Should I dig up mustard sown in autumn
 Do I need to dig up mustard

In the preparation of sauces and various seasonings, mustard powder is often used as one of the ingredients. You can make it yourself, having grown mustard and grinding its seeds in your own plot. In addition to the culinary destination, the blank is also used in cosmetology, medicine and gardening. On the intricacies of growing plants and whether to dig up the bushes sown in autumn will be discussed in this article.

Description and characteristics of mustard

Mustard belongs to the Cabbage family, has a one-year life cycle. Culture has several species, but the following are particularly popular:

  • field (wild);
  • English (white);
  • Sarepta (Russian).

The herbaceous plant in the lower part has a feathery leaf shape, the upper greens are lobed. The height of the stem is from 20 to 100 cm. Inflorescences are brushes that combine several small yellow flowers.

The flowering period begins in June and lasts until August. A fruit is formed from a flower in the form of a pod about 3-4 cm long. Its surface is covered with rigid hairs. Inside the fruit are placed rounded seeds, from which mustard powder is made.

The root system of the rod type penetrates into the soil by 2-3 m. This factor explains resistance of the culture to dry weather.

 Mustard is a great honey plant.
Mustard is a great honey plant.
Regardless of the type of mustard, the culture is an excellent honey plant.

Connoisseurs are considered the birthplace of plants Asia. Now it is cultivated in many countries, but the largest center of cultivation is India. The fruits are harvested, dried and sent to various sectors of the national economy.

Main directions - cooking and medicine. In the food industry, the processed raw material becomes a component for cooking butter, the grains are processed into powder, for seasoning or sauces.

In agriculture, the plant is sown as a siderata. Culture enriches the soil with nutrients, improves the structure, makes the soil loose. Mustard has a disinfecting effect, which is important for the purification of the soil environment from bacteria and harmful microorganisms.

The benefits and harm of plants, the advantages and disadvantages of using

Useful trace elements, essential oils, glycosides and enzymes that are part of the culture, are of value not only in cooking, but also in medicine. Mustard has antioxidant and anti-inflammatory action, its powder is included in a mixture of masks, compresses, baths and solutions.

 Mustard oil has anti-inflammatory effects.
Mustard oil has anti-inflammatory effects.

The processed fruits of the plant are useful for disorders of the digestive system, flatulence, liver and gall bladder diseases, atherosclerosis, etc.

It is believed that the mustard component in combination with other plants is used as an adjunct in the treatment of oncology. In addition, the plant has a positive effect on the work:

  • of cardio-vascular system;
  • vision;
  • nervous system;
  • bone tissue.

In the process of processing plants waste is generated - cake. It is a brown powder. The composition of the product includes a large number of micronutrients and essential oils.

The form of all organic trace elements contained in the composition of the cake, is readily available, so the fertilizer gives a quick performance.

Benefits of use:

  • plant growing fastunpretentious in the care;
  • intensive growth does not allow to get on the bed of weeds;
  • content in the composition of essential oils creates pest repellent;
  • fruits of culture have a universal use (in the kitchen, for cosmetic and medical procedures, for disinfecting the soil);
  • when released into the soil, grass, if mowed, is converted into humus.
 Mustard fruits have universal use.
Mustard fruits have universal use.

Disadvantages:

  • It has cruciferous diseases, therefore, when using it, the crop rotation rule is strictly observed;
  • the seeds are located on the surface, which attracts birds (it is likely to remain without planting material).

How to apply in the garden garden

Experienced gardeners appreciate mustard by dignity, allocating a garden bed for culture each year in their plot. Its uniqueness lies in its universal use.

  • If any garden bed is covered in spring with a thick carpet of weed, after harvesting, mustard should be planted in this place, and mustard should be planted in this place. Next season soil well cleaned of weed seeds, the structure will become loose, which is ideal for the development of the root system of any plant.
  • If any larvae, insects that are dangerous to vegetable crops, scab, phytophtora, are identified in the garden, it is recommended to sow mustard on infected ground.Plant perform sanitary functions, disinfecting the soil environment from harmful microorganisms.
  • Spice coexists well with shrubs, fruit trees, vegetable crops, so it can be safely chosen as a companion. Such a neighbor frightens off pests, prevents the spread of weeds and pathogenic bacteria in the area.
  • Green mustard can be used as a bait. It is enough to bury the greenery with a hoe, and the garden bed is enriched with nutrients. If the land is very depleted, along with vegetable nutrition, you need to enter compost or pour Baikal on the cut greens. This will speed up the decomposition of fertilizer.
  • Tillage with mustard oil allows you to get rid of onion flies, wireworms and other pests.
 Mustard cake helps to get rid of pests on the site
Mustard cake helps to get rid of pests on the site

Use as a siderata to combat grass and weeds

The plant can be used as a siderat. The process of growing and harvesting is somewhat different from the general agricultural technology.

The correct dates of sowing in the soil

Mustard adapted to any kind of soil, worse grows only on wetlands.After the correct landing for 2-3 weeks, you can forget about the seedlings, shoots will appear without fail, even if at night the temperature has dropped to -5 degrees. Green mass does not harm it.

Landing plan for autumn or spring (at the discretion of the owners), the seeds are laid in the soil in rows, deepening them by 1-1.5 cm. After 3-5 days the first shoots will appear.

If sowing is scheduled for spring, work can be started after the danger of night frosts has passed, and the daily rate will be above 10 degrees. Most often this period falls on the month of April. And autumn work should begin immediately after harvest.

To obtain early shoots in the spring you need to embed the seeds before winter, but at the same time there is a high probability of miscalculation with time. If the event is tightened, then the grains thrown into the frozen ground will freeze to death, and during warm November shoots may appear ahead of schedule.

