подкормки. Первый раз в конце мая – начале июня, когда на огурцах появятся 2-3 настоящих листика, а второй раз – в начале июля. За несколько часов перед жидкой подкормкой грядка огурцов должна быть полита, или нужно делать подкормки после хорошего дождика.
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Planning your plot.

General | Allotmenteer.co.uk:

The traditional 3 plant families
If your plot is rather small - or you use only parts of it for vegetable growing - it would be adviceable to go with the traditional 3 family plan. In this plan the crop is divided into the following groups:
- Roots, Beetroot, Carrot, Chicory, Jerusalem Artichoke, Parsnip, Potato, Salsify and Scorzonera
- Brassicas, Broccoli, Brussels sprouts, Cabbage, Cauliflower, Kale, Kohl Rabi, Radish, Swede and Turnip
- Others, Aubergine, Bean, Capsicum, Celeriac, Celery, Cucumber, Leek, Lettuce, Marrow, Onion, Pea, Spinach, Sweet Corn and Tomato.
Each plant family has different needs - and the soil where you plan to grow them should be treated differently. In the following, manuring means adding manure to the top soil, and italics indicates an must have need.
Roots. Do not add manure. Do not lime. Rake in a general purpose fertilizer about 2 weeks before sowing or planting.
Brassicas. Add some manure or compost, partucularly to soil short of humus. Lime the soil, unless you are sure it’s already alkaline. Rake in a general purpose fertilizer about 2 weeks before sowing or planting.
Others. Add a liberal amount of manure or compost. Lime - but only if the soil is known to be acid. Rake in a general purpose fertilizer about 2 weeks before sowing or planting.
The 4-family system
Recently some gardeners organisations have started implementing and recommending a 4-family system. In this system, potatoes and other plants from the night shadow family of plants, and plants requiring similar treatment has been moved out into their own group.
The groups now look like this:
Potatoes, Courgettes, Marrow, Peppers, Pumpkins and Tomatoes.
Legumes, Beans, Peas and Green manure.
Brassicas, Broccoli, Brussels sprouts, Cabbage, Cauliflower, Kale, Kohl Rabi, Radish, Swede and Turnip
Roots and Onions, Beetroot, Parsnips, Carrots, Onions, Shallots, Garlic and Leeks
The recommended soil preparation for the 4 groups looks like this:
Potatoes. Add manure or compost. Do not lime. Rake in a general fertilizer about 2 weeks before sowing or planting.
Legumes. Add a liberal amount of manure or compost. Lime - but only if the soil is known to be acid. Rake in a general purpose fertilizer about 2 weeks before sowing or planting
Brassicas. Add some manure or compost, partucularly to soil short of humus. Lime the soil, unless you are sure it’s already alkaline. Rake in a general purpose fertilizer about 2 weeks before sowing or planting.
Roots and onions. Do not add manure. Do not lime. Rake in a general purpose fertilizer about 2 weeks before sowing or planting.

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Lower Lovetts Farm. Richard Sandford.

BBC Two - Gardeners' World, 2012, Episode 25:
"Monty was certainly impressed by the quality of Richard Sandford’s organic tomatoes. So what’s the secret of his success? Here are a few tips from the man himself.

All of Richard’s plants are grown in 25cm (10in) terracotta pots half-filled with his own compost. The pots are placed directly onto the sandy floor of his polytunnel where the roots are allowed to grow through the drainage holes in the bottom. Half-filling the pots means that there is a plenty of room for water to drain through. Pots are spaced 30cm (12in) apart to ensure good air circulation.

Richard also likes to train his plants at an angle to reduce the risk of the leaves being splashed by water. It also allows the fruit to hang down away from their support which, in turn, makes them less likely to be damaged.

Now, for the feeding. Monty was clearly surprised that Richard fed his plants every day. This requires some dedication! And furthermore, he makes all three feeds himself! Nettle feed is high in nitrogen and is used to boost leaf growth at the start of the season. Comfrey feed, on the other hand, is rich in potash and so is best applied when the plants start to fruit. Towards the end of August, when the fruit is in its prime, Richard switches to a daily feed of liquid wood ash. This is very alkaline and will eventually turn the leaves yellow, but what a small price to pay for such magnificent fruit! To make it, he simply steeps some wood ash in a bucket of water for three weeks and gives it a daily stir. The liquid is then drained off and any sediment allowed to settle. The liquid concentrate is then bottled and used at a dilution rate of 1 in 50. The wood ash itself must not come from wood that has been painted or treated with preservative."

