Borage borage growing. Cucumber grass (borago): cultivation, useful properties, application

Cucumber grass is an unusually pretty plant belonging to the borage family. In the people it is also called or gimlet. Borago is cultivated by many amateurs in their gardens in order to obtain early greenery. The smell and taste of this herb are identical to cucumbers. Hence its name arose: borage. Borage is famous as an excellent honey plant, it is practiced in folk medicine and culinary technologies. Useful properties and contraindications of borage will be discussed below.

Distribution area

Southern Europe is considered the birthplace of wild forms of borage. But in our time, specimens of this plant are found in the north of the African continent, in the countries of the Mediterranean basin, South America, Asia Minor and Asia Minor. As a cultivated plant, it is cultivated throughout Europe and the USA. In Russia, wild forms of borage are found in certain areas of the European part, mainly in the south of the country, where it grows as a common weed.

Biological features

Cucumber grass, the photo of which is in the article, belongs to cross-pollinated, rather cold-resistant and But in the hot summer season, its leaves coarsen and a peduncle begins to form. Prefers neutral or slightly acid soils of light mechanical composition. The length of the growing season is 70-80 days. Borage usually grows up to 60-80 cm, on thick stems, hollow inside. The stem is well branched at the top. Those leaves that form in the lower tier have an oval appearance, a long petiole and a large size. On the upper tier, smaller leaves are formed, oblong, sessile, covered with hard white pubescence.

Borage inflorescences

The flowering stage stretches from mid-summer to August inclusive. And fruiting occurs from July to September. The inflorescence is represented by a panicle, which combines single gimlet flowers on long stems. The flowers are large star-shaped, blue or blue, with purple anthers. Each single flower accumulates up to 5-12 mg of nectar. From the ovary of flowers, a fruit is formed - a nutlet of a dark brown color.

borage seeds

Borage seeds are quite large, easily crumbling nuts, remain viable for 2-3 years. The fruit is up to 5 mm long, ribbed and unequal in shape.

Varietal composition

This crop does not have generally accepted domestic or foreign zoned varieties. Each locality uses its own varietal lines and populations.

Agrotechnics of borage

Cultural forms of borage are sown in the spring or before winter, before the arrival of frost. In subsequent years, the grass can propagate by self-seeding. When sowing, the scheme is used: the width between the rows is 30 cm and in the row the sowing step between plants is 10 cm. The seeds are buried in the soil by 2 cm. On the tenth day, shoots appear from the seeds.

plant care

In the phase of the first true leaf, the plants should be thinned out, leaving 9-10 cm between them. During the growing season, the aisle should be loosened and weeded three times. And in dry summers, water several times. Soil moisture should be constantly maintained at 80% HB. Borage responds very well to fertilizing with organic and mineral fertilizers. The first top dressing should be carried out with urea during the period of thinning plants. To do this, dissolve 12 grams of urea in a bucket of water and feed the plant with this solution. The second feeding can be carried out 25 days after the first. Here it is appropriate to apply a solution of mullein in a ratio of 1: 5 with water.

Cleaning

They begin to collect leaves when they are young, even before the appearance of the peduncle. Leaves are not taken from plants left for seeds. When the seed pods turn brown, the stems are cut off at the bottom of the inflorescences. From one square meter you can get 20 grams of seeds and 600 grams of greens. Borage can be grown on a windowsill. The leaves are periodically cut from it and dried in the shade.

Chemical composition

The beneficial properties of borage are due to the rich content of useful chemical organic and inorganic components that can have a healing effect on people's health. In the vegetative mass and seeds are available:

• essential oils;
• mucous compounds;
• substances from the group of tannins;
• silicon;
• compounds from the group of saponins;
• resin compounds;
• vitamin C;
• zinc;
• potassium;
• carotene;
• Apple acid;
• calcium;
• choline;
• iron;
• citric acid and other equally valuable substances.

Essential oil reserves were found in the flowers. The oil, which is produced from seeds, is also highly valued. It consists of 20-27% gamma-linolenic acid used in pharmacology. In addition, the oil contains alpha-linolenic acid, the presence of which reaches 10%. In its composition and properties, it is very similar to primrose oil. The presence of essential oil in borage varies between 0.01-0.13%. Moreover, over time, the accumulation of this product by the plant occurs, therefore, there is more oil in old leaves than in young ones. In this oil, 23 volatile compounds have been isolated, of which aldehydes, as well as non-adcane, tetracosane and heptacosan, are especially valuable.

