White cabbage is very popular among our gardeners, it is second after potatoes.
This is one of the most fruitful vegetable crops, cabbage is undemanding in care. But, despite the simplicity of cultivation, before sowing seeds, it is extremely important to choose varieties that are well suited for growing in a particular region.
Features of the weather conditions near Moscow
The climate in each part of the country has its own differences, and this affects the choice of a suitable variety and the care of plants. In the suburbs, cloudy weather is often cloudy, there are no mountains or large elevations, for this reason the air masses do not linger for a long time, there are no large bodies of water, for this reason the temperature is generally the same throughout the territory.
To grow cabbage in this region, a variety must have the following qualities:
· Easy to withstand significant changes in humidity and temperature;
· Successfully develop with a lack of sunlight in cold weather;
· Harvest must be ready for harvest before the end of September.
Summer in Moscow lasts on average from mid-April to the end of September. If the growing season of a variety lasts no more than 90 days, then its seeds can be sown directly in the garden. To protect against possible return frosts, you need to prepare film shelters, for example, install arcs and prepare a film, you can make warm beds.
Whatever kind of cabbage you sow, there isn’t enough natural moisture for it in the Moscow Region, for this reason it is necessary to water the plants (at least 2 times a week) if there is little rain in the summer. It is better to plant early and mid-early varieties, through seedlings you can get a good crop of medium-late varieties, but plants need to be planted in an open area where the bed will not be obscured by closely growing bushes, trees or outbuildings.
The suburbs are mostly acidic, which are not very suitable for growing cabbage. For this reason, you need to lime the soil, you need to apply lime in the fall, along with organic fertilizers.
Varieties for open ground
On simple beds planted cabbage, resistant to sudden changes in temperature, many early, medium and medium late varieties are suitable for this. The following are the most common varieties of white cabbage in the Moscow region for growing on ordinary beds.
Early ripening:Dawn, Dumas (head of cabbage - up to 9 kg). Dumas variety successfully develops in the shade and well resists putrefactive bacteria.
Mid-late: Kryumon, Gift, Aggressor, Valentine, Glory (weight of a head of cabbage - from 4 to 8 kg). Heads of varieties Kryumon, Gift and Glory do not crack, are able to withstand putrefactive bacteria.
It is enough just to grow early heads of cabbage on warm beds, for this early ripening varieties are well suited. They allow you to sow seeds early in the climate near Moscow directly on the bed in late April or in the first ten days of May, and do not mess with seedlings. So you can quickly get a vitamin crop, especially if you plant the very varieties of cabbage. For example, fit - Dawn, Baroque or Dumas.
Helpful advice! Knowledgeable gardeners plant several different varieties of cabbage on the bed, so you can remove large heads of cabbage gradually, using the earliest ones to the table, and later laying in the cellar for storage.
Long-stored varieties of cabbage
Later varieties that are stored for a very long time become tastier over time, after they lie in the basement for a while. These are mainly Dutch hybrids, and varieties of Russian selection.
Varieties intended for long-term storage are selected taking into account the conditions under which the cabbage heads will be. For example, Moscow Late - a variety forming large heads of cabbage (one root can give a head of cabbage weighing 7-15 kg), this is the best variety for winter storage. Another - Kolobok, resistant to most diseases. It can be stored until spring, which becomes, possibly, due to the dense and even surface of the heads of cabbage, their weight reaches 5 kg.
Among the best varieties of cabbage for the Moscow region, intended for storage in the winter:
· Rusinovka (middle grade). When creating good conditions, it lies for a very long time, fruitful, resistant to the black leg and bacteriosis, does not crack;
· Blizzard (late ripening). During storage, the taste of heads of cabbage gradually gets better, resistant to a black leg and phomosis;
· Lying F1 (late). On nutritious soil, you can get a big crop, the variety is medium resistant to bacterial diseases.
The best frost-resistant varieties giving a good harvest
Early varieties are popular with gardeners who sell their crops, because they have the main goal to sell their goods as early as possible in spring. However, the ripening varieties taste significantly worse than the middle and late varieties.
By maturity, several successful varieties of cabbage can be distinguished:
1. Superearly - Resistor (heads of cabbage about 1.5-3 kg, poorly resists fungal diseases, needs a lot of moisture);
2. Early - Metina (2 kg of cabbages, the crop can be harvested as necessary, with a delay on the quality it will not affect), Dietmarsher Fryer (forms a large crop reaching 40 tons per hectare) Parel (not afraid of drought);
3. Medium - Glory (forms large heads of cabbage, reaching 5 kg, but mainly 3.5 kg each, the crop can be harvested until the first decade of May), Present (the maximum number of heads of cabbage among mid-season cabbage is up to 1.10 tons per one hundredth), Pegasus (cabbage 4.5-5 kg).
4. Late - Albatross (cabbage 3 kg, well resists pests and cabbage keel) Wave (weight of each head 4-6 kg), Lada (heads of 6.5 kg, they can be harvested at the same time, which allows you to collect the entire crop at a time).
Among frost-resistant cabbage, one of the best varieties for the Moscow region is Wintering 1474, it can be planted in the northern regions, the variety is well resistant to fungi.
Greenhouse cabbage
It is very rare that white cabbage is planted in protected structures, only to get early cabbage in the spring. For this, varieties that allow you to grow fresh cabbage in a short time are well suited.
Among the best varieties for the greenhouse are:
1. Dita - a universal variety, can be planted both in the garden and in the greenhouse, heads of cabbage can be cut 100-110 days after sowing, the weight of heads of cabbage reaches 1 kg;
2. K-206 - forms head over 2 days in weight of 2 kg, with a late plant I can start to shoot. Heads of cabbage often crack if they begin to be removed late;
3. Golden hectare 1432 - you can harvest after 110-130 days after sowing, heads of cabbage practically do not crack. Tasty cabbage both fresh and pickled;
4. Dietmar early - very early cabbage, you can cut the first crop in 50-70 days, the weight of the head reaches 1.5 kg. This variety is best planted in greenhouses for an early harvest.