Quince.

Monty Don: Quince among men | From the Observer | guardian.co.uk:
Growing quinces successfully depends upon rich, wet soil, although Jane Grigson says they do well in 'the driest of upland fields and the hottest of small village gardens' in France. Certainly they need sunshine, but don't gamble on the dry-upland bit. If you have a wet patch of ground they will reward you for it. Order or buy a quince now (it is worth shopping around the net and nurseries for the variety you want) and plant it between now and March. Plant it like any other fruit tree - with care but not reverence, digging a wide, but not too deep hole, loosening the subsoil and adding no organic material below the roots but plenty as a mulch on the surface in a 1m-radius around the tree. It will need staking for its first three years but no special care or pruning again in its life other than keeping it weed-free.

Cucumber 'Crystal Lemon'

Cucumber 'Crystal Lemon' Seeds: "Cucumber 'Crystal Lemon' "
Cucumber 'Crystal lemon' is an old-fashioned, delicious tasting round cucumber with fantastic flavour, rather like you might expect from its melon-like shape – very juicy and deliciously mild and sweet.

It is very prolific and easy to grow. Children particularly seem to love Crystal lemon' and it looks lovely on the vine.

Little Fingers Eggplant Seeds.

Little Fingers Eggplant Seeds - 60:

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Болезни томатов.

Из "Практических советов огородникам" Всероссийского НИИ растениеводства им. Н.И. Вавилова, 1993 г:
"Наблюдаемое скручивание листьев томата объясняется несколькими причинами:
- резкими перепадами дневной и ночной температур (разница должна быть в пределах 5-7 град);
- удалением большого количества пасынков или листьев;
- низкой температурой и высокой влажностью ночью."

Если же скручивание листа дополняется утолщением стебля и развитием мощных пасынков, — это признак избытка азота. Избыток азота вредит плодообразованию. Чтобы уменьшить количество азота, достаточно однократно обильно полить растения, чтобы промыть верхний слой почвы.

Tomato blight.

Alys Fowler: Tomato blight, plus the June drop | The Guardian:
- Try to keep leaves dry with some kind of shelter when the weather is wet for more than a day or two.
- Keep outside tomatoes sheltered from the rain if possible – plants hate wet leaves.
- Sometimes over feeding can be an issue, so feeding little and often is another way to keep plants healthy.
- A better approach is to breed tomatoes that won’t succumb to the disease.
- Grow resistant varieties such as: Potatoes 'Axona' or 'Mira' and Tomato 'Ferline','Legend' and 'Fantasio'.

All that said, there is hope for outdoor growers. A wilder Mexican tomato called Matt's Wild Cherry shows signs of resistance; another is Koralik, a sprawling bush tomato (the type where you don't have to pinch out side shoots) closely related to Matt's. Both have tiny cherry tomatoes.

Ferline and Legend are F1 cordons (the type where you do pinch out the side shoots) that were bred in Oregon, where blight is a common problem. They are not immune to blight, but are very early fruiting, so you get a tomato salad or two before your chutney-making begins.

Poor air circulation compounds the problem, so if your plants are in pots, give them plenty of space; in the ground, aim for 1-1.5m apart. There is some anecdotal evidence that a solution of 50/50 milk and water sprayed weekly helps to keep the spores at bay. And feed pot plants weekly with comfrey or liquid seaweed, to keep the plants' strength up.
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Tomato ‘Legend’
This particular variety was bred in the USA by Dr. Jim Baggett at Oregon State University. In recent tests ‘Legend’ had shown impressive blight tolerance, and in particular during trials in a ‘garden’ situation. It produces large, glossy red fruits with an expected crop of up to 6lbs per plant. The fruit have a slightly flatter shape compared to the norm and come almost completely seedless. Fortunately for most gardeners, best results are produced when the plants were grown outdoors but they are also perfectly fine for growing under glass. They have an excellent flavour and should be sown 6-8 weeks before expected lasts frosts - in the United Kingdom this will be any time from March onwards.