 The first shoots of mustard appear 3-5 days after planting
The first shoots of mustard appear 3-5 days after planting

When to clean

When growing mustard fertilizer to cut the greens you need before the flowering period (about 5-7 weeks old). At later stages, the stems become coarse, which complicates processing.

To obtain grains with subsequent use in the household, you need to wait for them to ripen in pods. After flowering takes about 5 weeks, when the seeds begin to knock when shaken. This is a signal about the readiness of the crop for assembly.

About 100-120 grams of mustard seeds are obtained per square meter.

Is it necessary to dig up mustard sown in autumn

According to experts, the young mustard shoots that have risen in the fall, dig up not worth it. Under the influence of frost, the grass will settle down, and the soil will cope with the siderata by spring. In the spring it will be enough to walk the rake on the site to close up the remnants.

Opinion gardeners about the need for digging are separated. Some of them believe that such a procedure is needed to speed up the process of decomposition of raw materials.

However, before doing the work, you should be familiar with why and why to do it, as well as with recommendations:

  • dig over siderat better early fallso that the plant has time to give the soil the maximum amount of nutrients;
  • the highest content of beneficial trace elements is marked at the initial stage of floweringthen it is worth doing the digging;
  • shovel to turn over the removed layer of earth so that the grass is completely buried.

The benefits of landing as a siderata

When deciding on sowing mustard as a siderata, it should be taken into account that this cannot be done before planting crops belonging to the Cruciferous family. This can contribute to the transmission of various diseases through the soil.

Siderat sowed in the fall or spring immediately after digging. After that, according to the plan, planting of vegetable crops is carried out.

The green mass of mustard is rich in valuable trace elements, so after embedding it in the soil, fruit plants receive a dose of nutrients that contribute to good setting and fruiting.

 The green mass of mustard is rich in valuable trace elements
The green mass of mustard is rich in valuable trace elements

The most beneficial effect of green manure has on such cultures:

  • strawberries;
  • beetroot;
  • peas;
  • zucchini;
  • potatoes;
  • bow;
  • carrot;
  • cucumbers.
Siderat not only enriches the soil with nitrogen, calcium and other microelements, but also protects shoots from winds, scorching sunlight. And after cutting the grass serves as mulch.

Spice greens are also used for pest prevention. Sometimes, before planting seedlings, green grass is mown or plowed. This need arises in cases where vegetable seedlings have a weak root system, which mustard can choke. Say greens before it starts to turn yellow.

Use of mustard cake as a fertilizer

One of the available types of organic fertilizer is mustard greens. Young shoots that have reached the age 5 weeks, are saturated with beneficial microelements, which, when decomposed, enrich the soil with nutrients.

The cost of such prikormki penny, meager labor costs. Planted seeds have good germination, so the time spent on agricultural technology at least, it remains only to wait until the first shoots grow, remove the greens and plow the soil.

Useful properties of fertilizer

 Mowing young mustard to fertilize the soil
Mowing young mustard to fertilize the soil
  • Fertilizer composition has no weed seeds, pathogens and larvae of pests (as opposed to manure, humus).
  • Environmentally friendly product.
  • Availability phytosanitary properties.
  • Increased soil microbial activity.
  • Prevent the formation of erosion.
  • Universal application.
  • Affordable cost.

When to fertilize

You can fertilize the soil at the end of the season after harvesting or in early spring. It takes a little time to grow mustard, so you can sow it, for example, after early cucumbers or tomatoes. And it is better to distribute the obtained cake in the bed in the fall, it will take a sufficient amount of time to feed the raw materials and enrich the soil with nutrients.

If you put the cake in the spring, then the planting of the current season will not be able to use the fertilizer, it takes 2-3 months to decompose the mustard waste, but the soil will become looser.

These factors also important for normal growing season. In addition, the young green siderata contains a large amount of useful minerals, they have a beneficial effect on vegetable crops.

Cake application

 Mustard cake is introduced in the fall when digging soil
Mustard cake is introduced in the fall when digging soil

The best option to enrich the land with oilcake is autumn input when digging. The consumption rate depends on the type of soil and the type of crop planted, the average - 100-800 gr. on 1 m2. To repel pests, it is recommended to add a little fertilizer to the well.

When you enter the cake in the spring before planting, the following effect is achieved:

  • soil structure is improved;
  • waste performs mulch functionality;
  • pest prevention or control is carried out.

Eating mustard in food

Mustard is known to mankind as a seasoning for several thousand years. From seed plants make sauces, aromatic and healthy oils, powderwhich is included in the compositions of various spice mixtures and added to food.

At the use of mustard the enveloping effect is noted, to the microbes which are in a stomach chances of a survival practically do not remain. Due to its antioxidant properties, the product is used as an aid in the treatment of colds. It gives a warming effect, prevents the development of fever.

 Mustard powder has antimicrobial effect
Mustard powder has antimicrobial effect

With all the beneficial properties of mustard, you should treat it with caution, to comply with the measure, otherwise you can burn the esophageal mucosa of the stomach.

Therapeutic effect

The healing qualities of mustard were noted in the distant times of Hippocrates. At that time, plant seeds were used as expectorant and antitussive. Among other things, the powder recommended to improve the appetite and restoring the digestive system.

In modern folk medicine, mustard is used to treat the following diseases:

  • neuralgia;
  • gout;
  • disruption of the liver and gallbladder;
  • rheumatism;
  • bronchitis and pneumonia;
  • hypertension, etc.
Spice powder copes well with the quenching of toothache, performs the functions of a laxative and antifebrile.

The mustard agrotechnology is simple, besides, the plant has sideratny properties, which will help rid the soil of pathogens and larvae of various insects. Any owner will find a place even on a modestly sized plot for such a useful culture.