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On the shelves of supermarkets and markets, baby vegetables (from the English Baby - baby), ordinary, in essence, gifts of the earth, but small in size, began to appear more and more often. Examples familiar to everyone: cherry tomatoes, gherkins, pearl onions. They became popular because, due to their small size, they are perfect as a decoration for ready-made dishes, they do not need to be cut, therefore, more useful substances are retained during heat treatment.
The history of baby potatoesPractical Japanese started a kind of vegetable "baby boom". Marketing research conducted by them has shown that goods in small packages, cut into small pieces or characterized by their own small size, leave the shelves faster. It was by their order that Swiss scientists bred a baby variety of popular vegetables: radish, cauliflower and potatoes, and they did it back in the 70s. last century.
Baby potatoes appeared on our shelves relatively recently, in large retail chains. The main suppliers of products are Moscow, or rather the Dmitrovsky district of the Moscow region, and the Tula region. But you can grow a small potato, which small children enjoy with pleasure, on your site.
How to grow baby potatoes
Miniature vegetables, including baby potatoes, are fruits grown either from the seeds of dwarf varieties or using a special technology. Dwarf potatoes - there are no such seeds, so they resort to agrotechnical tricks to get a special small variety.
Variety selection
For growing small potatoes, varieties are chosen that meet only one criterion: in terms of ripening, the varietal type is early, or mid-ripening. Domestic farmers recommend:
- “Red Scarlet” is an early high-yielding variety, resistant to drought, golden nematode, with high taste;
- "Good luck" is an early high-yielding domestic potato, resistant to typical diseases of culture, of universal culinary use.
For planting in summer cottages and backyards, the choice of baby potatoes is based on the description of the variety, its characteristics, adaptability to climatic conditions and their own taste preferences.
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Features of agricultural technology
The basic principle of cultivation is that the plants should be very crowded. With a standard planting, the distance between the bushes is from 20 to 40 cm (more precisely, it determines the category of the variety). To make the tubers small, the planting step is reduced to 10-12 cm, the rows are spaced from each other so that you can pass between them.
Another way to get small tubers is to divide the uterine tuber into parts according to the number of eyes. Summer residents have noticed long ago: small parts of the planting material bring small fruiting bodies.
Cramped conditions for potatoes can be created by growing them in flower pots - a kind of mini-vegetable garden that can be placed on a well-lit balcony or loggia.
To accelerate the emergence of seedlings after planting, the tubers are pre-germinated according to the general rules: they put healthy tubers in boxes and put in a warm, bright place until the sprouts appear, usually for a couple of weeks.
When the sprouts reach 2-3 mm in height, the sprouted potatoes are planted in prepared beds. If the planting is carried out in parts with two sprouts, the tubers are cut, the slices are allowed to dry, they are powdered with wood ash and only after that they are placed in the holes.
Landing conditions:
- daytime temperature for several days is kept around + 10 ° С;
- soil that is slightly moist or dry.
The soil and the beds for planting are prepared according to the standard method. It is better to plant baby potatoes in trenches up to 12 cm deep in 10-12 cm increments. They are covered with a 6-8 cm layer of soil.
The first hilling is carried out when the seedlings grow up to 9-10 cm, the earthen mound is raised to a height of 5-6 cm. The second time the earth is poured in the same way.
Baby potatoes are watered and fed, in accordance with the variety and climatic characteristics.
potato plant in pots
If there is no garden plot, but there is a desire to pamper yourself with strong young tubers, baby can be grown in an ordinary flower pot with a volume of 7 liters or more - so much soil is required for one bush.
Drainage is laid on the bottom of a potato pot, 5-8 cm of nutrient substrate is poured on top, a sprouted tuber is placed, covered with earth by 6-8 cm.Then the earth is poured in several steps, making sure that the tops do not grow more than 10 cm. To the ground add fertilizers according to the schedule for open ground.
Dig out the harvest of early varieties about 10 weeks after planting (third week after flowering). It is noteworthy that such early harvested potatoes have a full varietal range of flavors with a reduced starch content. Harvesting is carried out in two ways:
- They pry the bush with a pitchfork, carefully select the larger tubers, and leave the small ones to grow. Then the bush is carefully returned to its place;
- The entire nest is completely dug up, and other garden crops are planted in the vacant space.
Advantages and disadvantages of baby potatoes
The main advantage of baby potatoes is that they do not need to be peeled before cooking. The thin skin does not affect the taste of the dish, but it helps to preserve valuable substances to a greater extent. There is no need to cut potatoes - their small size (up to 3-4 cm) allows you to use them whole. You can cook in any way: boil, fry, bake in the oven.
An indisputable advantage - "baby" can be attributed to dietary products: in 100 g of ready-made potatoes 61 kcal. (in the standard version from 80 kcal.). Also, the carbohydrate content in it is 26% lower than in the usual one.
The disadvantage is short shelf life. Large farms take special agrotechnical methods to increase the keeping quality of their products, but for a small plot, these measures are unprofitable.
Growing baby potatoes on your site is no more difficult than ordinary ones. The dietary properties of the final product will undoubtedly contribute to the spread of cultivation techniques, incl. and in greenhouses.
