Frog animal. Lifestyle and habitat of the frog. Green frog (pond, lake): description with photos and videos, what frogs do in winter, what the inhabitants of the world of swamps eat. Where do frogs live?

Toad, or real toad, belongs to the class of amphibians, order of tailless, family of toads (lat. Bufonidae). The families of toads and frogs are sometimes confused. There are even languages ​​that use one name to define these amphibians.

Toad - description and characteristics. What is the difference between a toad and a frog?

Toads have a slightly flattened body with a fairly large head and pronounced parotid glands. The upper jaw of the wide mouth is devoid of teeth. The eyes are large with horizontally located pupils. The toes of the fore and hind limbs, located on the sides of the body, are connected by swimming membranes. Some people ask the question why does a frog jump and a toad only walk?. The fact is that the hind limbs of toads are quite short, so they are slow, not as jumping as frogs, and swim poorly. But with a lightning-fast movement of their tongue, they grab insects flying by. Unlike toads, the frog's skin is smooth and needs to be moisturized, so the frog spends all its time in or near water. The skin of toads is drier, keratinized, does not require constant hydration and is completely covered with warts.

The toad's poison glands are located on its back. They secrete mucus that causes an unpleasant burning sensation but does not cause much harm to humans. The toad is an amphibian, colored in shades of gray, brown or black with spotted streaks, easily hiding from enemies. The bright color of the toad indicates its poisonousness.

The size of the toad ranges from 25 mm to 53 cm, and the weight of large individuals can be more than a kilogram. Their average duration life span is 25-35 years, some individuals live up to 40 years.

Types of toads, names and photos.

The toad family includes 579 species, distributed into 40 genera, of which only a third live in Eurasia. In the CIS countries, 6 species of the genus Bufo are common:

• gray or common toad;
• green toad;
• Far Eastern toad;
• Caucasian toad;
• reed or stinking toad;
• Mongolian toad.

Below you will find more detailed description these toads.

• Common toad (gray toad) (lat. Bufo bufo) - one of the largest representatives of the family. The wide, squat body of the common toad can be painted in a wide variety of colors - from gray and olive to dark terracotta and brown. The eyes of this toad species are bright orange, with horizontal pupils. The secretion secreted by the skin glands is absolutely not toxic to humans. The common toad lives in Russia, Europe, and also in the northwestern countries of Africa. The toad lives almost everywhere, preferring to settle in dry zones of forest-steppes and forests; it is often found in parks or recently plowed fields.

• (lat. Bufo viridis). This type of toad has a grayish-olive coloration, complemented by large spots of a dark green tone, bordered by a black stripe. This “camouflage” coloring is an excellent camouflage from enemies. The green toad's skin secretes a toxic substance that is dangerous to its enemies. The hind limbs are long, but rather poorly developed, so the toad rarely jumps, preferring to walk slowly. This species of toad lives in Southern and Central Europe, North Africa, Front, Middle and Central Asia, found in the Volga region. More southern view than the gray toad, in the north of Russia it reaches only the Vologda and Kirov regions. For living, the green toad chooses open places - meadows, fields overgrown with short grass, river floodplains.

• (lat. Bufo gargarizans) . Representatives of this species can have different body colors - from dark gray to olive with a brownish tint. On skin growths Far Eastern toad there are small thorns, top part the body is decorated with spectacular longitudinal stripes, the abdomen is always lighter, usually without a pattern, less often - covered with small spots. The female Far Eastern toad is always larger than the male and has a wider head. The distribution area is quite wide: the toad of this species lives in China and Korea, inhabits the territory of the Far East and Sakhalin, and is found in Transbaikalia. Prefers to settle in damp places - in shady forests, water meadows, and river floodplains.

• Caucasian (Colchian) toad (lat. Bufo verrucosissimus)- the largest amphibian found in Russia, its length can reach 12.5 cm. The skin color is either dark gray or light brown. Individuals that have not reached sexual maturity are pale orange in color. The toad's habitat covers only the regions of the Western Caucasus. The Colchis toad inhabits forested areas of mountains and foothills, and is less common in wet caves.

