Among the countless varieties and hybrids of sweet peppers, there are those, such as the Ramiro pepper, whose popularity is literally worldwide. And if most vegetables on supermarket shelves are nameless, and it is almost impossible to find out about their variety, then the name of this pepper “Ramiro” will certainly be on the packaging. And, as my experience has shown, this pepper is worth letting other gardeners know about it. In connection with which this article was written.
Autumn is the most mushroom time. It is no longer hot, and heavy dew falls in the mornings. Since the earth is still warm, and foliage has already attacked from above, creating a completely special microclimate in the ground layer, the mushrooms are very comfortable. Mushroom pickers are also comfortable at this time, especially in the mornings when it is cooler. It's time for both to meet. And, if you haven’t introduced yourself to each other, get to know each other. In this article I will introduce you to exotic, little-known and not always edible mushrooms that look like coral.
If you are a busy person, but at the same time not devoid of romance, if you have your own plot and are endowed with aesthetic taste, then explore the opportunity to purchase this wonderful ornamental shrub– karyopteris, or Nutwing. He is also “wing-hazel”, “blue fog” and “blue beard”. It truly fully combines unpretentiousness and beauty. Karyopteris reaches its peak of decorativeness in late summer and autumn. It is at this time that it blooms.
Pepper ajvar - vegetable caviar or thick vegetable sauce from bell pepper with eggplants. The peppers for this recipe are baked for quite a long time, then they are also stewed. Add to ajvar onion, tomatoes, eggplants. To store eggs for the winter, they are sterilized. This Balkan recipe is not for those who like to make preparations quickly, undercooked and underbaked - not about ajvar. In general, we approach the matter in detail. For the sauce, we choose the ripest and meatiest vegetables on the market.
Despite the simple names (“sticky” or “indoor maple”) and the status of a modern substitute indoor hibiscus, abutilons are far from the simplest plants. They grow well, bloom profusely and delight healthy looking greenery only in optimal conditions. On thin leaves, any deviations from comfortable lighting or temperatures and disturbances in care quickly appear. To reveal the beauty of abutilons in rooms, it is worth finding the ideal place for them.
Zucchini fritters with Parmesan and mushrooms - a delicious recipe with photos of available products. Ordinary zucchini pancakes can be easily turned into a non-boring dish by adding a few savory ingredients to the dough. During the squash season, pamper your family with vegetable pancakes with wild mushrooms; it is not only very tasty, but also filling. Zucchini is a universal vegetable, it is suitable for stuffing, for preparations, for main courses, and even for sweets. delicious recipes- compotes and jam are made from zucchini.
The idea of growing vegetables on the grass, under the grass and in the grass is scary at first, until you become imbued with the naturalness of the process: in nature, this is exactly how everything happens. With the obligatory participation of all soil living creatures: from bacteria and fungi to moles and toads. Each of them contributes. Traditional tillage with digging, loosening, fertilizing, and fighting all those we consider pests destroys the biocenoses that have been created over centuries. In addition, it requires a lot of labor and resources.
What to do instead of a lawn? So that all this beauty does not turn yellow, does not get sick and at the same time looks like a lawn... I hope that the smart and quick-witted reader is already smiling. After all, the answer suggests itself - if you do nothing, nothing will happen. Of course, there are several solutions that can be used, and with their help, you can reduce the area of the lawn, and therefore reduce the labor intensity of caring for it. I suggest you consider alternative options and discuss their pros and cons.
Tomato sauce with onions and sweet peppers - thick, aromatic, with pieces of vegetables. The sauce cooks quickly and is thick because this recipe contains pectin. Make such preparations at the end of summer or autumn, when the vegetables have ripened in the sun in the garden beds. Bright, red tomatoes will make equally bright homemade ketchup. This sauce is a ready-made dressing for spaghetti, and you can also simply spread it on bread - very tasty. For better preservation, you can add a little vinegar.
