This vegetable: one handful of seeds, one stem, and it fills pot after pot

Water spinach is the "green sprite" among vegetables. Even though it is a "hollow" vegetable, it is by no means low in nutrients. Water spinach is rich in chlorophyll. In addition, when water spinach is grown in a container, from a distance it looks like a pot of spider plant, and it is both ornamental and edible. With water spinach growing on the balcony, once you tire of looking at it, you can pull it out and eat it

To grow water spinach, gardening friends first need to understand its habits. Water spinach likes to grow in a hot and humid environment. The optimum temperature for seed germination is above 15°C; at this temperature, the seeds can sprout quickly and evenly. 25-30°C is the most suitable temperature for the growth of water spinach vines and leaves. If the temperature is higher, it can promote lush growth of the vines and leaves.

In addition, water spinach is a vegetable that cannot tolerate frost. Once it encounters frost, the stems and leaves will wither and die. Therefore, water spinach is best grown in summer with sufficient light. Also, water spinach is not very strict about soil, but it grows better in clayey, fertile soil with strong water- and fertilizer-holding capacity.

If you want water spinach to grow quickly, you need to fertilize it. Water spinach has a strong tolerance for fertilizer and has the greatest demand for nitrogen fertilizer. Gardening friends can use an organic liquid fertilizer specially made for fruits and vegetables, diluted 500 times, and water it at the roots once a week; then water spinach will grow with tender leaves and crisp stems, and it can easily fill a pot.

Growing water spinach is very simple. As long as you understand its growth habits, you can disinfect the seeds, germinate them, and then sow them directly in the soil. Gardening friends can first soak the purchased seeds in hot water at 50-60°C for 30 minutes, then remove the seeds and soak them in clean water for 20-24 hours, take the seeds out and drain them, and place them at about 25°C to germinate.

During germination, keep the seeds moist and rinse the seeds once a day with clean water. When the seeds split open and show white, they can be sown in the soil, and after sowing, water them thoroughly.

In addition, water spinach has a large demand for water and fertilizer. Therefore, after sowing, when the seedlings grow to 5-7 cm, water and fertilize once. After that, water the seedlings frequently to keep the soil moist. When the plants grow to 20-35 cm, they can be harvested. Water spinach can be harvested all at once or multiple times. If harvested multiple times, apply additional fertilizer 1-2 times after each harvest, and the additional fertilizer should be light at first and then concentrated.

The management principle for water spinach is: fertilize more, harvest frequently. When harvesting multiple times, pinching and picking by hand is more suitable. If you use iron tools such as a knife, it is easy to leave knife rust at the stem opening, which will hinder the plant's continued growth.