• Reed or stinking toad (lat. Bufo calamita)- a fairly large amphibian up to 8 cm in length, body color varies from gray-olive to brown or brown-sand, with green spots, the abdomen is grayish-white. A narrow yellow stripe runs along the back of the reed toad. The skin is lumpy, but there are no spines on the growths. Males have a highly developed throat resonator. A representative of this species of toad lives in European countries: in its northern and eastern parts The distribution area includes the UK, the southern territories of Sweden, and the Baltic states. The reed toad is found in Belarus, western Ukraine, Kaliningrad region Russia. The toad chooses the banks of reservoirs, swampy lowlands, shady and damp thickets of bushes as its place of residence.

• (lat. Bufo raddei). The body of this toad is slightly flattened, with a round head, slightly pointed in the front, and can reach 9 cm in length. The eyes are strongly bulging. The skin of the Mongolian toad is covered with a huge number of warts; in females they are smooth, but in males they are often covered with prickly spines. The color of the species is varied: there are individuals of light gray, golden beige or rich brown. Specks of various geometries form a spectacular pattern on the back of the toad; in the middle part of the back there is a clearly defined light stripe. The abdomen is grayish or pale yellow, without spots. The Mongolian toad chooses the south of Siberia as its habitat (it is found on the coast of Lake Baikal, in the Chita region, in Buryatia), and inhabits Far East, Korea, foothills of Tibet, China, Mongolia.

• Pineal-headed toad (lat. Anaxyrus terrestris)- a species found only in the southeastern United States. In structure it is not very different from its relatives, the only thing characteristic feature The cone-headed toad are rather high ridges located longitudinally on the head and forming large swellings behind the eyes of the amphibian. Some individuals reach 11 cm in length; the color of the skin, covered with many warts, can range from dark brown and bright green to brown, grayish or yellow. By the way, the wart-like outgrowths are always either darker or lighter than the main color tone, so the coloring of the toad looks very variegated. The amphibian prefers to settle on light and dry sandstones with sparse plant cover. It often chooses semi-desert areas for habitat, and sometimes settles near human dwellings.

• Cricket toad (lat. Anaxyrus debilis). The body length of these amphibians reaches 3.5-3.7 cm, and females are always larger than males. The main color tone of the toad is green or slightly yellowish; brown-black spots are superimposed on top of the dominant color, the belly is cream-colored, the skin on the throat is black in males and whitish in individuals of the opposite sex. The toad's skin is covered with warts. The tadpoles of the cricket toad have a black lower body interspersed with golden sparkles. The cricket toad lives in Mexico and some US states - Texas, Arizona, Kansas and Colorado.

• Blomberg's toad (lat. Bufo blombergi) - the most big toad in the world. She is larger than . The dimensions of Blomberg's toad are truly impressive: the body length of a mature individual often reaches 24-25 centimeters. Since the mid-20th century, the clumsy and completely harmless Blomberg's toad has, unfortunately, been almost on the verge of extinction. This “giant” lives in the tropics of Colombia and along the coast Pacific Ocean(in Colombia and Ecuador).

• Kihansi splashing toad (lat. Nectophrynoides asperginis)- the smallest toad in the world. The size of the toad does not exceed the dimensions of a five ruble coin. The length of an adult female is 2.9 cm, the length of a male does not exceed 1.9 cm. Previously this type The toad was distributed in Tanzania on an area of ​​2 hectares at the foot of the Kihansi River waterfall. Today, the Kihansi toad is on the verge of complete extinction and is practically never found in its natural habitat. All this happened due to the construction of a dam on the river in 1999, which limited the flow of water into the river by 90%. natural environment habitats of these amphibians. Currently, Kihansi toads live only in zoos.

Grass frog – pretty normal look amphibians in the European part of Russia. Everyone has known her since childhood, although because of her brown color she is often called a “toad.” It is by her example that the structure of amphibians is studied in school, and it is by her example that biologists and doctors use it in various experiments.

The grass frog (Rana temporaria) is a member of the family of true frogs (Ranidae). This is a fairly large amphibian: the length of the amphibian reaches 10 cm. The body is massive, the head is large. The color of the amphibian can vary from beige to chocolate. Dark spots scattered along the upper side of the body various shapes and sizes, as well as tubercles. The belly is light, with a yellowish or greenish tint, usually with a dark marble pattern. A dark temporal spot stretches from the posterior edge of the eye through the eardrum to the base of the forelimb.

