Recommendations from experienced gardeners: is it possible to sow nigella onions before winter and when to do it?

There are two ways to sow onions. It is grown from sets or seeds called nigella. While markets sell mainly bulbs for sowing, seeds of different varieties are available in specialized stores. To get healthy planting material for the desired plant, it is better to use nigella.

Growing Crops from seeds are complicated by the fact that turnips take two seasons to develop. Winter sowing will help speed up the process. In this case, large vegetables will be ready for harvest in the fall. Is it possible to sow chives before winter, how and when to do it, read on.

Advantages and disadvantages of winter sowing

This cultivation nigella has a number of advantages:

1. If you plant seeds in the spring, then by autumn you will be able to collect only the sets. In this case, you will have to wait another year until a full harvest is obtained. With pre-winter sowing, large bulbs will appear next autumn.
2. The onion turns out to be stronger and more resilient, and suffers less from diseases. It manages to adapt to the composition of the soil and climatic conditions of a particular region.
3. The seeds, unlike sets, are small. Therefore, you don’t have to clear and prepare space for them in the basement or attic.
4. In spring, the soil will be moistened with melting snow and precipitation. The gardener will not have to waste time watering.
5. Nigella germinates after the first warming. Sown before winter, it will grow much faster than crops planted at the usual time.
6. In the spring, the gardener will not have to look for time to sow onions - it will be freed up for growing other crops.
7. Most varieties of the crop are suitable for sowing before winter.

The only drawback of this method is that the seeds are planted in frozen soil, so you will have to work with cold soil, which is not always pleasant.

Obtaining planting material

You don't have to buy Chernushka. Onion seeds are easy to obtain yourself. For this purpose, the largest and healthiest turnips are selected from last year's harvest.

Selected material is planted in autumn or spring. In mid-summer, the plants will shoot arrows. The inflorescences contain many dark brown or black seeds.

They ripen unharmoniously. Therefore, after the first black seeds appear, the umbrellas are wrapped in gauze or stocking so as not to lose part of the planting material. When the seeds are ripe, they are collected, laid out on paper and allowed to dry for several days.

Some vegetable growers use another method: they cut off the umbrellas with still green seeds and leave them in the sun for 10–14 days. During this time, the material will fully ripen.

Attention! To obtain planting material, they use the largest and healthiest turnips that were not sick during cultivation. Their seeds are characterized by increased germination, high resistance to diseases and negative environmental factors.

Variety selection

Most crop varieties are suitable for landing late autumn and early winter. However, for the northern and central regions of Russia it is better to choose winter-hardy plants.

The varieties described are resistant to cold snaps and can withstand even the coldest winters.

Preparing for sowing

To grow strong and healthy onions, it is important to properly prepare the planting material. First, make sure of its germination:

1. The seeds are sorted and divided into groups according to size. Large specimens germinate a week earlier than small ones.
2. Several seeds from each batch are laid out on gauze, which is used to cover a saucer. It is moistened with water, the material is covered with another layer of fabric and put in a warm place. Moisten with warm liquid as it dries.
3. When the seeds germinate, count the number of sprouted specimens. If more than 30% germinated, the batch is suitable for cultivation.

The remaining seeds that were not germinated are prepared for winter planting.. For this:

1. The seeds are immersed in water. After an hour, the specimens remaining on the surface are collected and soaked for another hour, and those that float are thrown away. Nigella that sank to the bottom during the first and second soaking is suitable for planting.
2. Planting material is disinfected by soaking for 2 hours in a light pink solution of potassium permanganate.
3. Nigella is immersed in water at a temperature of +50°C for half an hour.After this, soak for another 2 hours in aloe juice, diluted with an equal amount of water.
4. The prepared seeds are dried, spread out in 1 layer in a warm place.

You cannot dry nigella on a radiator. Extreme heat will cause the seeds to overheat and not germinate.

Landing dates

Deadlines vary by region. Seeds are planted when the soil has already begun to freeze. This eliminates the risk of their germination ahead of time.

When to plant seeds depending on the region:

• northern regions (Ural, Siberia) - late October - early November;
• central regions (Moscow region, Moscow) - mid-end of November;
• cities with a southern climate (Belgorod, Sochi) - December.

When choosing the time for winter sowing, they are not guided by generally accepted deadlines. It's important to look at the actual weather this year. It is better to sow nigella later than earlier.

Attention! Some vegetable growers prefer to plant seeds under the snow.

Sowing rules

Growing nigella is not difficult. It is important to follow the basic rules of planting and soil preparation. This determines how high-quality and abundant the harvest will be and how many seeds will germinate.