Useful qualities

The beneficial properties of borage (borage, the photo of which you have the opportunity to see in the article) have been studied since ancient times. The essential fatty acids present in the plant are of great importance. They are needed by the human body to maintain the vitality and health of the skin.

If these substances are lacking in the body, mood may suddenly fall, immunity is weakened, inflammation of the organs and weakening of the heart may develop. Essential fatty acids are responsible for the condition of nails and hair. They are especially necessary for children.

Potassium, which is in the plant, favors the removal of water from the body, and with it toxic compounds. Freshly squeezed borage juice can contain up to a third of potassium, while dried leaves contain only 3 percent. Choline has a beneficial effect on the glands that produce sweat, thanks to which the body's thermoregulation occurs. Therefore, the plant is used for coughs, colds and fever. Nicotinic acid has a calming effect on the body, removes anxiety and nervousness.

Westerners habitually eat the young leaves of borage, adding them to various dishes. Fresh flowers are placed in glasses with drinks or wine, and candied inflorescences are eaten for dessert. Formed leaves can be stewed, used in marinades and pickles. Borage inflorescences are used in industry in the production of confectionery and cognac.

When should borage be used?

Modern healers recommend using borage as an anti-inflammatory, expectorant, laxative and enveloping agent to cure fever, inflammation of the gastrointestinal tract, colds, and constipation. As a diuretic, borage is used to treat edema, kidney disease, bladder and urinary tract problems. To do this, his infusions are taken orally. Compresses with the use of borage leaves have an antirheumatic and analgesic effect, in the treatment of joint and muscle pain, as well as gout. Borage seeds boiled in grape wine are prescribed to increase mothers' lactation.

Borago, or borage (photo, useful properties - in the article), also has a calming property, is widely used in homeopathy, in the treatment of depression, neurasthenia and sleep disorders. Decoctions of its leaves are used to treat skin rashes, eczema, and other skin conditions. Borage mineral salts improve metabolism, so it is included in multicomponent diets.

Alternative medicine advises turning to borage for the following diseases:

• asthenia;
• rheumatic diseases;
• pain in the joints;
• insomnia;
• gout;
• inflammation of the bladder and kidneys;
• colitis;
• gastritis;
• fever
• constipation
• neurasthenia;
• edema;
• catarrhal phenomena;
• cardiac neuroses;
• skin diseases.

But before deciding to use medicines made from borage, you should consult a doctor, as self-medication can only aggravate the situation. Therapy with folk methods is effective only in combination with the main drug treatment and under the supervision of a specialist.

Contraindications

Cucumber grass has few contraindications. Its main problem is the insignificant presence of the alkaloid pyrrolizidine, known for its ability to cause liver cancer. Therefore, you can not use borage for food or for treatment for more than 30 days in a row. It is also forbidden to take borage along with a group of drugs related to anticoagulants. In a separate category of persons, borage can cause convulsive phenomena, pain in the head, nausea or bloating. Usually, all these ailments are mild. The hairs present on the stem and leaves are very coarse and can irritate sensitive skin. Therefore, it is better to wear gloves during the collection process.

The use of borage by pregnant or nursing mothers is highly undesirable. Despite the fact that since ancient times it has always been used as a means of improving lactation, this prohibition is associated with a lack of scientific information about the effect of this plant on the body of women at this time.

It is absolutely forbidden to use the herb for people suffering from epileptic seizures, schizophrenic disorders, convulsions or taking the drug "Phenothiazine". It is better to take decoctions and infusions of borage as part of herbal preparations and consult a doctor before doing so. Some believe that the gamma-linolenic acid present in the plant may favor the growth and reproduction of cancer cells. However, this has not yet been proven by anyone.

Preparation of infusions and decoctions

Before preparing juice from borage, fresh leaves of the lower tier should first be washed with running water, scalded with boiling water, and then passed through a meat grinder.

The resulting mass is squeezed through two layers of gauze and we get borage cell juice. The squeezed juice is diluted with water in a ratio of 1: 1 and boiled over low heat for 4 minutes. After that, it remains only to cool and strain the broth, and it is ready for use. Take a decoction inside should be three times a day, immediately after eating, 2 tablespoons. In some cases, with skin diseases, it can be practiced for external use.

A healing infusion is also prepared from borage. For this purpose, take 2 tablespoons of dried and crushed leaves or 1 tablespoon of dried flowers and pour them with boiling water in an amount of 200 ml. The mixture, which has been infused for two hours, is filtered and three times a day is used orally, 1 tbsp. spoon, for diseases of the muscles and joints, as well as for gout or rheumatism.