Tomato ‘FERLINE’ F1 Hybrid
Not only has this new variety shown excellent tolerance to ‘Late Blight’, it has also proven itself to be highly resistant against both fusarium wilt and verticillium wilt. As with the new ‘Legend’ cultivar, ‘Ferline’ has also tested extremely well in garden trials. It produces heavy crops – up to 5lbs per plant – of flavoursome, deep red fruits. Although it does well sown outdoors ‘Ferline’ is also suitable for growing under glass.

Tomato ‘FANTASIO’ F1 Hybrid
This is a deliciously flavoured variety that has also trialled well in the garden situation against ‘Late Blight’ infection. In fact it has also shown good resistance to Tobacco Mosaic Virus, Verticilium wilt, Fusarium Wilts, and nematodes too. Tomato ‘Fantastico will bear you a good crop of round fruits, with each plant producing up to around 6lbs of tomatoes.
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Using Coffee Grounds in the Garden.

Using Coffee Grounds in the Garden - Uses for Used Coffee Grounds in the Garden:
Coffee grounds are approximately 1.45% nitrogen. They also contain magnesium, calcium, potassium, and other trace minerals.
There are several ways you can put used coffee grounds to work in your garden:

- Put coffee grounds in your compost bin. As noted above, they are a valuable source of nitrogen.
- Add grounds directly to the soil in your garden. You can scratch it into the top couple inches of soil, or just sprinkle the grounds on top and leave it alone.
- Create a slug and snail barrier. Coffee grounds are both abrasive and acidic, so a barrier of grounds placed near slug-prone plants may just save them from these garden pests.
- Make coffee ground "tea." Add two cups of used coffee grounds to a five-gallon bucket of water. Let the "tea" steep for a few hours or overnight. You can use this concoction as a liquid fertilizer for garden and container plants. It also makes a great foliar feed.
- Add coffee grounds to your worm bin. Worms love coffee grounds! Add some to your worm bin every week or so. Just don't add too many at once, because the acidity could bother your worms. A cup or so of grounds per week for a small worm bin is perfect
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Средства защиты растений.

Отвары ботвы томатов против вредителей - Средства защиты растений - GreenInfo.ru:
Натуральные инсектициды и удобрения
Ботвой картофеля и помидор мульчируют приствольные круги деревьев. И сорняк она глушит, и вредителей запахом отпугивает. И даже если ботва больна на деревья это повлиять не может. У картошки и помидор общих болезней с яблонями, грушами или сливами нет...
Пасынки от томатов срываю и в бочку с золой и луковой чешуей и поливаю рассаду.
Спрей из томатных листьев
Эффективен при борьбе с тлей, хлопковой совкой, а также капустной молью. Замочите на ночь два стакана измельченных томатных листьев в двух стаканах воды. Утром необходимо процедить настой через марлю или мелкое ситечко, после этого добавить в него еще два стакана воды. Получившуюся смесь вполне можно использовать для борьбы с вредителями в саду. Спрей из томатных листьев отличается слабовыраженной токсичностью, поэтому соблюдайте меры предосторожности – храните состав вне досягаемости для домашних животных и детей..

Спрей с острым перцем
 Возьмите 6-10 стручков острого красного перца и поместите их в блендер, добавьте два стакана воды и хорошенько перемешайте. Далее смесь необходимо перелить в стеклянную чистую емкость и на ночь оставить для настаивания. Утром процедите получившийся настой через марлю, разбавьте одним литром воды. Получившимся средством необходимо опрыскивать растения один раз в неделю или после дождя. Работайте со спреем в перчатках, так как он очень жгучий и смыть его с рук будет достаточно сложно.
Кофейная гуща
Вы любите кофе? Не выбрасывайте кофейную гущу. Она может с успехом применяться не только как скраб для лица и тела, но и в качестве высококачественного удобрения. Добавляйте использованную кофейную гущу в компост и ваша почва обогатится азотом и некоторыми полезными микроэлементами.
Применение золы: удобрение и средство от вредителей
Травяные закваски для подкормки растений
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