If you decide to grow some unusual and beautiful plant in your summer cottage, pay attention to the decorative cabbage.
Her native land is Japan. Local residents for the first time decided to use decorative cabbage not only for food, but also for decorating their garden. The plant looks beautiful from July to October, but it is especially attractive in late autumn. At this time, the colors of the surrounding nature faded, and only decorative cabbage continues to delight the eye with bright spots on the flower beds. And even frozen, covered with a light veil of snow, the heads of decorative cabbage look fantastic.
Many gardeners who decided to decorate their dacha site, are interested in how to grow ornamental cabbage.
Cabbage, ornamental - varieties
There are four main varieties of ornamental cabbage:
- Nagoya - cabbage of this variety has beautiful lace leaves, which by autumn become dark maroon, crimson or even yellow;
- F1 Sunrise is a plant that looks like a flower of a blossoming rose of delicate cream color;
- Purple pigeon - cabbage leaves of this variety have a bright violet color and are united in tight rosettes;
- The pink heron - its leaves are painted in an unusually beautiful, gently pink color.
There are decorative cabbage and several sortotypes. So, Blue Giant, Curled Green is recommended for single landings. A Plumage motley and Japanese variegated cabbage are used to decorate flower beds, broochs or parterres.
Planting of decorative cabbage
This plant multiplies most often by seeds. In spring, in March-April, the seeds are sown in greenhouses in well-moistened wells of 2-3 pieces, the distance between which should be about 5 cm. With such a planting, the picking will not be necessary for plants, it will suffice to thin the shoots by removing the weak plants from the wells.
Moisten the soil with crops as it dries. The temperature in the hotbeds should be maintained at 15 ° C. In early May, seedlings of ornamental cabbage can be planted on beds.
Propagate decorative cabbage, bypassing the seedling method, by sowing the seeds immediately into the open ground. Do this in late spring or early summer.
When choosing a place for planting cabbage, do not forget that the plant likes sunny places and loamy or sandy loamy soils. To plant a seedling, you must choose a cloudy day or do it in the evening. Each seedling should be deepened into the ground to the level of the cotyledonous leaf and compact the earth around it. For a couple of days after planting, it's better to prune the plants from the bright sun.
Decorative cabbage - care
Decorative cabbage - unpretentious plant, and care for it is simple. It consists in regular watering, weeding and loosening of the soil under plants, as well as in fertilizing.
2 weeks after planting, young plants should be fed up with a dilute mullein or urea to speed up the formation of the leaves. The next feeding should be done after 2 weeks. In this period, a complex mineral fertilizer is introduced. Soil loosening needs to be done when 10 real leaves are formed on the plant. Only young cabbage should be fertilized, as grown plants can lose their attractive appearance from the excess of some substances, especially organic nitrogen.
Since the decorative cabbage transplant is not bad, then by the beginning of autumn, if desired, it can be transplanted to the central place on the flower bed instead of those plants that have already faded. Sometimes decorative cabbage is grown in large pots or pots. And when the dacha season ends, you can take the pots home, and the cabbage will be the decoration of your room until the New Year. Cut off under the root of the plant will stay at home in the water for another month.
As we see, growing and caring for ornamental cabbage is a very simple matter. With minimal attention this plant will please you with active growth and attractive appearance. And how nice it will be for you to admire the autumn beds with bright decorative cabbage!