This year I often observed a picture: among the luxurious green crown of trees and shrubs, here and there, like candles, the bleached tops of shoots “burn.” This is chlorosis. Most of us know about chlorosis from school biology lessons. I remember that this is a lack of iron... But chlorosis is an ambiguous concept. And lightening of foliage does not always mean a lack of iron. What is chlorosis, what our plants lack during chlorosis and how to help them, we will tell you in the article.
Korean vegetables for the winter - delicious Korean salad with tomatoes and cucumbers. The salad is sweet and sour, spicy and slightly spicy because it is prepared with Korean carrot seasoning. Be sure to prepare a few jars for the winter; in cold winter, this healthy and aromatic snack will come in handy. You can use overripe cucumbers for the recipe; it is better to prepare vegetables in late summer or early autumn, when they are ripe in open ground under the sun.
Autumn for me means dahlias. Mine begin to bloom as early as June, and all summer the neighbors peek at me over the fence, reminding them that I promised them a few tubers or seeds by the fall. In September, a tart note appears in the aroma of these flowers, hinting at the approaching cold. This means it’s time to start preparing the plants for a long harvest. cold winter. In this article I will share my secrets autumn care for perennial dahlias and preparing them for winter storage.
To date, through the efforts of breeders, according to various sources, from seven to ten thousand (!) varieties of cultivated apple trees have been bred. But despite their enormous diversity, in private gardens, as a rule, only a couple of popular and beloved varieties grow. Apple trees - large trees with a spreading crown, and you can’t grow many of them in one area. What if you try to grow columnar varieties of this crop? In this article I will tell you exactly about these varieties of apple trees.
Pinjur - Balkan-style eggplant caviar with sweet peppers, onions and tomatoes. Distinctive feature dishes - eggplants and peppers are first baked, then peeled and simmered for a long time in a roasting pan or in a thick-bottomed pan, adding the rest of the vegetables specified in the recipe. The caviar turns out to be very thick, with a bright, rich taste. In my opinion, this cooking method is the best known. Although it is more troublesome, the result compensates for the labor costs.
Alkaline soils are common in areas close to chalk or limestone. Although they may be among the most productive agricultural soils in different areas, they can become a problem in the garden. Alkaline soils are often rocky and free-draining. Therefore, added organic matter can decompose quickly, making it difficult to maintain fertility. Poor growth and yellowed leaves (chlorosis) are the result of plants being unable to absorb iron and manganese through their roots.
We will discuss the negative factors on alkaline soils in our material.
Alkaline soils vary greatly from gravel to clay. The clay-like element may be mostly fine calcium carbonate, making it unsuitable for plant growth. However, when true clay is present in the soil, nutrient levels can be higher and water retention capacity greater. Alkaline soils can be identified as follows: chalky or lime-rich soils, primarily composed of calcium carbonate and are highly alkaline (they have a pH of 7.1-8.0), if the soil foams when poured into a jar of vinegar, then it contains free calcium carbonate (chalk) or limestone and rich in lime, highly alkaline soils may contain pieces of small, white stones and are often large, with sharp edges that can be easily broken. Calcareous soils contain chunks of limestone.
Naturally, lime-rich soils contain chalk and limestone in abundance and are often associated with lowlands, grass-rich pastures and chalk and limestone forests. Very often such soils are full of stones, they can be too dry in summer period, they are often poor in nutrients and microelements. Thus, manganese and iron can be “locked” in the soil and are not available to plants. But, this type of soil has several advantages: flooding rarely occurs on light alkaline soils due to their elevation and porosity, with good fertilizer, can be moderately fertile and ideal for growing wide range plants, plants of the Brassica family are less likely to suffer from growing conditions in chalk soils.
photo:Amend the soil with plenty of organic matter to improve moisture retention and humus levels in the soil (this condition can disappear very quickly due to the nature of the soil). Chalky and calcareous soils generally allow the roots of trees and shrubs to easily find moisture, but in some cases it may be irreversible to break down the subsoil to obtain sufficient depth for planting woody plants. Apply fertilizer, use mulch with added organic matter to retain moisture, Use “green manure” to help correct nitrogen levels in the garden.