To cure gastritis and inflammation of the kidneys, as well as to normalize cardiac activity, it is necessary to consume 100 grams of borage infusion three times a day, in the preparation of which 1 tbsp. a spoonful of flowers was poured with boiling water in an amount of 200 ml and infused for 6 hours.

An annual with oval strongly pubescent leaves and small blue inflorescences every European knows. In the people of borage, for the outgoing aroma, they call borage or borage. And in the scientific literature, the name borage is found, since the culture is from the Borachnikov family. Some are glad to see such a furry decoration in theirs, others consider the plant nutritious and use it in salads. But there are those who consider it. What actually is borage, what is the value of borage and what useful properties it has - let's try to figure it out.

Beneficial features

Borage has not yet been recognized by official medicine, but the composition of the plant has been studied under laboratory conditions. In him discovered carotene, saponin, silicic and ascorbic acids, as well as resinous and tannins.

The stems and foliage of the culture are 30 percent mucus and essential oil. It was these components that folk healers appreciated for their enveloping, anti-inflammatory, diaphoretic, diuretic and softening properties. The herb is consumed along with flax seeds and marshmallow.

The peculiarity of borage is that it is used only in fresh, and do not allow the collected raw materials to lie for a long time.
It will be useful if you eat freshly plucked leaves and stems. Therefore, many share their experience of conveyor sowing of seeds every 15 days. Thus, borage will be in your diet throughout the summer season.

Care

For development, the borage does not need to create additional conditions. In prolonged heat, it is necessary to loosen it at least occasionally in the aisles. At the beginning, the grass will gratefully accept top dressing from the infusion solution. As the bushes grow, crops must be thinned out and seeds collected in time. Otherwise, a thicket of hairy borago is formed on the site.

Collection of leaves and seeds

Used for medicinal and culinary purposes only young leaves with tender fleshy flesh. Old specimens are no longer suitable for this, because every day their surface becomes hard and bristly. Therefore, it is advisable to collect foliage in the first 2-3 weeks of plant life.
The period of collecting flowers and grains is more extended. Borage blooms in early July and blooms until the very. This is how long the continuous maturation of the seed lasts, and the ripe samples do not stay long in the seed box and spill out into the ground. Thus, self-seeding is obtained, which will ensure the growth of the crop for the next year, but at the same time, getting out of control, it will turn the planting into thorny thickets up to 1 meter high.

Based on these features of the borago, the harvesting of seed raw materials should be done carefully and in a timely manner throughout July, August and September. For this, paper caps are used, into which ripe grains are shaken daily. And in order to avoid arbitrary entry of the seed into the ground, the near-stem holes are covered with cellophane. The flowers are cut to the extent of their full disclosure.

Did you know? Ancient Roman warriors added borago to. Such a drink helped them get rid of the fear of battle, gain courage and courage. Soon, such a drink was served at all feasts, so that the guests would not grieve and yearn.

Application in cooking

Cucumber grass has found its way into the kitchen thanks to its reminiscent fresh aroma and subtle taste of a mixture of young feathers and pulp.
For culinary preparations use fresh foliage, which is not more than a week old. The pulp, peeled from the fleecy skin, is added to various salads, drinks, soups, sauces, side dishes, borscht, okroshka.

Meat and fish dishes are sometimes seasoned with borage roots to add spice. Also, the roots of the plant are an excellent raw material for the manufacture of green oil. It is added to cheese, sour-milk products and cold drinks.

Many use borage as a green. For example, chopped leaves are generously sprinkled with boiled, which is seasoned with sour cream or other sauce.

Blue inflorescences in cooking play the role of not only a beautiful decoration of dishes, but also a useful ingredient. They are used fresh, dried and candied.
Often housewives use flowers for, liqueurs and. They make a very fragrant tea.

Important! Borage salads are rich in vitamins, so they are recommended to prevent inflammation in the kidneys and gastrointestinal tract, as well as to improve the functioning of the circulatory system, liver, and gallbladder.

Recipes for use in traditional medicine and cosmetology

In cosmetology, the annual also played an important role. Many beauties prefer cosmetics based on borage oil, which have anti-aging and tonic properties.

Its advantages are also in its beneficial effect on dry, dehydrated, aging and sensitive skin.
The drug is suitable for everyone, getting into the epidermis, it promotes cell regeneration, smoothes fine wrinkles, gives the skin a healthy look. Such a component is simply necessary for recovery after aggressive cosmetic procedures such as dermabrasion, chemical peels.

