Onion - an indispensable vegetable

There is no such mistress who could completely manage in the kitchen without an onion. And in soups, and in salads, onions are always in place, giving a special taste to dishes. This vegetable can even make us cry a little. Doctors advise to use it for medicinal purposes, and its flowers are always admired by botanists and nature lovers.

This amazing plant people have been using since ancient times. Even the Bible mentions the onion, which the Israelites ate while in Egyptian slavery. And this narrative was written almost 35 centuries ago.

What makes the onion so delicious? Special specific taste sensations and sharpness of this product are explained by the presence of sulfur compounds in its composition. And the tears of those who cut onions, causes sulfenic acid.

If we talk about health benefits, the onion is one of the leading places among all vegetables. In addition to being rich in calcium, phosphorus and vitamin C (ascorbic acid), this plant is a real pharmacy and helps in the fight against diseases such as colds, laryngitis, atherosclerosis, coronary heart disease, diabetes and even asthma. There are legends about its antiseptic and anti-inflammatory properties. In recent years, science has established that onion helps reduce cholesterol in the blood, inhibits the development of cancer, reduces the risk of blood clots. They do not say in vain: "Onions are a cure for 100 ailments."

Types of onions

Depending on the type of onions, you can find bulbs of different colors: brown, yellow, red, purple and green. This amazing vegetable is good in all kinds - it is fried, dried, marinated, canned, made from it flakes and powder. There are lovers who eat it raw every day. Many people like a green or salad ray - this is an unripe onion with a bulb that has failed to develop.

The phytoncidal properties of this unique plant help even protect other plants.

But the group of onion plants includes not only onions. Varieties of this vegetable are very numerous:

• Shallots (or kuschevka, or family) although it does not have such large bulbs, but ripens early and is very well kept.

• Leaf onion - brass, leek, shnit-onion, onion slizun, fragrant onions. The greatest popularity in the world uses leeks.

Cultivation of onion for a year from seeds

This way to grow onions from seeds for only one year has become popular with many gardeners. Try and you will learn this.

What is required for this? It is necessary to conduct the earliest sowing of onion seeds, while the sowing must be thickened.

• Prepare a bed in the fall. To do this, add mineral and organic fertilizers. On 1 square meter of a bed it is required: superphosphate - 1 table spoon, chalk - 2 table spoons, humus - from 3 to 6 kg.

• Approximately at the end of April, soak seeds in warm water to accelerate the emergence of seedlings. For 48 hours, keep the inoculum in water at a temperature of 20 to 23 degrees.

• Dry the seeds so that they scatter well.

• In furrows (depth 1.5 cm), seed the seeds, cover with soil and compact.

• Pour the bed with warm water and cover the bed with film.

• As soon as seedlings are sprouted, the film will need to be removed.

• The seedlings will need to be thinned. The distance between the shoots should not be less than 5 cm.

• Carry out fertilizing, loosening and watering, both for growing onion and sowing.

• In July, in about the middle of the month, watering should be stopped.

• After the tops "lie down", the bow is pulled. Then dry until the roots and leaves completely dry.

• Large bulbs (at least 4 cm in diameter) do not need to be stored, they should be used immediately for food.

• Small onions should be kept until spring, to use as a planting material on the onion-turnip.