Heathers and ferns, lingonberries and blueberries, hydrangeas and rhododendrons grow in your garden. In this case, in addition to generally accepted agrotechnical care techniques, you need to know how to acidify the soil. For many, including the above plants, the acidic reaction of the soil solution (pH<5,5) – важнейшее условие жизнедеятельности и здоровья. Чем это обусловлено, в каких ситуациях и как увеличить кислотность почвы, рассмотрим в этой статье.
The vast majority of garden and vegetable crops prefer a neutral or slightly acidic soil reaction. In numerical terms, this is the pH range from 5.5 to 7.5 units. Acidification of the soil is required if the pH is beyond the upper limit of the fork (>7.5) or the plant needs an environment that is more acidic than that available on the site to grow.
Saline soils formed on a limestone base in arid steppe and forest-steppe regions have an alkaline reaction. They often border on southern chernozems; their mechanical composition is clayey or loamy. A pH of the environment above 7.5–8 units has an adverse effect on fertility and agrophysical properties.
When working with alkaline soil, the first thing to do is loosen it and bring the acidity to neutral levels. Let's look at how below.
Note! Take your time to acidify the soil fruit trees– apricot, peach, mulberry, quince. They prefer a pH around 7-8 units. Some people don't like acidic environments. ornamental plants– maples, hawthorn, honey locust, plane tree, clematis, peonies.
Neutral soil is considered to be one in which acids and alkalis are maximally balanced and neutralize each other. This is the optimal environment for the development of beneficial soil microflora and the absorption of nutrients by plants. Ideal for growing most root vegetables and legumes.
Neutral acidity of the soil can be a reason for acidification if it is necessary to create conditions for crops that require a slightly or moderately acidic environment. Potatoes need slightly acidic soil (pH between 5 and 6). Taking into account the fact that this culture is usually assigned to large plot garden, it makes sense to lower the neutral acidity by 1–1.5 units, which will ensure better absorption of nutrition and increase productivity.
A slightly acidic soil environment is a guarantee of potato health
Acidophilic plants are fans of medium and strongly acidic soils. Their natural habitat is wetlands, peat bogs, and coniferous forests.
Over the years of evolution root system plants have adapted to assimilate nutrients from an aggressive soil environment. A distinctive feature of acidophytes is the absence of suction root hairs. They are replaced by microscopic fungi that penetrate into the root tissue and act as a supplier of moisture and microelements. This symbiosis in botany is called mycorrhiza - mushroom + rhizome (rhizome). They cannot live and develop normally without each other, and the condition for the existence of the mycelium is an acidic environment.
The group of gardening and ornamental plants that need soil acidification is quite extensive:
Many indoor plants come to us from tropical and subtropical regions. Warmth and high level humidity provokes rapid decomposition of organic matter and a predominantly acidic soil environment. This determines which flowers love acidic soil, including indoor crops. Among those who prefer a pH in the range of 4.5–5 units are azaleas, camellias, fuchsia, monstera, and cyclamen. Saintpaulias (violets), representatives of the large myrtle family, love acidic soil.
Substrate for indoor plants This group is prepared on the basis of peat, vegetable compost obtained from rotted pine and leaf (preferably oak) litter. Sphagnum moss is added as an acidifier.
Note! High-moor peat is suitable for acidification. His distinguishing feature – Brown color. Lowland peat has a higher degree of humification and is much darker.
There are several ways to make the soil acidic. Which substance (material) to use as an acidifier depends on a number of factors:
Let's look at the most effective options.
The following organic materials give an acidic reaction:
Organics are suitable for acidifying loose, well-aerated, permeable substrates. As practice shows, it acidifies the soil slowly as it decomposes, but it starts this process for a long period. An additional advantage is the preservation of a loose structure, enrichment with humus and mineral nutrients. Adding 10 kg of humus or 3 kg of fresh manure per 1 m² increases the acidity per pH unit.
Advice! To use organic matter effectively, it should be placed in the root zone of the plant, and not scattered around the site. For planting, prepare an acidic substrate, which is placed in the hole. Subsequently, organic materials are used to mulch the tree trunk circle.
This method is not suitable if you need to achieve quick results.