In males, the body is more slender, the slits of paired resonators are in the corners of the mouth. During the breeding season, they develop pronounced nuptial calluses on the first toe, and the color also changes slightly - the upper side of the body becomes lighter, while the throat acquires a bluish tint.

By appearance The grass frog is very similar to another widespread species, the sharp-faced frog. However, if you look closely, they are easy to distinguish. Firstly, our heroine has a blunter muzzle than her relative, secondly, she is noticeably larger, and thirdly, she has a pronounced dark marble pattern on her belly (the sharp-faced one has a white belly). In addition, our heroine has a lower inner calcaneal tubercle.

Habitats of grass frogs

This amphibian is distributed throughout Europe, with the exception of the Iberian Peninsula. It is found throughout Scandinavia and extends here further north than any other amphibian. In the European part of Russia in the north it reaches the coast White Sea. The eastern border of the range extends to the lower reaches of the Irtysh, in the south - to the areas of the middle reaches of the Volga.

The amphibian inhabits almost all biotypes, but most often gives preference to coniferous, deciduous and mixed forests. At the border of its range, it is found even in the tundra and steppes. She also lives in cultivated areas - fields, vegetable gardens, gardens and parks. The mountains rise up to 3000 meters above sea level.

Like other amphibians, the grass frog tries to avoid salty bodies of water and is not able to live even a day in water whose salinity reaches up to 0.07%.

Lifestyle of grass frog in nature

These amphibians spend the main part of their life on land, but they try to avoid places that are too dry. They mainly need bodies of water only in mating season, although they can often be seen near or in water after the breeding season has ended.

Serve as shelters for frogs dense thickets plants, dead wood, stones, voids in the ground: under them they take refuge from enemies and unfavorable weather.

As a rule, each individual lives in the same place for several years: in its area, the frog is familiar with all the places suitable for hunting, shelters and wintering.

For grass frog activity great importance has moisture environment. It is not so often seen in the morning or on a bright sunny day. Her vigorous activity begins in the evening and night hours. In the summer, when there is no rain for a long time and the ground dries out, it is unlikely that at least one individual will be found in the forest. But as soon as it rains or there is heavy dew, a lot of them appear.

Low air temperature does not limit the activity of grass frogs: even at 2-3° C they are active, although amphibians feel most comfortable at a temperature of 17-20° C.

These amphibians cease to be active with the onset of regular frosts. Young individuals go to wintering somewhat later than adults; they can be found even in November if the daytime temperature is not lower than 0° C.

What's for lunch?

The diet of grass frogs depends on the characteristics of the area in which they live. They feed on various soil and terrestrial invertebrates. There are few flying insects in the diet of these amphibians, since they hunt mainly in dark time, when there are much fewer flying creatures. At the northern border of their range, they diversify their diet with aquatic organisms.

Nutrition intensity is not the same in different time of the year. So, during the breeding season they observe the so-called “marriage fast”.

Features of wintering

Hibernation of grass frogs lasts on average 180 days: for amphibians living in our latitudes this is a rather short period.

Amphibians can overwinter not only on land, but also at the bottom of reservoirs, preferring fast-flowing, non-freezing rivers, muddy swamps and peat ditches. Amphibians very rarely winter in lakes, ponds and large rivers. Freezing of water bodies leads to the death of frogs. In addition, in stagnant bodies of water under the ice, death often occurs - all living things die from lack of oxygen. Amphibians can also die due to spring floods. Amphibians wintering on land in shelters can also suffer a sad fate - they often do not survive frosty winters with little snow.

Under water, the amphibian “sleeps” in a peculiar position: its hind limbs are tucked in, and its front limbs, turned “palms” outward, seem to cover its head. At the same time, the “palms” become bright red due to the dense network of blood vessels developing in their skin. Frogs hibernating underwater can sometimes move around and even have something to eat.

A different number of frogs can sleep in one place: it happens that they hibernate alone, but more often there are wintering quarters consisting of 20-30 individuals, and in some cases their number can reach several hundred specimens.

Migrations

In the life of these frogs, 3 types of migration are expressed. Firstly, this is the annual migration to breeding sites and back, secondly, the migration of frogs that have just completed metamorphosis to their permanent habitats, and thirdly, migration to wintering sites.

