Planting cucumbers in open ground

It is very difficult to imagine a vegetable garden without cucumbers. And even if there are almost no nutrients in this vegetable, it is a pleasure to gnaw a cucumber directly from the garden. Cucumbers are planted by all gardeners, since this is easy to implement.

For early use, even seedlings are grown, however, when planting seed directly in the garden, the crop is always ensured.... In the article, we will consider the rules and methods of growing vegetables in the open field, and also describe all further care.

Cucumbers belong to the family of dicotyledonous plants, they love heat very much. In this regard, planting vegetable seeds on the site should begin after the soil warms up to no less than + 12 ° C. Along with this, the atmospheric temperature should already be + 14 ° C or more. Attention! Previously, seeds were not planted in open ground, since in a cold and humid environment they may simply die and not sprout.

At the same time, there is no need to delay sowing. Cucumbers are formed at a temperature of + 14– + 30 ° C and do not tolerate intense heat. As a result, the phase of active plant growth should not coincide in time with the July heat, otherwise the cucumbers will slow down their development and may dry out altogether.

I must say that the timing of planting cucumber seeds in open ground in different parts of the country is different. In this case, when choosing the planting time, the specific climate of the region should be taken into account.

• Middle zone of the European part of Russia - from 10 to 30 May.
• Northwest of the country - the beginning of June.
• Ural and Siberia - due to the colder climate in these zones, sowing of seeds begins from May 15 (until the first days of June). Whereas the summer period is short in these strips, cucumbers are generally grown in seedlings.
• South - from April 15th.

When purchasing cucumber seeds in the store, you should look at the recommendations found on all packages. Here you can see the exact planting dates for the type of vegetable you bought.

A large number of vegetable growers use the lunar calendar to choose when to sow seeds in open ground. The moon has the power to influence the formation of culture. It is believed that it is preferable to plant cucumbers during the new moon period.

It is essential to choose not only a favorable place for the beds, but also the soil. Land for planting plants in an open area should be light, crumbly, fertile, and have a neutral pH. Since the cultivation of cucumbers on this soil will become especially productive, the harvest will be good and tasty. Recommendation! It is better to prepare the soil for the spring planting of cucumbers during the season, more precisely, even in the fall. However, nothing terrible will happen if you complete these activities in the spring - 4 or at least 14 days before sowing.

In order to properly prepare the soil, you first need to dig up the area under the bed on the bayonet of the shovel, adding humus or compost (a bucket per 1 m2). This organic matter will improve the structure of the soil, make it lighter, crumbly, in addition to the nutritional value that the crop requires for a decent harvest. By the way! You can feed the soil right before planting cucumbers. To do this, you need to make holes about 30 cm deep, and then fill them with a composition of garden soil, compost or humus (in a 1: 1 ratio).

It is equally useful to fertilize with mineral fats before planting plants in open ground. You can immediately use a combined preparation, for example, "Azofosku", which already includes the necessary components: superphosphate (phosphorus), potassium sulfate (potassium), ammonium salt of nitric acid (nitrogen). But you can also feed the soil in the future bed with various preparations separately, for example: nitrogen, potassium and phosphorus.

When choosing a place for a garden bed on a site, one should not forget about the rules of crop rotation (so to speak, the alternation of garden crops). Ideal precursors for cucumber are: garlic, onions, cabbage, tomatoes, peppers. But planting this vegetable after pumpkin and melon crops (melon, watermelon, cucumber itself, squash, zucchini, pumpkin) is very undesirable... On a note! You can plant cucumbers near tomatoes, cabbage, turnips, corn, moths, radishes - these are good neighbors.

The place for planting cucumber seeds in the open field must certainly be warm and accessible to sunlight. Without good lighting and sometimes with a little shading, the volume and quality of the crop can significantly decrease. Therefore, before sowing, it is necessary to select the most appropriate area.

Most vegetable growers plant cucumbers with seeds directly into the soil, but even experts do not have a general opinion about the need for pre-sowing processing of materials. For this reason, gardeners have to make their own decisions, heat the seeds, germinate them, just soak or plant dry. Each method has its adherents and antagonists, as well as positive or negative experience of use. One way or another, it is advisable to listen to important recommendations.

• Select the best (calibrate) cucumber seeds can be short-term soaked in a 3% solution of edible salt (30 grams per liter of water). In 5-10 minutes after immersion, the seeds unable to germinate should float up. It must be remembered that the method is suitable only for fresh seeds (not older than 2 years), moreover, they are able to remain viable even for the 5-6th year after collection.
• Soak the seeds intended for sowing in open ground, should be done only when there is confidence that the weather will be warm and moderately humid for at least the next 7 days. Everything is explained by the fact that swollen seeds are much softer than dry ones. The rudiments in them can sometimes die after a slight cooling or drying of the upper layer of the earth.
• Germination of seed associated with similar risks. With changes in temperature and humidity, weakened seedlings come out of them.
• Individual growers heat the seeds on the eve of sowing for 4 days (3 days at 40 ° C and a day at 80 ° C). This is a good way to increase germination. When performing such activities, it is necessary to accurately withstand the heating regimes, which is sometimes troublesome at home.

Cucumbers can be cultivated as a seedling or non-seedling method. The first is practiced when the site is located in a very harsh climatic zone or the vegetable grower wants to have super early vegetable products.

