In every summer resident there is a desire for experimentation, the search for new and rare, a passion for discoveries. Growing familiar plants on your favorite six hundredths, you can and should experiment to discover original and new tastes. We’ll tell you what exotic vegetables you can plant on your site this year to diversify your harvest.
Leaf beet (chard)
This culture has been known since ancient times: it was cultivated already 2,000 years ago by the ancient Romans, not without reason it is also called Roman cabbage. The plant is a relative of beets, but unlike it, only stems and leaves are consumed.
There are two varieties: petiole and leaf. Chard stalks can be colored depending on the variety in various colors: white, orange, scarlet, burgundy. Bright coloring of the stems will decorate any garden.
Leaf beets are eaten only after boiling, and for salads they are passaged. When cooked, it loses its bright color. The vegetable is well suited for cooking stew, alone or in combination with other vegetables, for cooking cabbage soup and cabbage rolls - it will replace the usual cabbage in them.
Chard contains many useful vitamins and minerals (vitamins K, A, E, potassium, magnesium, sodium and iron) that are stored during heat treatment.
Growing Features
Leafy beets are planted from seeds in the early to mid-May. Like ordinary beets, this species loves sunny places, and care consists in timely regular watering and top dressing with organic fertilizers. The vegetable is unpretentious and frost-resistant. Since this is a two-year-old plant, overwintering, the chard will delight in early spring with fresh herbs. It grows quickly after cutting and gives a regular crop throughout the season.
Fennel
This vegetable has been known since ancient times as a food and medicinal crop. It has a pleasant aniseed aroma. There are two types: leaf and vegetable. It is rich in vitamins and minerals, essential oils. Fennel essential oil is used in the cosmetic and pharmaceutical industries: for example, it is part of infant colic drugs (Plantex). Favorably affects the gastrointestinal tract.
Fennel leaves can be used to dress fresh green salads instead of dill, as well as for making herbal tea. Vegetable fennel is suitable for preparing soups, side dishes or fresh for salads.
Growing Features
Fennel seeds will be difficult to germinate due to the high content of essential oils in them. In order to accelerate the germination of seeds, they must be soaked for several days in water, regularly changing it to fresh.
This is a heat-loving plant, so it is grown for seedlings in April, transplanted to a permanent place in mid-May. Fennel is extremely sensitive to the length of daylight and watering: with a lack of light and moisture, it can go into the arrow. Vegetable fennel periodically need to be spudded to protect from the sun and increase the white mass of the vegetable. Like sunflower, it acts depressingly on the next planting of vegetables, so it must be planted away from other crops.
Ogurdynya (Manduria)
This vegetable is a close relative of the cucumber, and in shape resembles small melons. They eat unripe fruits instead of cucumbers, as well as ripe ones, which, as they ripen, become tasty like melons, only tiny.
Due to the shorter vegetation period, the fruits ripen almost always, even if a short rainy summer has come out. They are used both fresh on their own or in salads, and for salting, in the preparation of preserves, jams. The fruits of cucumbers will not be bitter, they will retain their cucumber taste even with a lack of watering. With excessive moisture, ripened fruits may crack, they must be removed on time.
Growing Features
Cucumber can be grown through seedlings in April or immediately into open ground in May. The first ovary appears on the 70-75 day from seedlings. It is necessary to protect the crop from birds. To avoid pollination, one should not plant close to other related crops - cucumbers, pumpkins, zucchini, and so on.
Okra (okra)
This plant is native to tropical Africa, extremely thermophilic. Belongs to the family Malva, and its flowers resemble flowers of mallow.
Unripe fruits resembling pepper pods are eaten. To taste, they resemble zucchini and green beans. The fruits are rich in vitamins and minerals. The culture is used to make soups, side dishes. Fruits can be dried, frozen, canned, and the seeds of unripe fruits can replace green peas. From ripe, you can make a drink such as coffee.
Growing Features
They grow okra in the south of Russia. In the middle lane, you can grow through seedlings, sowing in mid-April, and you can plant in open ground when the threat of freezing frost passes, that is, somewhere in early June. Okra is a very fragile plant, so it must be protected from the wind. It prefers open, sunny places, timely watering and regular top dressing. It will bear fruit until the frost, and the fruits must be harvested every 2-3 days. If you do not collect them in time, then they quickly become rude and unsuitable for cooking and inedible.
By planting these vegetables in your personal plot, you can diversify the menu, enrich the diet with new dishes. These vegetables, in fact, are not exotic - as you can see, they are all known since ancient times.
