While your neighbors are digging their garden beds, you will already be eating fresh salad. Here's what you need to do right now.
We will tell you what to sow and how to prepare for sowing.
Radish
The 18 Days variety germinates at +5 degrees and ripens in 20 days in a greenhouse. The French Breakfast variety is resistant to bolting even with temperature fluctuations.
The popular "sowing in the snow" is risky: when the thaw sets in, the seeds rot. Laboratory tests have shown that germination in such conditions drops by 40%.
Spinach
Contains iron (3.5 mg per 100 g) and vitamin C (30 mg), withstands frosts down to -6 degrees. The "Ispolinsky" variety gains weight in 25 days.
The folk method of "feeding with nettle infusion" can burn the roots if you do not dilute it 1:20. For spinach, it is better to use an ash solution (1 tbsp. per 1 liter of water).
It is recommended to use the radish "Zhara". Productive (2-3 kg/m²) and drought-resistant, but requires a stable temperature (+12 +18). At +25 the roots become bitter.
Spinach "Matador" does not bolt, is resistant to powdery mildew, the leaves are juicy, without bitterness, but requires abundant watering (every 3 days).
Sowing in cold soil
The seeds rot if the soil is not warmed up to +10°C. For example, radish “18 days” at +5°C sprouts in 10 days, but half of the sprouts die.
Use a soil thermometer. Warm the soil with infrared lamps.
Thickening of plantings
Lack of light leads to small leaves. At a density of more than 50 plants per m², spinach loses 70% of its yield.
The problem can be solved by thinning the seedlings at the 2-3 leaf stage, leaving a distance of 5-7 cm.