Frogs can gather to suitable wintering sites, covering a distance of up to 1.5 km in one day. Sometimes in the fall you can observe large concentrations of amphibians in places close to their future wintering grounds: along the banks of rivers, in wetlands, etc.

Continuation of the family line

Grass frogs head to ponds to lay eggs. in early spring. In an effort to continue their family, they leave their usual habitats and overcome significant distances and various obstacles.

Spawning reservoirs for them can be a wide variety of standing reservoirs - even road ruts filled with water and puddles are suitable for laying eggs.

Egg laying occurs at water temperatures from +5 to + 15° C, sometimes ice may still remain on its surface in places.

Depending on the conditions of a particular reservoir, reproduction lasts from 2 to 10 days. At breeding sites, males do not make much noise and do not sing long and loudly. They call their friends with separate signals that last about a second and resemble a quiet rumbling.

Males appear at the pond shortly before females. Sometimes pairs connect already on land, when the female is just heading towards the water. Like males obsessed with the desire to leave offspring, male grass frogs can “embrace” amphibians of other species that accidentally “come to hand.”

The female that has laid eggs immediately leaves the pond and hurries to return to her permanent habitat, but the male remains. If he is lucky, he will leave offspring with another female the next night.

The female lays up to 4 thousand eggs. The clutch has the shape of a lump, which at first is small in size, but soon the shells of the eggs swell, and the lump increases several times, while taking on the appearance of a shapeless jelly-like mass. Such clutches can often be observed in shallow water. Interestingly, grass frog eggs can easily withstand hypothermia down to -6° C without losing the ability to develop. However, they cannot withstand temperatures above +24° C for long without harm to themselves.

IN normal conditions embryo development lasts from 5 to 15 days. The larvae feed on organic debris and small plants decomposing in water. Even in spacious reservoirs, tadpoles form dense clusters - up to 100 individuals per liter. The area of ​​shallow water where such a colony is located looks like a solid black mass.

Depending on conditions, the development of larvae lasts 1.5-3 months and ends with metamorphosis.

In dry and hot years, early drying out of water bodies leads to mass death and clutches located near the very shores, and accumulations of tadpoles, which, when the water recedes, find themselves cut off from deeper water areas. In more favorable conditions, a mass of larvae survive to metamorphosis, and after its completion, many tiny frogs simultaneously leave the reservoirs. At this time, they often die from drying out, under the wheels of vehicles, or become prey to all kinds of predators. Those that managed to survive feed intensively in order to successfully survive the long cold season.

Grass frogs reach sexual maturity in the third year of life. IN natural conditions They live on average 6-8 years.

Enemies

There are many people in nature who enjoy eating frogs, especially small ones. These are minks, weasels, wolves, foxes, snakes, crows, hawks, magpies, etc.

Even the eggs of these amphibians, covered with jelly-like shells, are not very edible, but they are also hunted by planarians, insects, larvae of other amphibians, etc. Tadpoles are hunted by all aquatic predators.

Keeping grass frogs at home

Since this species is very demanding of moisture, you must not forget to spray water over the substrate once a day. In addition, it is necessary to place a large, but not deep, pond in the terrarium.

It is advisable to design the terrarium as a corner of the forest.

They feed the pet flies, cockroaches, bloodworms, tubifex, etc.

In contact with

>>Features external structure and movements of the frog in connection with its habitat

Class amphibians

Amphibians are vertebrate animals associated with both aquatic and terrestrial environments.

§ 45. Features of the external structure and movement of the frog in connection with its habitat

Frog habitat.

