Growing savory from seeds at home
The taste and smell of fresh herbs can add special notes to any dish, so growing savory from seeds at home is especially important. The plant has a spicy aroma and a high content of essential oils. It can be used both fresh and dried. To do this, it is worth understanding the rules of planting and leaving.
Landing features
The plant is a small bush that any housewife can easily grow, observing a number of simple rules for care, watering and keeping conditions.
Choosing a suitable location
Seed pots or boxes can be placed on special shelves, shelves, or hung. By creating a combination of several varieties of greenery, you can equip a small, cozy mini - garden.
Lighting requirements
Before growing savory from seeds, you should take care of high-quality lighting. Disadvantage artificial light will cause the plants to have long and thin stems. It is necessary to exclude darkened and drafted places.
The daylight bulb should be on for at least 6 hours a day, and in winter this time should be increased by a couple of hours.
Lack of light when growing savory can lead to the death of the plant.
Temperature regime
When growing savory, the temperature regime must be observed in the range from +18 to + 22 ° C. A decrease in temperature can lead to root rot with the subsequent death of the plant. If the reading is several degrees higher, it is necessary to spray regularly.
Priming
The optimal soil for growing consists of black soil, humus and sand in a ratio of 1: 1: 2. You can buy ready-made soil in a specialized store, the main thing is that the peat content in it is no more than 1/3.
Savory does not like soil with high acidity levels.
Sowing seeds
Planting for growing savory from seeds at home is done in mid-spring and consists of several stages:
- Wrap the seed in a damp cloth and leave for a day to swell and peck.
- Dry the seeds.
- Make a hole 10 mm deep in the ground and place the seeds in it.
- Moisten the soil and cover with foil to prevent the soil from drying out.
- The seeds will sprout in about a week. As soon as the seedling size reaches 10 mm, it must be thinned out.
- In the future, for the grown bushes, it is necessary to select an individual pot, since an adult savory is a bush.
Greens at the seedling stage should be regularly irrigated with water for the first two weeks. To avoid drying out of the soil, containers with seedlings should be located away from heating appliances.
Care rules
Before planting savory, you need to know the intricacies of caring for it. The plant is unpretentious, but does not tolerate drought and excessive moisture poorly.
Watering
To optimize the irrigation process, the wick method is the best option. Its essence lies in the fact that in the process of transplanting a bush into a separate container, in each pot a thick woolen thread is placed, the end of which comes out through one of the drainage holes.
In the future, the pots are installed in a common pan with water and the required amount of moisture is taken through the wick. The main thing is to monitor the presence of water in the pan itself. Thus, you do not have to worry about the condition of the ground.
Top dressing
Normal growth and development of bushes needs periodic feeding (once every two weeks). A mixture of ash and water is suitable as a mineral fertilizer, and greens can be provided with a complex of chemical elements using ordinary fertilizer for flowers purchased from a store. Tincture of water and eggshell is a good source of calcium for proper growth.
Harvesting
You can start harvesting when the plant reaches 25 cm in height. When cutting a plant, it is necessary to leave hemp at least 4 cm so that the spice continues to grow.
If there are several bushes, it is worth cutting off several branches from each of them, then watering the plant and applying top dressing. If, when growing savory from seeds at home, the harvest is plentiful, the spice can be cut and dried, leaving a small part for the herbs.
Subject to certain conditions, even on a windowsill or balcony, you can easily organize a corner with spices and fresh herbs that will help add sophistication to dishes at any time of the year. Basil, dill and parsley will become wonderful neighbors for savory.