Romanesco cabbage - growing and care

Romanesco cabbage is a relatively new type of cabbage, which is interesting for its appearance and taste. Caring for Romanesco cabbage is not difficult, and everyone can grow it on their site.

Romanesco cabbage appeared in Russia not so long ago. This vegetable, originally from Italy, was bred by breeders in the 90s of the XX century, as a hybrid of cauliflower and broccoli. Romanesco is also known as Romanesque broccoli or coral cabbage. Anyone who planted it can grow it regular cabbage, although there are some nuances here.

The appearance of the vegetable is unusual: the inflorescences of Romanesco cabbage are rows of yellow-green cones growing tightly to each other, surrounded by green leaves. The height of some plants can reach 1 meter, and heads of cabbage gain weight up to half a kilogram. The plant is an annual and is essentially a species cauliflower.

Preparing the soil for growing Romanesco cabbage

For landing, you need to select and prepare a place. The best planting option is where you previously grew up cucumbers, bow, tomatoes or potatoes. It is not recommended to plant Romanesco in the place where other cruciferous plants grew: rutabagas, turnips, cabbage, radish, salad. Common diseases and pests prevent this. Garden beds for seedlings should be located on a well-lit side.

The soil should also be special: Romanesco cabbage does not like high acidity, and it feels great in alkaline soil, so it is better to lime or add the soil before planting seedlings wood ash in the calculation of 0.3 - 0.5 kg per 1 sq. m. Cabbage will also respond well to compost.

Sowing cabbage seeds is carried out towards the end of April. The air temperature in the room where the seedlings will be located should be below +20 degrees, after a month the boxes with sprouts should be placed in a cooler place. When growing Romanesco cabbage, you need to control lightingso that the seedlings do not stretch out, water the plants as the topsoil dries out.

After 40-60 days from the time of sowing, the seedlings are transferred to a permanent place at a distance of 60 cm from each other. The distance between the rows must be at least 0.5 meters. In advance, in accordance with the climatic conditions of the area, it is necessary to calculate the transplant time so that the setting of inflorescences falls on the summer period, when the air temperature will average + 17-18 degrees.

This is a very important point - Romanesco is demanding on the temperature regime during sowing and ripening - unfavorable weather conditions may prevent the inflorescences from developing.

Proper care of Romanesco cabbage

Romanesco cabbage is easy to care for. You definitely need:

• To water abundantly, but in such a way that the earth did not have time to dry out and become swampy.
• Inspect the plant and remove pests, especially caterpillars that eat cabbage leaves. You can spray the plant with special insect repellent solutions if the pests have already appeared. For prevention, it is recommended to plant plants next to cabbage that scare away pests: marigold, marigolds, celery, mint, garlic.
• Loosen the soil around the plants, weed, preventing weeds from growing.
• Feeding plants is also part of caring for Romanesco cabbage. For her, organic and mineral fertilizers: mullein, superphosphate, ammonium nitrate, potassium chloride and others.Top dressing should be applied no more than three times during the growth period, in the same proportions as when caring for other types of cabbage.

You can harvest after the final maturation of the head of cabbage. If tightened with removal, the cabbage will overripe and lose its juiciness. It is better to store the harvested crop frozen all winter; it is kept fresh for no more than a week.

"Romanesque broccoli" is a dietary product rich in vitamins, fiber, microelements, low in calories, but at the same time satisfying. Romanesco contains more carotene, vitamins C and B, zinc and mineral salts than regular broccoli and cauliflower. Recipes and photos of cooked Romanesco cabbage can be found in a variety on the Internet. You can cook it by adding it to your usual dishes instead of cauliflower or broccoli... For people who need to adhere to a healthy lifestyle, Romanesco will be an excellent addition to the diet.

Observing the technology of cultivation and care, you can achieve a good harvest of Romanesco cabbage. The correct calculation of the time of planting and ripening of the plant, feeding, protection from pests, watering, lighting will not be difficult, you need to pay more attention only to the air temperature and then the unusual cabbage will not only decorate any garden in summer and a table in winter. find outhow to cook fresh cauliflower?

Growing cabbage - video