Acidification of heavy clay soils is more effective with the help of minerals.
Note! Some mineral fertilizers are used, on the contrary, to deoxidize the soil. This effect is produced by calcium nitrate and sodium nitrate.
Acid solutions are used if you need quick results.
Once the acid-base balance is adjusted to the needs of the crop, it must be maintained in optimal condition. In this case, the pH is adjusted with acidic organic fertilizers. A good option– planting green manure that acidifies the soil. Incorporation of green fertilizer into the soil and rotting of the root system provides plants with available nitrogen and acts as a light acidifier. Such green manures include white mustard, rapeseed, oats, rapeseed; legumes - lupine, soybean, vetch - are effective in maintaining pH balance.
How to acidify blueberries:
A large number of gardeners face certain problems when caring for certain plants. Such problems are faced by those gardeners who begin to grow heather or fern crops. The fact is that these families require a certain amount of personal care if you wanted to see how your plant will grow and develop.
Also, fastidious plants include flowers such as lilies, hydrangeas, lupins and so on. The main mistake When caring for such plants, there is a lack of attention to the soil in which the flower grows; the fact is that all plants require a certain level of acidity. Such fastidious plants, which we talked about earlier, require the highest level of soil acidity, otherwise they may begin to die. When caring for such plants, it is necessary to measure the pH level; it should be at level 4 or lower.
Probably many gardeners have encountered the problem of acidity in the soil, but a large number of people fought to lower it. All this lies in the fact that almost all vegetables, berries, fruitful trees and other greens require a weak pH level or neutral. In some cases, even alkaline soil is required.
And when gardeners are going to grow heather families or other similar plants, such crops require a certain level of acidity in the soil. Before you start acidifying the soil, you need to find out what kind of soil you have in order to choose the best possible soil for your plant.
There are several options for determining the acidity level of your soil:
The first level of definition can be attributed to laboratory methods. If you want to get accurate data on your pH level and will not spare some money for it. Then you need to contact special laboratories.
These laboratories are called soil science laboratories. Specialists will take the necessary samples from your site, using this material they will be able to conduct a multifaceted study and give you accurate results of the acidity level throughout the entire territory of the land.
The second option is to determine the acidity level at home. But using this method you will not be able to determine the exact acidity level of your soil. This method will help you save money and roughly determine your acidity level. In order to determine the level, you need to do the following:
You will need litmus paper and a soil solution. The solution should be settled and well mixed. To determine the acidity level, you need to dip litmus paper into this solution and watch how the paper changes color.
If the paper has a blue tint, then the soil is alkaline. If a red color begins to appear on the paper, then your soil is at a predominant acid level. If a yellow-green tint appears on the table paper, then we can safely say that in your soil the two environments are equal and the soil is a neutral environment for plants.
You can also roughly determine the level of acidity and alkalinity, then you should look at the contrast of the color that appears on litmus paper. For example, the brighter the red color, the higher the acidity level of your soil. Also with alkaline pH.
For the next method, we will need special tests, which can be purchased at many gardening stores. This method is the most accurate of all home tests. You can find out everything you need to carry out the test in the test instructions.
The last method, but no less effective. To carry out the test, we don’t have to do anything complicated, nor do we have to buy anything. Since almost everyone has all the necessary things in their home. For the test we need soda and acetic acid.
This method will not cause you any difficulties. To determine the environment, you will also need to take some soil from your site. Divide it into two parts, pour a little vinegar into one of them, and add a pinch of soda to the other and watch the reaction. If the soil into which you poured vinegar begins to bubble and hiss, it means that an alkaline environment prevails in the soil. Also, if the reaction begins to appear in contact with soda, it means that an acidic environment predominates in the earth.
If you do not want to do any research, then this method is suitable for you. To do this, you need to find out what the pH level of your water is. You don't need anything for this. Well, besides, what kind of water do you water your land with?
If you water your soil with piped water, then most likely your soil is alkaline. Since the pipeline uses alkali to disinfect water. In this case, your soil needs to increase its acidity level a little.
