In many European and North American countries, a unique plant is popular, growing and caring for it is not complicated, and its healing and culinary qualities are indispensable. The Slavs used the lyubovka as a love-grass or a guard, which fostered love and faithfulness of the spouses.
Lubistok - description
The French call lovers "fake celery", the British - "love parsley," this is due to the fact that plants have a very similar appearance. The bush lyubovka grows to a height of 1.5-2 meters, has a tubular branching stem, a massive root system. It has large, shiny, fragrant leaves, reminiscent of celery leaves. Blooms in late June - early July, its greenish-yellow small flowers form an umbellate inflorescence. An unpretentious, frost-resistant flower lovage - perennial, planting and caring for it does not present special difficulties.
Types of lovage
There are not many kinds of lovers, but they are all attractive and useful. The most popular of them gardeners call the following varieties:
- Leader. The name corresponds to the qualitative characteristics of the plant, its leaves are juicy, the bushes grow rapidly, their yield is high (up to 2 kg per circumcision).
- Hercules. This sort of lovage refers to the medium-sized, it is frost-resistant, with a strong flavor. Good yield is evident in the second to third year.
- Amur. Bushes grow low (up to 60 cm), the leaves are large, fragrant, frost-resistant, low yields, reaching 2-2.5 kg per bush.
- Udalets. It has excellent spicy taste and medicinal properties. Growing loving daredevil is possible at home, the bush compact, grows to a height of one meter.
How to plant a lover?
Deciding to plant a lovage in your area, you will acquire a perennial plant that for many years will please its spicy greenery from spring and until late autumn. Planting lovers can be carried out both by seeds and by divided rhizomes of adult plants (starting from the age of 3 years). Preliminary cultivation of seedlings from seeds should be started in early March, but seeds can be sown directly into the open ground. Distance between the hives of lovage leave at least 0.7 - 1 meter, plant along the fence, greenhouses.
How to plant a lover with seeds?
Seeds lovage before sowing should be prepared for their fastest germination. Because of the essential oils contained in the seeds, they remain dry for a long time, and the first shoots appear only after 3-3.5 weeks. To speed up the process of growing lovage from seeds, rinse them with warm water and soak for 1-2 days. For one liter of water, add 10 g of wood ash or a universal biopreparation. After swelling of seeds, they can be sown, it should be done in November or early spring. Sowing of soaked seeds is carried out to a depth of 1-1.5 cm, seedlings will appear after 1.5-2 weeks.
How to plant a root love?
Good, powerful roots in lovage will be in the case of timely removal of peduncles, until the moment they blossom. To get the planting material, dig out the root of the plant, divide it into parts, each of which should have 2-3 kidneys, sprinkle the places of the incisions with ashes. Dig up and divide the roots for further planting in early May. Planting lovers and further care is not difficult, "delenki" quickly take root, growing a bush in one place will be optimal for 6-8 years, then the plantation loveska must be updated.
Where to plant lovage?
Choosing a place where a lover should be planted, it is necessary to provide him with conditions under which his roots will not rot away because of excessive stagnation of moisture, and the above-ground parts will not dry up from her absence. More suitable for cultivation of this culture shaded areas with pre-fertilized before planting soil, fertile soil, because the plant is a perennial, the technique of its cultivation and care does not involve transplantation. Primer choose a light and moist, without closely located groundwater. Well, if the site before growing the lover was planted with cabbage or zucchini.
How to grow lovage?
Lyubastok can grow in open space, as the plant is frost-resistant, not afraid of drafts. Cultivation of love at the cottage in the open ground requires certain conditions:
- mandatory loosening of soil to stimulate root growth;
- sufficient watering, is done twice a month, up to 12-15 liters of water for each bush;
- regular top dressing in the spring and after the regular cut of leaves, mineral mixtures and organic are used;
- Cutting of peduncles (in case of growing on greenery).
Lovestock - care
You need to take care of the lover as well as for most plants: be careful that the weed is not drowned, watered and fed on time, using for this infusion of various herbs with nettles, mullein , ash. To reduce the scope of these works, beds with a lover tend to wallow . In the first year of growing, cut the leaves once, so that the greens were lush, use nitrogen-containing fertilizers. To obtain large medicinal roots, feed the bushes with ashes, excluding nitrogen, after 3-4 years they can be used.
How to grow a lover in the country - watering?
Excellent spicy and aromatic seasoning, a wonderful healer - lovage, became a favorite of many gardeners and gardeners. Bushes lovage, planting and caring for them in the open, do not take much time and effort. Winter-hardy culture is not capricious, it is not demanding to the soil, less than others needs sunlight and warmth. Experienced gardeners recommend to quickly grow lovage from seeds in the open field, build a mini-greenhouse for this.
To water a plant grown in a shaded place, while it is small or in an arid period, an adult plant that has a powerful root system, itself will get moisture. After watering, necessarily loosen the soil, rasspushivshis, the bush itself will create a shadow near the roots. With a lack of moisture, the plant starts to discard the leaves, with its appearance - it releases a new shoot.
Flower lovage - top dressing
Some gardeners are advised to feed the lover only with organic fertilizers, excluding chemistry. Flower lovage, growing and caring for it requires use, both during planting and later - fertilizer for fertilizing. To stimulate strong and powerful roots, increase their growth, once every two weeks, use the following solution:
- 10 liters of water;
- 20 g of superphosphate;
- 20 g of saltpeter;
- 20 g of potassium chloride.
Cultivation of lovers is very often performed with a therapeutic purpose, so it is better to use organic fertilizers that do not carry any harm to human health. In the spring, in the second year of growing a lover, it can be fed with the fertilizer "Spring", which is a mineral complex, two weeks after that - use urea (20 g per square meter). In the middle of summer you can add organic materials, and in the autumn, fill up the compost in the soil.
Lyubistok in the country - diseases
When growing a lover and caring for him, as with most garden crops, there is a chance of encountering the diseases of this plant. The most important enemies of this bush are - "carrot fly" , its larvae affect the roots of the plant and "white spotting", inadequate help render the flower to death. It can also be damaged by snails, which, after attacking, can instantly destroy the young shoots. On the testes, the lover often settles on aphids.
Growing and caring for a lover in the open field requires the application of some effective agrotechnical methods in the control of pests and diseases. Sprinkling the soil around the bush with ashes, and sprinkling the top with granules of phosphorus fertilizer, you can protect it from the attack of snails and aphids. Porridge from the ashes and water to treat the tops of shoots, if the aphid appeared on top, after 12 hours, rinse this composition with water from the hose. It is not recommended to use chemicals, they exclude the possibility of using the plant for food.
Today, among gardeners, such a plant as a lover grows, growing and caring for it in the garden, will allow you to always have on hand a fresh, tender and fragrant seasoning for meat, fish dishes and salads and a remedy for many diseases. With success this plant is used and in cosmetology, especially well the decoction of a lover prepared from 1 tbsp. spoons of leaves and 250 ml of water, used to rinse hair and feed roots, they become shiny, lush, silky and strong ..