Borage oil in cosmetology used to treat hair, nails, dermatitis, as well as dandruff. The tool can be found in any pharmacy, it is recommended both in pure form and in mixtures with other essential oils. By the way, omega-3, omega-6 and phytohormones were found in borage oil.

For example, to normalize the work of the sebaceous glands of the head and face, a mask is prepared from 1 teaspoon of borage oil, 4 drops of tea tree oil, 5 drops

Cucumber herb borage is also called borage. The culture is popular in European countries and is grown as a vegetable. Its foliage is reminiscent of a cucumber with a fresh smell, borage pleases with cornflower blue flowers. Useful properties of grass - the ability to improve mood, give strength. It is used in cooking, used in medicine.

What does borage look like?

The herbaceous borage borage is an annual upright plant 30-60 cm high. It is densely covered with hairs, on wrinkled oblong olive leaves they look like a white fluff, on the stem they are more rigid. The lower plates are slightly larger than the upper ones. Borage borage grass has unusual flowers - 5-petal, large, blue or blue with a pinkish tint, sit on a long pedicel. They are very fragrant and attract many beneficial insects, they are considered a good honey plant. The culture blooms for a long time, quickly conquers new areas.

Planting cucumber grass

The plant does not need special care. Borago is a generally unpretentious and cold-hardy crop, borage can first shoot as soon as the soil thaws, and in autumn it grows until the very first snow. The vegetable is propagated by seeds formed after flowering, they can be dispersed with the help of wind. For the first landing, it is better to choose a sunny place or light partial shade. The plant gives a rich harvest on fertile and light soils; any crop under which fresh manure was added can become a predecessor.

How to plant borage?

The fruit of borage borage is a ribbed nutlet up to 5 cm in length. The seeds are large, black in color, remain viable for 2-3 years. Planting borage is carried out by direct arrangement of fruits in the substrate. For this, a groove is prepared, the grains are placed at a depth of 1.5-2 cm, the seeding rate is 3-6 g per 1 sq.m. The material is pre-soaked for a day and planted in row spacing of 25-30 cm and a distance between plants of 10 cm (after thinning).

You can use a three-line tape with a gap of 50 cm and between copies of 20 cm. After planting, the plant must be thoroughly watered. It would be appropriate to seedlings with a thin layer of sawdust. Seedlings will hatch after 10-12 days. If they are thick, they should be thinned out, leaving up to 15 plants per meter. The total vegetative period from planting to the appearance of seeds is 70-80 days.

When to plant borage?

Seeds should be planted in the soil in late April - early May. For early harvest, the plant is sown in a container in March, and after 3-4 leaves are formed, they are planted under a film. In order to always have fresh borage greens on the table, borage is planted in several stages throughout the season every 15-18 days. With summer-autumn sowing, the crop is obtained in late September - early November. In subsequent years, the borago will perfectly be able to reproduce by self-sowing - the grains that crumbled in the fall will sprout in the spring among the first in the garden.

How to grow borage herb?

Cultivation of the plant is not difficult even for beginners. Cucumber grass is unpretentious, it is grown in open ground or at home in a pot. To obtain an early harvest, the crop can be sown in March in a greenhouse or greenhouse under a film. It is better to grow grass next to an apiary or strawberries. It goes well with cucumbers, any type of cabbage, tomatoes, zucchini.

Cucumber herb borage outdoors

All parts of the herb smell like fresh cucumbers, they are seasoned with salads. The flowers of the plant are also edible, they are consumed in a candied form, added to drinks. The initial placement of borage in outdoor cultivation depends on the future application. If young shoots are supposed to be used as a whole, sowing is carried out according to a 10 cm inter-bush pattern with gradual pulling of seedlings, increasing the distance to 30 cm. When growing stems for flowers or seeds, gaps between adult plants are left at 75 cm.

To obtain seeds, several developed strong sprouts are selected. The leaves are not cut off from them, the flowering stem is not removed. The flowering period of borage borage is greatly extended, so the seeds are harvested as they ripen. A sign of readiness is the browning of the boxes, the stems are cut and kept in the shade. Ripe seeds, when shaken, easily spill out, store them in paper or glass containers. How to grow borage:

1. The plant thrives best on sandy soils with a slightly alkaline reaction. In the fall, they dig up the site, and in the spring they harrow and make a bed.
2. After preparing the row, the seeds are equidistantly distributed according to the planting pattern and lightly sprinkled with soil.
3. Borage borage is not afraid of either heat or cold, easily withstands shade and thickening. In crops protected from direct sun, its shoots become more tender. In summer, in hot weather, they quickly coarsen, and a hard stem is formed.
4. As the young leaves appear before the buds open, they are eaten.
5. Seeds can be sown in the winter, then in the spring they will give friendly shoots.