It is best to water the soil with filtered water, since after such water your soil will be as close as possible to a neutral environment. But this watering method is considered very expensive, since it will be necessary to water a large number of plants and this will require a lot of filtered water.
For those who are not particularly versed in the pH indicator, we will now tell you a little. The pH level ranges from 0 to 14 points. The higher the pH level, the more alkaline the environment. Also in reverse order. For example and better understanding, acetic acid has a pH of 0, and household products have a pH of 14.
Before you start oxidizing the soil in your garden, you need to find out its mechanical composition. The composition of the soil will directly determine the method that will need to be used to increase acidity.
The first method is perfect for quite loose soil. IN in this case the best way will add large amounts of organic matter to the soil. The best organic remedies would be compost, manure or sphagnum moss. As the humus process takes place, the pH level in your soil will begin to drop significantly to make the process more efficient and noticeable. A large amount of organic matter will be needed.
The second method is only suitable for dense and heavy soil, such soil is generally called clayey. In this case, you will need a lot of time and much more effort to increase acidity. If you decide to use the first option with such soil, then nothing good should be expected. Since with the help organic compounds you will only increase the alkaline level of the soil.
When you reach the required pH level, do not relax immediately, since only half of it has been completed the hard way. In order for your plants to begin to grow properly, it is necessary to maintain this level of acidity. Since minor deviations from the required pH level require emergency measures, otherwise you can say goodbye to your plant.
One of the emergency measures is the use of sulfur, this substance is the most optimal for your plant, since it will not harm it in any way, and it will also gradually lower the pH level so that your plant does not encounter stressful situations. In order not to harm the plant as much as possible, it is necessary to add sulfur only in wet soil and do not touch the roots of the plant.
Natural acidifiers are also excellent, as they do not harm the soil in any way and have a long-lasting effect. Such substances are leaf humus and cotton seed cake.
Under no circumstances should you use acetic acid; it will certainly give a quick and visible effect. But this effect not only will not last long, but also after acetic acid All beneficial bacteria and fungi will die in the soil and will not appear again.
The most effective way is the addition of aluminum sulfate to the groundbait layer; this manipulation must be performed once a year. But when you add sulfate, make sure that the plant's roots remain intact.
Medium acid soil is suitable for strawberries, gooseberries, potatoes,... To acidify the soil, add rotted pine needles or sawdust to it. coniferous trees and alder as fertilizer.
Needles, sawdust and bark can be used as mulch. Fresh sawdust pulls nitrogen from the soil. If you decide to use them, add nitrogenous fertilizers to the plants so as not to deplete the soil. Spent tea and coffee are also used as mulch. They not only retain moisture and fertilize the soil, but also protect plants from slugs.
Add oxalic or citric acid(2 tablespoons per bucket of water) and apple or wine vinegar (100 g per bucket). You can acidify the water with sulfuric acid or new, unused battery electrolyte. It must be borne in mind that the concentration of sulfuric acid included in the electrolyte depends on its density. Colloidal sulfur can also be used as an oxidizing agent.
On slightly acidic soils with a pH of 6, it is advisable to grow beans, dill, tomato, eggplant, corn, melon, zucchini, horseradish, spinach, radishes and rhubarb. On medium acidic soils With a pH of 5 to 6, potatoes, peppers, sorrel, beans, and pumpkins can grow. All grow poorly in soils with a pH below 5 vegetable crops.
The development of plants on acidic soils is defective, since nutrients are in an inaccessible form. In soils with increased acidity Pathogenic bacteria and pests actively multiply. Soil-forming bacteria are practically absent in such soils.
Several methods can be used to determine soil acidity. Most available method– use litmus paper in accordance with the instructions. If possible, you can order a soil analysis from an agrochemical laboratory.
If it is not possible to carry out an analysis or in a laboratory, you can determine an approximate indicator of soil acidity based on the weeds growing on the site. On strongly acidic soils they prefer to grow horsetail, fireweed, plantain, horse sorrel, and oxalis. Creeping wheatgrass, clover, coltsfoot, and dog violet grow on medium and slightly acidic soils.