Soil preparation

First of all, choose a landing site. Garden plots on a small hill are best suited. This will help avoid moisture stagnation and reduce the risk of crop disease. It is important that the beds are well lit by the sun: the feathers of a plant in the shade will be yellow.

The beds on which onions previously grew are not used for planting the same crop for 2 years. Suitable predecessors are nightshade or legumes, cabbage, carrots.

Pre-prepare the soil. This is done in early October, when the soil is still quite soft:

1. The ground is dug up and the remains of weeds and cultivated plants are removed.
2. Fertilizers are applied: per 1 m2 take 0.5 buckets of humus or rotted manure and 1 tbsp. ash.
3. The soil is leveled with a rake and mixed with fertilizer.
4. Form beds 15–20 cm high, make grooves 2 cm deep. A small amount of coarse table salt is poured onto the bottom to prevent the onion fly from infecting the plants.

If the soil is sufficiently nutritious but heavy, river sand is used instead of humus. Pour 1/3 of a 10 liter bucket onto 1 m2.

Landing

It is not difficult to sow nigella. The main thing is to follow the rules:

1. Make grooves at a distance of 20 cm from each other. Their depth should reach 2–2.5 cm.
2. Seeds are poured into the grooves. Since the germination rate of nigella is low, thickened planting is used. Up to 100 seeds are consumed per 1 m2.
3. The seeds are sprinkled with a 2 cm layer of sand, then watered with warm, settled water.

The beds are mulched with humus, peat, hay or sawdust to protect against cold weather. This is especially true for regions where little snow falls in winter.

Important! Seeds no older than 2 years are suitable for planting.

Further care

In autumn and winter, nigella is not watered, but care is taken to ensure that the beds are evenly covered with snow.

The main care occurs in spring and summer. It includes the following steps:

1. Thinning. Since nigella is sown quite densely, in the spring the seedlings appear close to each other. To get large bulbs and a lot of greens, thinning is carried out in 2 stages. When the seeds germinate, leave 3 cm free between the plants. When 3-4 true leaves appear (this happens 2-3 weeks after the appearance of the first shoots), re-thinning is carried out, leaving 6-8 cm between the plants.
2. Watering. Onions are watered twice a week in dry weather. In case of heavy precipitation, humidification is stopped. Per 1 m2, use up to 1 bucket of settled water at room temperature. Watering is stopped 2 weeks before harvest.
3. Loosening and weeding. After each moistening, the soil is loosened. This destroys the earthen crust, which prevents root air exchange. At the same time, the beds are cleared of weeds: they spread diseases and cause the bulbs to shred.
4. Mulching. Mulch (sawdust, peat, hay or straw) protects plants from cold weather, diseases, slows down the growth of weeds, prevents stagnation and evaporation of moisture, and the formation of an earthen crust. Such beds are not loosened.

Fertilizing is applied three times per season, every 2-3 weeks:

1. After the second thinning, organic nitrogen fertilizers are used. For example, a solution of mullein (1:5) or chicken manure (1:10).
2. The second time, mineral compositions containing phosphorus and potassium are used.
3. The third feeding is made mineral-organic. Add 20 g of superphosphate and 1 tbsp to a bucket with a solution of chicken manure (1:10). ash.

Advice from experienced gardeners

For a larger harvest and easier cultivation, follow the advice of experienced gardeners:

1. To make it easier to sow nigella and control the number of seeds per 1 m2, planting material is mixed with chalk powder or light sand.
2. Watering and fertilizing are carried out early in the morning or at sunset with low solar activity. This reduces the risk of burns on plants.
3. The day before fertilizing, the beds are watered abundantly so that the fertilizers do not harm the root system.
4. Purchased planting material is disinfected and calibrated in the factory. This is evidenced by the inscriptions on the packaging.Such seeds are not disinfected at home, but they are still checked for germination.
5. The readiness of the crop for harvesting is indicated by yellowing and wilting of the feathers.
6. If nigella is planted on greenery, then spring thinning is done only once.

For onions planted before winter, extreme warming followed by the onset of frost is dangerous. If the seeds manage to germinate during the thaw, they will die if the temperature drops sharply.

Conclusion

Sowing nigella before winter is closest to the method of propagating onions in the natural environment. Therefore, this growing method is considered optimal. Plants planted in late autumn are more hardy and resistant to cold weather and disease. Wherein harvest large root crops are obtained in just 1 year.

When planting nigella in winter, it is important to follow the rules and sequence, and choose the right time for garden work. Otherwise, the seeds will germinate ahead of time and die in frost.