Borago on the windowsill

For spicy borage borage, planting and competent care can be successfully carried out both in winter and in summer at home on a sunny windowsill in an ordinary flower pot. In room conditions, the stem of the plant reaches 70 cm in height. Elliptical succulent leaves and large sky-blue flowers, collected in paniculate rosettes, will decorate any interior. The culture is sown in March-April in flower pots with several seeds.

After germination, one of the strongest plants is left. Then, after 3 weeks, flower-bearing arrows are removed, then borage borage will not grow much, and it will be easy to grow in containers on the windowsill, veranda, balcony. For regular greens, sowing is carried out in several steps - after 2-3 weeks. For an early harvest, the bed should be placed in a sunny place, and in the summer - in a shaded one.

Borago - care

Cucumber grass is unpretentious, caring for it consists in regular watering, weeding if necessary, loosening row spacing, top dressing, thinning and harvesting. Cultivation rules:

• only at first the grass needs getting rid of weeds;
• without proper care, borage borage runs wild very quickly, becoming a weed. It is important to control the activity of its reproduction. Thinning is carried out in the phase of 2-3 leaves, it is easy to do, since the cotyledons of the plant are large. If you need to collect your seeds from a plant, you need to leave one copy per 75 cm of the row;
• during the summer, young foliage 5-7 cm long is cut to the table;
• borage does not need to be allowed to outgrow - old shoots coarsen, lose their taste and smell of fresh cucumber;
• grass yield is 600-700 grams per square meter;
• for harvesting for future use, borage is harvested entirely during the flowering period, after it accumulates the largest amount of essential oil and nutrients;
• the grass is crushed, dried in a shaded corner, stored for culinary purposes.

Borage plant - watering

Borage (borage) - borage grass is drought-resistant, but planting and caring for it require regular watering. The leaves of a culture without moisture in dry weather coarsen. Watering is moderate and timely, it is important for the product to be juicy. Often the plant does not have enough natural rains. And dryness leads to the fact that it becomes not a nutritious green, but a wild weed.

Borage borage - top dressing

For a juicy, nutritious borage grass, nutritional care doesn't hurt. Fertilizer is carried out in two stages per season, it is timed to weeding and thinning. The first feeding is planned at the stage of formation of 1-2 true leaves. Normal fertilizer is suitable, diluted with water in a ratio of 1:10, or - 10 grams per liter of water.

The next feeding is carried out 15-20 days before the flowering stage of the culture with the same mullein or dry ash, using it at the rate of half a glass per 1 sq.m. When growing borage at home, you can use mineral fertilizer - add 20 grams of ammonium nitrate per 1 square meter, and the fertilizer problem will be successfully solved.

Cucumber herb plant - diseases

1. In a particularly dry period, grass is an increased object of attack by aphids. She feeds on the juice of young greens. You can fight it with the help of infusion of garlic, tobacco, red hot pepper, soapy water.
2. Sometimes it is affected by burdock caterpillars. In order for the pest to leave the plantation, the area can be sprayed with a solution of valerian tincture (1 jar per 3 liters of liquid). An unusual method is to use toothpaste that is soaked in water overnight and sprinkled on the plant.
3. The plant can be damaged by the sorrel shooter. Fighting methods:

Hello, dear visitors, readers and subscribers of the Dacha-Ogorodik blog! Developing and continuing the theme of spicy plants (otherwise I haven’t written about this for a long time - the last article about was already on January 19), we will get acquainted with a native of the Mediterranean and Asia Minor - this is borage borage.

Borago is a spicy-aromatic plant, it has long been considered a symbol of cheerfulness and fearlessness. Borago infusion was given to Roman soldiers before important battles. The crusaders loved drinks infused with borage leaves and flowers. The plant was also used as a vitamin remedy that protects against scurvy and improves digestion. In England during the reign of Elizabeth, borage flowers were added to salads to evoke pleasant thoughts.

So, borage, or borage grass, is an annual plant of the borage family, propagated by seeds. Taproot with numerous branches. The stem is erect, 60-100 cm high, with spreading lateral shoots. The leaves are whole, fleshy, rough to the touch. The stem, leaves and all above-ground parts of the plant are covered with stiff whitish hairs. Young leaves, when crushed, have a pleasant smell of fresh cucumber.

