Lovage, what is this plant? This is a valuable perennial spicy aromatic, vegetable, medicinal plant. Everything is valuable with a lovage - root, leaves, petioles, seeds. Growing is common in southern Russia, in Ukraine. The medicinal properties of the lovage are widely used by traditional medicine, but there are also contraindications. The lovage got such a romantic name because of the property attributed to him to enchant lovers. Therefore, it has numerous folk names-synonyms: dawn, lovage, mountain celery, pipe-maker, we love, fences and others. Girls fascinated by the lovage of guys. When marrying, they sewed his leaf in the hem of a wedding dress, so that her husband would love his whole life. It was believed that luckily a lovage should grow on every farmstead.
Lovage and celery the same thing? Many people think that lovage and celery are one and the same thing. Yes, they are very similar both in the structure of the sheet and in the smell. But these are two different plants. True, they both belong to the same family - celery (Apiaceae). Apparently, from here and their similarity.
Leaves, fleshy petioles, roots are used for food. The smell resembles celery, the taste of the lovage is sharp, brackish-bitter. The dietary, nutritional, healing properties, as well as the aroma of lovage is close to celery. Sometimes it is even called perennial celery. It is used as a fresh spicy seasoning in cooking, pickles and marinades, vegetable, fish dishes.
Lovage leaves - a great seasoning for salads, soups. Chicken and meat broths are especially tasty with it. Dried roots also serve as a spicy seasoning, and candied fruits and jam are cooked from fresh ones. Seeds are used for salting vegetables, baking bread.
Young fleshy petioles of a lovage can be pickled. Moreover, the spicy aroma is well preserved in the marinated form. Young leaves have a very stable, strong aroma, therefore, when using, you must be careful to add as a seasoning in a small amount. Young roots and stems are used for flavoring confectionery, drinks, and making liquors.
The medicinal properties of the lovage and contraindications
Lovage is rich in potassium salts, contains vitamin C up to 118 mg%. In terms of carotene content (5.3 mg%), it is not inferior to carrots. Especially a lot of lovings contain essential oils (0.5-2.7%), which give a specific taste and aroma. Therefore, a lovage is used in the preparation of green oil, as well as a spicy mixture of herbs along with parsley leaves, chives, with a little black pepper, thyme, rosemary. It is of particular importance for dietary nutrition along with dill and basil.
The medicinal properties of the lovage in folk medicine are widely used. For therapeutic purposes, root, leaves, seeds are used. The root acts tonic on the gastrointestinal tract, improves appetite, reduces the occurrence of flatulence, stimulates the separation of bile, urine, sputum, reduces nervous excitability.
Lovage is used for heart diseases, bronchitis, as a diaphoretic, to rinse the mouth. Children are given young leaves, stems or their decoction as an anthelmintic. A decoction of the roots helps strengthen the hair with their premature loss. Fresh, slightly crumpled leaves of this plant relieve headaches of various origins, if applied to the forehead. A certain dose of lovage tincture can cause an aversion to vodka.
But there are contraindications. Firstly, children should be given lovage broths with caution, only if absolutely necessary under the supervision of a doctor. And pregnant women should generally abandon its use. The fact is that its use causes blood flow to the pelvic area and can cause uterine bleeding or lead to miscarriage. You should not eat, drink lovage broths for people suffering from hemorrhoids or pyelonephritis for the same reason.
Another caveat. You should not eat lovage during flowering - it is believed that it becomes poisonous.
Lovage cultivation
Lovage can be grown as a one-year-old or perennial plant. The first two years, leaves are used, and starting in the autumn of the second, you can dig up the roots. During the summer period of the second year, the leaves are cut three to four times, in the subsequent - up to five times. It is necessary to finish cutting the leaves of the lovage 1.5-2 months before the onset of a steady cooling.
The annual crop of greens reaches 2 kg per 1 sq. Km. meters, and with a two-year-old culture - 4-5 kg per 1 sq. km. meter, roots up to 10 kg with 1 square. meters, but provided that the leaves are not cut. Harvested roots are cleaned, cut, dried, ground into powder, the taste and aroma of which is more expressive than fresh spice.