Lesson content lesson notes supporting frame lesson presentation acceleration methods interactive technologies Practice tasks and exercises self-test workshops, trainings, cases, quests homework discussion questions rhetorical questions from students Illustrations audio, video clips and multimedia photographs, pictures, graphics, tables, diagrams, humor, anecdotes, jokes, comics, parables, sayings, crosswords, quotes Add-ons abstracts articles tricks for the curious cribs textbooks basic and additional dictionary of terms other Improving textbooks and lessonscorrecting errors in the textbook updating a fragment in a textbook, elements of innovation in the lesson, replacing outdated knowledge with new ones Only for teachers perfect lessons calendar plan for the year guidelines discussion programs Integrated Lessons

frogs- family tailless amphibians, a contemporary of both man and dinosaur. frog captured the longest experience of struggle for existence in the history of life on land. This led to the universality of its anatomy and physiology, providing a unique adaptation to life in the border zone. Like millions of years ago, the frog begins its life in water. A tadpole develops from eggs laid in water. So far, it differs little from fish fry. But then a series of transformations begins, consisting of about thirty transitional stages, which helps the frog adapt to life on land, and the tadpole turns from a “fish” into a land animal (metamorphosis).

Very interest Ask: What helps a frog adapt to life on land?

And all the adaptations that appeared during the transformation of a tadpole into a frog help the frog adapt to life on land. First, the tadpole develops its hind legs, and then its front legs. The lungs begin to develop. After a while, it rises to the surface of the water and swallows air, the tail gradually shortens. The tadpole becomes an amphibian, after which it comes ashore. And lives on land having adapted as it should.

From now on, the frog will live on land, or more precisely, on the border of land and water. Constant communication with aquatic environment imposes on the biology of frogs whole line characteristic features. The tadpole breathed through gills, A adult frog breathes through the mouth, lungs and skin. Such a large set of respiratory organs is characteristic only of amphibians. While the frog is in the water, it breathes through its skin, and when it is on land, it breathes through its mouth and lungs. Versatile and circulatory system. Two parts of the heart work in water, and mixed blood flows through the body. On land, the left atrium comes into operation, and blood that is already purely arterial and saturated with oxygen enters the brain. Thus, with each dive, the frog’s respiratory organs are instantly switched off.

While the frog is on the ground, it's not difficult to catch her. But you can’t catch it in the water. The hind limbs are long and consist of ten bones - levers. And the forelimbs are a superbly “thought-out” device for a “soft landing”. The skin of frogs is bare and covered with mucus, and therefore their activity depends on humidity and air temperature. It goes hunting at dusk, as the coolness increases. In cold and dry weather, frogs huddle in shelters.

When it's time for winter, frog sinks to the bottom.

Body color is affected not only by temperature, but also by background color, light, and humidity. Frogs perceive changes in these factors directly through their skin.

One of the most original adaptations to living conditions in the border zone between land and water is frog hearing aid. It turns out that she perceives sound signals through three channels. In the air sound waves are captured by the cells of the inner ear, through the eardrum and ear bone. Sounds traveling through the soil are perceived by the bones and muscles of the limbs and are transmitted through the bones of the skull to the inner ear.

Frog looks dispassionately at the world with two large round eyes. They may not be very expressive, but there is no doubt that they are unique. When studying frog eyes It turned out that the retina analyzes information using special cells. They were called detectors - “detecting”. Each type of detector responds only to strictly defined properties of objects, for example, the movement of a stimulus in a certain direction. Each type of irritation is transmitted along its own fiber of the optic nerve to a certain layer of the brain. The received information is processed in the brain, and the animal perceives the object as a whole.

frogs unpretentious and indiscriminate in food, they can go hungry for a day or a week. They eat butterflies, bees, wasps and other moving insects. eats fish fry.

For many decades, physiologists have been using frogs in a variety of experiments. Observations and experiments with them made it possible to make so many important discoveries that they even erected frog monuments.

Tree frogs or tree frogs

A small and very graceful frog; found in Ukraine and the Caucasus, lives on trees and bushes. She can hold tightly to the foliage and move along it due to the fact that her fingers are equipped with suction pads at the ends. The color of the tree frog is perfectly adapted to the environment in which it lives: it is usually grassy green - matching the color of the foliage, but in other environments the color can change to brown or grayish. Male tree frogs scream very loudly, inflating the resonator. To spawn, tree frogs descend into reservoirs, but remain there for a very short time and soon return to the trees.

Suriname frog

Bright color Suriname frog warns predators that attempting to feast on it will result in death. Indians of the Amazon basin smear frog poison, one of the deadliest, on arrow tips. The poison affects the nervous system and causes blood clotting.