The duration of the growing season of borage is 70-120 days. It blooms in July-August. This plant is an excellent honey plant, it attracts bees to the site, which are involved in the pollination of other vegetable and fruit crops. The flowers are large, drooping, star-shaped, blue, sky blue or white with dark purple anthers, hanging on long pedicels from rare leafy inflorescences-curls.

The fruits ripen in July-September very unevenly: the upper ones have not yet had time to ripen, and the lower ones are already crumbling, clogging the soil. Being sown once, borage in the future often propagates by self-sowing, but at the same time quickly degenerates. Sometimes, during a long and warm autumn, scattered borage seeds sprout and give vitamin greens.

Agrotechnics of cultivation

Cucumber grass, of course, grows itself, as they say, where it is necessary, and where it is not necessary. However, in order to be able to use tender leaves in a salad, and flowers, leaves, roots - for medicinal purposes, some features of the plant should be taken into account. Borage seedlings do not tolerate transplanting well. This plant is very precocious, unpretentious to soils, but it grows better on looser, rich in humus and nutrients with a pH of 6-7, that is, a slightly acidic or neutral reaction.

Borago is not afraid of either cold or heat, moreover, it easily withstands shade and thickening. In compacted crops, somewhat protected from direct sunlight, its leaves become more tender. In summer, in hot weather, they coarsen, and a flower stalk quickly appears.

Accommodation

It is useful to sow borage next to an apiary or strawberries. If it grows near the viburnum, then the caterpillars will not touch it . It goes well with cucumbers, various types of cabbage, beets, celery, tomatoes and zucchini. The best predecessors of borago are cucumber, cabbage, potatoes, under which fresh manure or organic fertilizers were applied.

Soil preparation and fertilizer

Phosphorus and potash fertilizers are applied in the fall for digging (20 g and 15 g per 1 sq. M, respectively), and nitrogen fertilizers - in the spring (10 g per 1 sq. M). Heavy soils are dug up a little smaller in spring than in autumn, light soils are loosened with a hoe. The surface of the soil is carefully leveled.

Sowing

Sowing borage can be done many times over the summer, every two weeks. For early spring consumption, borage is sown before winter or early spring, as soon as the soil is ready for cultivation. Seeds are sown in moistened grooves in rows every 30-45 cm or on beds in two lines according to a 50x20 cm pattern. Sprinkle dry earth or mulching material on top.

Sowing depth 1.5-2 cm. Seeding rate 2-3 g per 1 square. m. To obtain early production, borage is grown under a film, in a greenhouse, on a window or loggia in a thickened way (6-8 cm between rows or scattered). Shoots under favorable conditions appear in 5-6 days.

Care

consists in weeding, loosening row spacing, watering and top dressing. The borago has a good supply of vitality, it is rarely affected by diseases and is almost not damaged by pests. Only at first, borage borage needs to get rid of weeds. Thinning is carried out in the phase of 2-3 true leaves, leaving the plants in rows after 8-10 cm. If you want to collect your seeds, then thin out again by 15-20 cm.

The plant is resistant to drought, but without watering in dry weather, its leaves coarsen. Top dressing is timed to weeding or thinning. For the first feeding, it is good to take fermented nettles or , diluted with water in a ratio of 1:10. The next top dressing is carried out after 15-20 days with dry ash, spending it at the rate of half a glass per 1 sq. m.

Cleaning

During the summer, young leaves are cut to the table, starting 15-25 days after emergence and continuing until flowering. The most tender young plants can be harvested whole, like spinach. For harvesting for future use, borage is harvested during the flowering period, when it accumulates the greatest amount of nutrients and essential oil. The grass is dried in a shady place, having previously been crushed, as the fleshy leaves do not dry well.

Borage is often grown as an ornamental and salad plant. Some gardeners find it very difficult to start due to the lack of seeds and just as difficult to breed because it self-seeds. Indeed, borage grass produces many seeds that crumble and germinate, but seedlings are easy to remove in the early stages of development.

In modern cooking, borage leaves are added to salads, vinaigrettes, okroshka, and borscht. Before use in a salad, the leaves are rubbed with a crush or cut very finely to get rid of the thorns. You can’t scald them - not only the taste is lost from this, but also the aroma of borage. In addition, the leaves lose their fragrance when they wilt and dry.