Lovage in appearance somewhat resembles celery. But it has larger, brilliant leaves with wedge-shaped teeth along the edges. The stem is hollow, branching, reaches a height of 2 meters. Apparently, the popular names of this plant came from here - the pipe pipe and fence, as it is planted near the fence so that it does not obscure other plants in the garden.
In the first year after sowing, lovage forms a large rosette of leaves. On the second - it shoots and gives seeds. The flowers are small, light yellow, collected in inflorescences, umbrellas. Lovage blooms in the Kuban in May-June, the seeds ripen in July. If they are not needed, then the stems are regularly broken out so that they do not grow more than 8-10 cm.
Lovage - a plant is cold-resistant, frost-resistant. Seedlings appear at a temperature of 5-7 degrees. The optimum temperature for the growth and development of a lovage is 20-22 degrees.
The awakening of the buds, the growth of leaves in the spring with a long-term culture of the lovage begins at a temperature of 3 degrees, which makes it possible to get early greens in April. And in February-March, they get greenery 7-10 days earlier when covered with a film.
You can get lovage greens in winter. For this, 2-3-year-old plants are dug up in the fall, laid for storage, and poured with sand. A root of a lovage with an intact apical bud is planted in the soil of the greenhouse close to each other.
Forcing takes place at a temperature of 10-20 degrees. Therefore, lovage greens can be expelled even in a film greenhouse without heating. The leaves grow in a month to 18-25 cm, they are cut. For 2.5-3 months of distillation in a heated greenhouse, 6-8 kg of leaves with 1 square. meter.
Where does the lovage grow? Lovage can be grown on any soil, but it is better managed on rich humus chernozems, although manure does not tolerate direct application under it, since the quality of the roots decreases, the flesh becomes loose and darkens during cooking. For the same reason, high doses of nitrogen fertilizers cannot be applied.
The lovage is demanding of light for the first 2-3 years, when there is an increased increase in the mass of the root. Then it can be grown in shaded places.
Lovage is a moisture-loving plant. In dry periods, in the absence of watering, the aboveground part dies away, it can die completely in very hot and dry weather. Excess moisture is also fatal, as the roots completely die out.
If the task is to get more leaf mass, then after each cut, top dressing is carried out, and if necessary, watering.
Lovage is propagated by sowing seeds in the soil, seedlings, dividing the bush, processes. When propagating by seeds, it is necessary to sow as early as possible, even in the “February windows”. This is due to the fact that the seeds contain a lot of essential oils that prevent their germination. And with early sowing in moist soil, these inhibitors are washed away. As a result, friendly shoots.
You can free the seeds from these inhibitors if you soak them before sowing in water with a temperature of 40-45 ° for 1.5-2 days. In this case, you should often change the water - every 3-4 hours. A good effect is given by sparging seeds in water with air for 18-24 hours. Prepared seeds are sown with 70 cm aisle.
In the first year of life, the plants are first thinned out by 10 cm, then by 20 cm, in the second year by 40 cm from each other. During the growing season, cultivation, weeding, top dressing are carried out. For the 2-3rd year, it is necessary to bring humus between the ranks of the lovage (2-3 kg per 1 sq. Meter) with incorporation into the soil. Feeding can be done with fermented mullein or bird droppings, diluting 1: 6 and 1:10, respectively. Add 15-20 g of superphosphate extract to a bucket of solution.
In order to get greens in the first year, seedlings are grown. To do this, sow seeds in pots (2-3 pieces) or seedlings according to the scheme 5 × 5, 5 × 6 or 6 × 6.
Before emergence, the temperature is maintained at 20-25 degrees. And with the advent of single seedlings, it is reduced to 10-12 degrees for 7-10 days, which prevents the seedlings from stretching. Then the temperature is again raised to 15-20 degrees. Two weeks after emergence, the seedlings are fed with a solution of mineral fertilizers per 10 liters of water: ammonium sulfate - 15 g, superphosphate - 25 g. Solution consumption 5 liters per 1 sq. M. meter. After two weeks, top dressing is repeated. Seedlings age is 50-60 days.
Lovage seedlings are planted in the Kuban in the first or second decade of April. The planting pattern is 70 × 30 or 60 × 40 cm. In the future, care is the same as with a seedling culture.