Seedlings are usually purchased or grown independently.In any case, its optimal age at the time of planting in the soil is 25–35 days. We note only one nuance: it is necessary that at the time of transplanting to the beds, the seedlings have no more than 4-5 true leaves, in other words, they are not "overstretched". The stems of cucumbers are very fragile, they break easily, which inhibits the formation of plants and often makes the whole effect of using seedling technology ineffective.

• Transplant cucumbers from pots very carefully, transshipment (with a lump of soil), without violating the integrity of the root system.
• Create wells according to the pattern for your variety or hybrid... Their size should correspond to the size of the pots and even be larger when the seedlings are stretched out.
• Fill the wells with warm rainwater.
• Once the water has been absorbed, remove the seedlings from the pots and place them in the holes.... Expand the extended one to the cotyledonous leaves.
• Fill the holes, compact the soil, water again and mulch or sprinkle on top with dry soil, so that a crust does not form, and the roots have the opportunity to breathe.

Planting cucumbers with seed material directly into the garden is no different from sowing any other crop, you just need to choose the right time and, when the heat is retained, prepare the covering material. On the beds prepared in advance with a hoe angle or any other convenient object, grooves are made in accordance with the selected scheme. As a rule, band sowing is practiced. In this case, when planting early maturing varieties, 30-50 cm are left between rows, for others - 40-60 cm.

The grooves are thoroughly irrigated with water by means of a watering can without a mesh, and after it has been absorbed, the prepared plant seeds are laid out at a distance of 15–30 cm from each other. The seeds are sprinkled with earth taken from the side of the groove, or with rotted manure 2-3 cm thick. To retain moisture and heat, cover them with polyethylene foil. At first, the material can be laid directly on the soil, but if you need to keep it for a long time, you need to make arcs.

In addition to growing cucumbers in the open field, there are other options. They reduce climate-related risks, and some make it possible to save space on the site.

• Cucumbers in bags. Soil is poured into the bag almost to the top, a peg is inserted, more than 3 plants are placed in a circle so that they have enough land and space for tillering. Nails are stuffed on the peg, threads are tied, on which the plant will curl. This saves space, the bag is placed exactly where it is more comfortable for the growth of the cucumber. In bad weather, you can cover it with foil. Watering is carried out by means of bottles installed upside down in advance.
• Using black agrotextile (agrofibre). Agrotextile allows you to maintain moisture and smooth out small fluctuations in temperature. Before sowing, the soil is covered with the named geotextile. A slot is made on the covering material for each bush through which it will grow. Care is carried out as for ordinary cultivation in the ground.
• In tires from a car (or in a barrel). Take 3 tires and stack on top of each other in the designated place. To protect against weeds, cardboard is spread to the bottom, then drainage is poured, it is possible from dried branches, all this is covered with earth. Then, to keep the cucumbers warm and grow faster, there is food waste and dry grass, which are covered with earth, and you can add manure beforehand. It is necessary to sow in the upper layers of the soil. Cucumbers will sprout quickly as the rotting mixture provides warmth and plenty of nutrients. When it gets cold, you can cover it with a film.
• Cucumber hut... Planting is carried out along the edges of the hut, a crossbar with hooks is placed in the center, threads are pulled to it, seedlings are planted.The distance between the plants should be no more than a meter - compact, beautiful, and the cucumbers are clean and appetizing. If it's cool, it's very easy to wrap it with a film that will warn against bad weather.
• On an inclined trellis... Pros - it takes up little space, since cucumbers grow on a whip inclined at about 70 °, grow beautifully, are illuminated by the sun and in parallel shade plants that are afraid of its direct rays. They grow quickly, at once and delight with a good harvest for a long time.

If you take care of the vegetable in the garden on time and in full, you can get the greatest effect. Key rules and techniques for caring for plants after planting in open ground are listed below.

• As mentioned above, for germination, cucumber seeds require a high level of moisture and warmth, therefore, after sowing, cover the garden with foil or agro-fabric.... The ideal way is to install the arcs and fix the spanbond to them. The greenhouse must be ventilated every day.
• As soon as the seeds break through, you need to remove the shelter. However, if the greenhouse is small, then it is necessary to open it systematically, every day extending the time spent by young plants in the open air.
• If cucumbers were planted with a small interval - 5-10 cm, then after a certain time after germination it is necessary to thin out the planting, leaving the strongest and most enduring at a distance of 20-30 cm.
• Growing a vegetable in the open field or in a greenhouse is unthinkable without constant and timely irrigation, it is an important component of care. Only warm water should be used for humidification. Basically, under cover, the soil dries out rather slowly, but you still need to carefully monitor the condition of the soil before germinating the seeds, maintaining a moderate level of moisture. After the appearance of the first shoots, it is advisable to irrigate in the morning or in the evening, while you should not get on the leaves and stem of the plant.
• It is recommended to mulch the soil around the crop, to exclude the rapid drying out of the earth and the growth of weeds. In the form of mulch, you can use rotted sawdust, straw, hay.
• If you do not mulch, then you need to loosen the soil around the crops after each irrigation or rain. In this case, the depth can be no more than 5 cm, otherwise the roots of the plant can be injured. Loosening will prevent soil crust and improve oxygen flow to the roots.
• In addition, beds with plants without mulch must be constantly weeded to remove weeds.
• It is imperative to carry out a garter - it is needed so that all the bushes receive light from the sun in the right amount, as well as to reduce the risk of fungal diseases. Tying is carried out to horizontal or vertical trellises.
• It is also necessary to carry out pinching (removal of leaves and ovaries).