Borage flowers, fresh and candied, are used in confectionery and as a garnish. When mashed, the flowers are good for dressing mushroom soups, dishes from eggs, fish, potatoes, cottage cheese, as a seasoning for marinades, hot sauces, meat, fish, cereal dishes, drinks with honey, lingonberries, wine.

They flavor vegetable and berry juices, fruit drinks, kvass and tea. Harvested in autumn, the roots are used to flavor wines, flavor beer, punch, and tinctures. The next guest of the "Spicy Plant" column will be.

See you very soon!

Sincerely, Andrew!

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Cucumbers, of course, are almost indispensable vegetables for us. They are good fresh, and few people will refuse salted or pickled crispy cucumber. However, in this article we will not talk about cucumbers at all, but about their interesting substitute - borage.

By the way, you can still argue what was introduced into the culture earlier: cucumbers or borage. Most likely, the second, since already the ancient Romans endowed it with extraordinary properties to cheer up (they had not yet heard of cucumbers in Ancient Rome at that time). But borage grass in ancient times was known as a source of vigor and fearlessness. For example, the Mongols did not go on military campaigns without it; Roman soldiers took borage before battles, and the crusaders later widely used drinks infused with borage leaves and flowers.

And during the time of Charlemagne, this unusual plant even received a special mention in the instructions for gardeners. Cucumber grass "...should be bred in gardens" with the wish: "Let it be merrily used in food and drink." And all why? Yes, because it is worth putting young juicy borage leaves into the salad, and a very obvious imitation is created: it seems - not grass in the salad, but fresh cucumbers both in taste and smell. Moreover, borage herb smells like cucumbers stronger than the cucumbers themselves. It is worth plucking a fleshy leaf of this bristly and completely unfriendly-looking grass, and a pleasant cucumber smell will blow over you. For this, they call the spicy vegetable borage, or borage, although the official name of this herb is borage. A pinch or two of chopped borage leaves, put in an ordinary vegetable salad, flavors it with such an appetizing smell that the dish turns out to be unusually attractive.

Magic medicine for courage and mood

Even in ancient times, the unusual properties of this prickly-fluffy grass were noticed, which helped with heart weakness, added courage and strength, and improved mood. By the way, today only two of the plants growing in our latitudes have the ability to improve mood - this is the already mentioned borage and lemon balm. Both, as they say in ancient herbalists, "rejoice the soul."

Naturally, this plant has long been widely used in folk medicine. Grass and flowers are used as an enveloping, emollient, diaphoretic, diuretic, anti-inflammatory, sedative for colds, swelling, headaches and nervous diseases. The infusion is drunk for various skin diseases to improve metabolism. In addition, borago regulates the activity of the heart, restoring its rhythms, improves the condition of neuroses and relieves rheumatic pains. In homeopathy, borage is recommended for heart neurosis, depressive states and to raise the general tone of the body. Cucumber herb is also recommended in dietary nutrition - for diseases of the kidneys, liver, gallbladder, vascular system, myocardial infarction.

How to use: take 1 tbsp. a spoonful of flowers or 3 tbsp. spoons of herbs for 1 cup of boiling water; insist until cool; strain. Drink 1 tbsp. spoon three times a day. With daily use, the course of treatment is 3-4 weeks. For skin diseases, decoctions of herbs can also be used in the form of baths and compresses.

Plant features

Borago is an annual plant 30-60 cm high, densely covered with hairs, on the leaves they look like a white fluff, and on the stem the hairs are coarser. The lower leaves are very large and wrinkled under normal care, while the upper leaves are much smaller. Borage flowers are also unusual: large, blue or blue with a pinkish tint, very fragrant and attracting a lot of beneficial insects, and therefore borage is considered a very good honey plant. Yes, and she is able to decorate any area, especially since the grass blooms for a long time. True, there is one caveat: if you do not control the collection of seeds, then next year the borage will delight you with seedlings throughout the site. Although this is not critical, since these shoots can be quickly collected for a spring salad. Seed germination persists for 2-3 years. The total growing season from germination of borage to seed production is approximately 70-80 days.

