Purslane is a many-sided plant, of which there are about 200 species in nature. It can be an annoying garden weed, vegetable crop or flower in a flower bed. It has been eaten since time immemorial by the Greeks, Romans and Egyptians. The article describes the vegetable and flower varieties of purslane.
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Portulak garden: a description of the culture
In Portulak garden there are only yellow small flowers at the end of the shoots. This is an annual herbaceous plant that is succulent and has fleshy leaves characteristic of this group. Young foliage and stems in raw and boiled form are used as food.
Vegetable purslane is a very unpretentious culture. It is enough to sow it once, and then it propagates by self-sowing.
They eat it the same way as spinach and sorrel, add it to salads and soups, and eat it fresh. The leaves are juicy and tasty, with a slight acidity.
Purslane has medicinal properties, alcohol tincture and decoctions are made from it.
Its leaves are pickled and dried, they contain many useful substances:
- ascorbic acid;
- carotene;
- organic acids;
- glycosides;
- proteins
- Sahara;
- alkaloids;
- tarry and mucous substances;
- trace elements.
The plant is used in folk medicine to lower blood sugar, treat eye diseases, hormonal disorders and scurvy, to increase blood pressure and stop bleeding of internal organs.
Growing purslane from seeds
Purslane grows well on ordinary garden soil. He does not need a lot of organic matter and peat, otherwise the sprouts may die.You can add some sand to the soil to make it lighter.
- The bed is leveled, watered and sprinkled with purslane seeds on its surface.
- They do not need to be deepened, you can only sprinkle a little sand or soil.
- From above, the crops are covered with a film and wait for the shoots to appear.
- Thinning is done when the first 2 or 3 leaves grow, leaving the plants at a distance of 15 cm from each other.
How and when to plant
Seeds for seedlings are planted in March. When growing by seedlings, the first flowers can be seen in June.
Seedlings are planted in open ground after frosts.
Purslane is not necessary to grow on fertile soil, it can even be planted on a rocky hill, create a ground cover carpet on a flower bed.
The plant under discussion is also well propagated by cuttings. You can break off a branch, put it in water, and after 2 weeks it will start up roots. The cutlery can immediately be planted in open ground. So the porcelain terry breeds. Only in this way the daughter plant retains all the signs of the parent and bears beautiful flowers.
If you independently collect ripened seeds from hybrid terry varieties and sow them, a grown decorative purslane, the flowers will have simple ones.
Landing site requirements
The land for growing the plant in question does not have to be very fertile. This is especially true of flower varieties of purslane. On fertile land, plants will “fatten”, creating a solid green carpet.
The soil for purslane also should not be too heavy and wet - the plant does not like stagnation of water. It grows even in rocky areas where there is very little land.
How to care for purslac in the open ground
The cultivation of Portulaca oleracea differs little from caring for its flower varieties. The abundance of the sun is important to this picky plant. There are varieties on sale that do not need it for abundant flowering, but most varieties prefer well-lit flower beds.
Purslane loves heat and easily tolerates heat.
He does not need feeding, he is almost not affected by diseases and pests. But at the beginning of cultivation he needs regular watering. When the seedlings grow, they are watered as necessary, with strong drying of the soil, warm, standing water.
During heavy rains, when the soil does not dry well, purslane is susceptible to fungal diseases. It must be treated with Fitosporin for prophylaxis.
In the flowering phase, it is desirable to feed the purslane with a fertilizer that contains a lot of phosphorus and potassium. This will increase the beauty and duration of the period. Bright flowers look beautiful against the backdrop of an alpine hill or in a rockery.
Growing flowers through seedlings
Floral purslane pleases with a green carpet of leaves with bright colors - yellow, red, orange, white. It blooms from June until the frosts and although each flower lives only one day, fading in the evening, its flowering is so plentiful that it seems continuous. Purslane of large-flowered and double terry, flowers of which look like small roses, is often grown on the garden plot.
Decorative purslane is a thermophilic plant, therefore it is better to grow it with seedlings.
Sown seeds for seedlings in mid or late March. Since peat is contained in any purchased soil, which slows the germination of purslane seeds, you need to prepare the soil for seedlings yourself. To do this, mix 4 parts of garden soil with 1 part of sand and calcine in the oven.
- For seedlings, a small plastic container with drainage holes is suitable. It is filled with soil and planted seeds at a distance of 1 cm from each other.
- From above they are lightly sprinkled with sand, the soil is moistened with a spray bottle.
- Cover the container with foil and put in a warm, bright place.
- As soon as the seeds have sprouted (this should happen in about 1 week), the film is removed.
- So that the seedlings do not stretch too much, they are placed on the lightest window sill and, if necessary, organize illumination.
As soon as two true leaves appear in the seedlings, they are planted in separate containers with a diameter of about 8 cm. 3 plants can be planted in one container. A week after the picking, seedlings are fed with complex mineral fertilizer.
It is interesting:Purslane - medicinal properties
How to collect plant seeds
There are two ways to harvest purslane seeds. The first is to cut the ripened seed boxes directly from the bush. And the second, simpler, but requiring the destruction of a green plant.
Picking seeds from a bush
Each blossoming Purslane flower lives only one day. When the flowers fade, you can without regret remove the petals from the ovary. If this is not done, under them it will be impossible to consider the boxes with ripened seeds.
After pollination in dry weather, Purslane seeds ripen after 2 weeks, in rainy and cloudy - after a month.
You need to have time to cut off the ripe boxes before they crack, and the seeds will self-sowing fall into the ground. Freshly harvested seeds will only germinate in the next spring and will last up to 3 years.
The second way to collect seeds
When most of the flowers on the plant fade, and the stem begins to turn yellow, they dig it out with a root and hang it upside down without breaking green leaves.
A light cloth or oilcloth is spread under the plant. Ripened seed boxes themselves crack and the seeds fall onto the fabric. They will only have to be collected and hidden before spring sowing.
Garden Purslane is a very unpretentious and healthy culture. Often it grows on a plot like a weed, and inexperienced farmers do not even suspect its edibility. But flower growers are well aware of the flowering decorative purslane, although it cannot be eaten. But he is very beautiful and as unpretentious as his gardener relative.