Goliath frog

They live in waterfalls of fast and deep rivers. They need high humidity, so frogs Avoid places heavily illuminated by the sun. The water should be richly saturated with oxygen, contain no tannic acid, and be no warmer than 23 degrees and no colder than 16-17 degrees. These giant frogs live secretly most days are spent in the water or among rocks, which are very difficult to reach. Catching a goliath is extremely difficult and requires great dexterity and skill. Locals They are caught with a net with small cells. The net is thrown from afar so that the frog does not see it.

P align="justify"> Externally a goliath look like common frog. Its wrinkled skin on its back is greenish-brown, its belly and inner side paws - yellowish and whitish. Eye diameter can reach 3.3 centimeters, the ear is small, without a shell. These frogs do not make any sound. Some researchers estimate maximum weight of goliaths six kilograms, and the length, if the hind legs are extended, is 60 centimeters. True, these figures are somewhat inflated, but there is no doubt that the goliath is the largest frog in existence. There is no noticeable difference between the male and female, although the latter is slightly larger.

Photo of Goliath frog

For a long time, the development of goliaths remained unknown; scientists searched in vain for their tadpoles. But somehow the female laid eggs in one of the terrariums. They were between five and six millimeters in diameter. Now scientists knew what the eggs of these frogs looked like, and began to look for them everywhere where the goliaths lived. With great difficulty, it was possible to discover the eggs, which were attached to the bush of the plant.

Goliath female begins to lay eggs during the dry season. In 5-6 days she lays more than 10 thousand eggs. Development from egg to frog takes approximately 70 days. The tadpole is initially 8 millimeters long, but at 45 days of age it reaches a maximum size of 4.8 centimeters. After this, the tail disappears.

Studies of the stomach contents of goliaths have shown that they feed mainly on insects, but do not disdain crayfish, mollusks, amphibian insects and spiders. Even the remains of small rodents were found in their stomachs.

At first, the main enemies of frogs are birds and, possibly, some fish. The goliaths later become prey for crocodiles.

Local residents of Cameroon and Rio Muni, where these frogs live, consider their meat excellent. It is white and tender, and the front paws are a special delicacy...

For now, we can be confident in the safety of these representatives of the animal world. It is very difficult to catch goliaths, and they live in places almost inaccessible to humans. But since this concerns a species that can hardly adapt to other living conditions, everything must be done to preserve goliath frogs.

Goliath frog - video

IN winter time Every summer resident is looking forward to spring and is happy to open the season with the first sowing of flower and vegetable crops for seedlings. But, unfortunately, the space on the windowsill is limited, and it is not always possible to place it in the apartment required quantity seedlings in cups. In addition, some of the crops may simply not grow, some will die... And for us, summer residents, no matter how much we plant, it’s not enough! Therefore, almost every gardener buys at least some seedlings.

Growing annuals in the garden has at least two advantages over growing perennial flowers. First, most popular annual plants bloom profusely throughout the growing season. Secondly, many annuals sow freely and appear in the garden year after year with minimal participation from the grower. Which annuals can be planted only once, and then, following simple techniques, can be seen in the garden every season?

You can make jellied meat and meat salad with onions from pork knuckle. The shank, especially the hind shank, is a very tasty and affordable part of the pork carcass that can feed a small company. A 2-kilogram shank will yield a bowl of meat salad and a large plate of jellied meat. There will still be some meat broth left over, which I advise you to use to cook cabbage soup or borscht. For this dish, we take a hind shank weighing from 1.7 to 2 kilograms; I advise you to ask the butcher for the meatiest one.

Eggplants require full sun, but short day, medium-warm temperatures without sweltering heat, sufficient moisture, but without flooding the root system. Provide such conditions in open ground Most regions of Russia are quite difficult. Therefore, previously eggplants were grown only in protected soil conditions. With the development of selection, it became possible to grow eggplants in open ground not only in southern regions, but also in middle lane.

Among predator plants, the sundew rightly claims to be the brightest and most expressive beauty. This plant attracts, first of all, its unusual textures and play of colors. But the feeding mechanism of this swamp and quite hardy miracle is so exotic that it is very easy to forget about sundews as plants, primarily ornamental ones. Sundews are quite demanding when it comes to humidity, but they are not that difficult to grow in ordinary living spaces.