A bit about agricultural technology

This plant does not require special care and is generally very unpretentious (unlike cucumbers, which need to be patronized all season). Even with the slightest care, borago produces lush greenery and juicy, tender shoots. Let us briefly dwell on the main agrotechnical features of this interesting plant:

1. It grows on various soils, but can only give a good harvest on light and fertile lands. As its predecessor, any garden crop, under which fresh manure was introduced, can be.
2. Borago is extremely cold-resistant, the first shoots appear immediately after the soil thaws.
3. Very hygrophilous. With a lack of moisture, the leaves coarsen and become tasteless, and the plant itself blooms ahead of time. Flowering can be delayed by constant and abundant watering right from the moment the seeds are sown.
4. The plant is photophilous, but is able to give a good harvest even with a little shading. Moreover, in hot weather, it is necessary to carry out crops only in partial shade, since in the sun the borage quickly throws out flower stems and coarsens.
5. Borago is intended for outdoor cultivation, but can be grown in the winter-spring period on the windowsill in order to obtain early vitamin production.
6. Propagated by seeds. Both early spring sowing and sowing before winter, as well as sowing during the entire growing season are possible. If the goal is to obtain flowering plants, then they need to allocate a sufficient feeding area (the distance between plants is 45-55 cm), and early sowing is also needed. To obtain fresh greens, seeds are sown much thicker (15-20 cm between plants) throughout the growing season, approximately every 15-18 days, starting in early spring and ending in late autumn. An even more compact planting is also possible, followed by thinning - the uprooted plants are used for food.
7. Borage does not require any special care. It is enough to water in a timely manner, loosen the plantings (it is better to simply mulch the soil between plants) and remove weeds.

Cleaning is not far off

One of the nice features of this amazing plant is, probably, that it can be harvested even at the stage of cotyledon leaves and the appearance of the first leaf. Such plants are harvested entirely. By the way, it is then that borage leaves are most tender and tasty, and do not require any cooking. Cucumber grass leaves can be collected before the appearance of the flower stalk, but not later, since when the peduncles are thrown out, they become very coarse.

For the winter, for culinary needs, mainly flowers are harvested. Dry them in the usual way. As for drying the leaves, it all depends on the goals that you are pursuing. If the goal is to get vitamin supplements for winter dishes or medicinal raw materials, then you can expend effort and stock up the necessary amount of raw materials. Only drying this plant will be difficult, because it is too fleshy and contains a lot of water. Moreover, perhaps the only way to dry the leaves is to first cut them into very thin strips and spread all this raw material in an almost transparent layer in the wind or draft, but in the shade. Attempts to dry whole leaves will fail, as they will simply rot. If you want to save borage for the winter as an aromatic condiment, then you definitely have to say goodbye to this idea, because, unfortunately, during the drying process, borage (with the exception of flowers) loses its unique aroma almost completely.

Cooking recipes

In the Middle Ages, borage became so popular that it was added to so many dishes. Borage was eaten salted or candied, in seasonings and botvinyas. His flowers "... were used everywhere to lighten the heart, worries disappeared, the state of the spirit rose." Moreover, in France, this herb was called "joy of the heart" or "heart flower" and was widely used to flavor wines and vinegar, while the flowers were added to glasses with wine and soft drinks.

Today, borage is especially popular in the United States and European countries. As a rule, young leaves of this plant are used as food. They are added to various salads (from cucumbers, cabbage, spinach, celery with onions, lettuce), vinaigrette, and simply replace it with more whimsical greens in the culture, in particular, spinach. In addition, cucumber grass is stewed, used as a side dish for meat, added to okroshka, soups, sauces and marinades, fried fish, and even prepared from it for pies.

Fresh flowers, which have a sweet honey taste, flavor refreshing drinks such as punch and punch, and also use them to flavor beer, wine, tinctures, table vinegar. Fresh flowers are also added to salads, and dried ones are flavored with bakery and confectionery products. Flowers are also used in candied form. In our country, the plant is usually put in salads, okroshka, mushroom soup and cold borscht. Let's dwell on a few simple recipes using borage.

"Warm" salad

Finely chop the greens - borage, dill, parsley, green onions - mix it with warm mashed potatoes and pour all over with sour cream. Add salt to taste. This salad is delicious served warm. When cooling, the taste of the salad deteriorates.

Salad with horseradish

Finely chopped cucumber grass is mixed with boiled potatoes cut into slices, sprinkled with grated horseradish or a little horseradish dressing is added. Then pour over sour cream and salt to taste.

Garden cress and cheese salad

They take equally borage and garden cress, add grated cheese on a coarse grater (about half of the total volume of grass) and a mashed boiled egg, pour sour cream over the salad and salt to taste.

soup with borage

Put potatoes, green peas, carrots, nettles, green onions into boiling chicken broth and cook until tender. Add spices to taste. Then add finely chopped cucumber herb and boiled egg, serve with sour cream on the table.

Svetlana Shlyakhtina, Yekaterinburg

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