Family bow - pearl of the garden

Family onions are a two-year plant. Has several names: shallots (scientific), kuschevka, charlotte, multi-lobed.

In appearance it is similar to chives. However, it is a kind of bulbous one, differing from it by smaller sizes of heads. Leaves form a lot, due to what the bush looks powerful. They are thin, cylindrical, with a wax coating.

When grown from seeds or small onions derived from peduncles, in the first year, the first are the subulate, tubular, small leaves that form a basal rosette. The next year they are formed on the flowering shoot, and only up to its middle.

Family onions form in the nest about 10 bulbs (in good conditions up to 30) with a total mass of about 0.5 kg. They are dense, frost-resistant, lezhkie, weight up to 40 g (there are varieties with a mass of up to 100 g). Their shape is oval-elongated or ovate. Dry scales yellow or brownish-red. Fleshy scales of white or light-lilac color, not thick.

In the second year, the family onion forms thin flower-bearing shoots up to 80 cm long with an inflorescence - a spherical umbrella, on which a large number of small flowers of lilac or bluish-pink color are formed (in some varieties light with red veins). Seeds are rare, mostly from flowers, small bulbs are obtained, therefore, the plant is propagated mainly vegetatively.

Shalot is an early culture. After emergence in a month, the leaves are ready for cutting. Family onions are very urozhaen: from 1 square. M. Collect 3 kg of heads and 5 kg of greens.

The heads are very cold-resistant. If they are frozen, then after a gradual thawing they germinate without visible damage. This plant with a short but deep period of rest (already in January comes out of it), so it can be used for winter and early spring distillation. It's easy to grow it in a house on a windowsill, and in the spring on a balcony.

Family onions contain more minerals, sugars and ascorbic acid, when compared with the onion. It has dietary properties and therapeutic effect. Having learned all the charm of this useful plant, many are wondering about how to plant a family bow.

The features of planting depend on the purposes: on the turnip, on the pen, for greening. For cultivation on a feather, the podzimnaya landing is more suitable, since the greens ripen a week earlier than from the spring, and it happens much more.

The family bow grows better on fertile, light soils . Landing on the turnip should be made in the spring as soon as possible. The beds should be prepared as early as autumn, dig and add humus (about 1 square meter about 5 kg). In the spring, just loosen up and add mineral fertilizer. Plant the bulbs with a distance of 12 cm between each pair, to a depth of 12 cm, leaving between rows of 25 cm. Seeds with plantings should preferably be covered with peat, for example.

In the future, take care the same way as for the bulb: weed, loosen, water in the dry season. Remove the bulbs when the foliage dries and lies. After drying, the tops should be cut off, leaving about 4 cm, dried and stored in a dry place.