Chocolate cake with custard made from simple and affordable ingredients, it turns out so tasty that rarely anyone limits themselves to one piece. The sponge cakes are moist and feel like they are made from real dark chocolate, even though the recipe only calls for cocoa powder. Creamy custard delicate and light, goes well with chocolate biscuit. All this splendor of flavors is complemented by coconut flakes, a simple ingredient, but in this recipe, like a cherry on the cake, it comes in handy.

Although the calendar spring begins in March, it is very difficult to call this month spring. But May is already a real long-awaited spring, filled with aromas and the multicolor of awakened nature. Fresh young leaves on trees and bushes attract the eye, yearning for greenery during the long months of winter. In May, the parade of primroses continues in the garden, decorative shrubs and perennials delight with variegated foliage and flowering, and conifers are renewed.

In the middle zone, the formation of grapes suggests the possibility of shelter for the winter period, which means that the focus should be on keeping the head of the bush at soil level. Even further north on big harvest there is no need to count, but for such areas there are also pruning principles. The article discusses the sleeve-fan scheme for forming a grape bush, often used in the middle zone, and the cordon scheme, which has shown itself well in regions with a more severe climate.

Beef with eggplants with vegetable sauce in the oven is a simple, very tasty and not very high-calorie dish, which is quite relevant nowadays. The sauce is made from vegetables only, no flour, sugar, milk or cream. The meat is without fat, and yet it turns out juicy and tender. Can be replaced with chicken fillet or veal. The eggplants do not need to be fried first, just add a little salt to make them soft. I recommend preparing a light yogurt sauce for the finished dish.

Houseplants are much more dependent on fertilizing than garden plants. Thanks to feeding, they receive everything they need for growth and flowering. The substrate is depleted several months after transplantation. And if you don't replenish supplies nutrients, plants quickly begin to show signs of deficiency of macro- and microelements. The leaves signal it first and most clearly. The leaves will “tell” about the deficiency or excess of which elements? indoor plants?

Duck with oranges in French - exquisite, juicy, with golden skin. This baked duck will decorate any festive table, and it is easy to prepare, although, compared to traditional fried chicken, it takes a little longer. To speed up the process and preserve the released juices, use a sleeve or a baking bag of a suitable size, remember that not every bag can fit a large duck! Serve the duck with the sauce and filling left over after baking.

Purslane is a well-known, widespread weed all over the world, which has a number of qualities for which all gardeners unanimously hate it. One of them is ineradicability. Purslane is so resilient that even one seed can be the beginning of this weed taking over an area. To remove purslane from the garden and garden, patience, knowledge and precision in carrying out measures to destroy it are required. In this article we will look at methods of combating purslane on the site.

The first half of spring is stingy flowering plants. Yes, primroses are already pleasing, but there is a very special plant that you can’t help but be moved by. This is a perennial evergreen ground cover of aubrieta. I think those who saw the low cushions, or, as they say, curtains of this plant during flowering, probably wanted to have it in their garden. And I hasten to please you, aubrieta is a very unpretentious and easy-to-care plant. Although, there are some peculiarities.

Delicious lamb cabbage soup with sweet peppers, tomatoes, potatoes and, of course, cabbage! It takes quite a lot of time to prepare this dish, but this does not mean that you will have to stomp around in the kitchen all day. Prepare vegetables and meat - wash, chop, place in bowls. Then sauté the vegetables and add the lamb. When the soup boils, you can go about your business for about 1.5 hours, then add potatoes and cabbage and cook for another half hour.

If you have an apple tree growing in your garden, naturally you want to get as many tasty fruits from it as possible. Often, beginning gardeners believe that the more magnificent the tree, the greater the harvest. But that's not true. In order for an apple tree to produce a rich, high-quality harvest, so that the fruits are large and juicy, each of its branches must receive enough light and air. When the amount of light falling on the branches is reduced to 30 percent, fruit buds do not form on the trees.

Ferns are one of the categories of indoor plants that are actively gaining popularity. Their luxurious leaves with unique patterns and soothing, mysterious shades of green look so elegant that it is difficult to resist the beauty of ferns, even if there is no suitable place for them. Along with unpretentious ferns, rare, original species are becoming more common. And among them is a bizarre epiphyte polypodium with unusual leaves and colors.