How to grow herringbone cucumbers?

The creeping stem of a cucumber in any case requires support. When suspended, the plant receives more air and light. These features of the culture can be successfully used to arrange a green summer "herringbone" on your site, and even save space by redirecting the stems to grow up. How to create a beautiful cucumber pyramid and take care of it, we will tell you in our article.

Herringbone planting of cucumbers involves the creation of a cone-shaped bed. When it is overgrown with fresh green foliage, it looks like a New Year's tree, and flowers and fruits play the role of decorations. This method of growing cucumbers has its supporters and opponents, since it has not only advantages, but also disadvantages. Let's start with the positive aspects of creating a bed with a pyramid.

• The design does not imply any cash costs, it is built simply, from scrap materials.
• Evenly spaced and tied cucumber lashes receive a lot of light and air. The cone-shaped bed is well ventilated, which means that the plants will not be affected by bacteria, fungus and mold.
• Non-thickened, beautifully laid lashes, enclosed in a pyramid, form an easily accessible space. The gardener has quick access to any point in the garden, which makes it easier to care for it.
• A garden bed directed upwards yields three times more yield than the same plot with cucumbers grown horizontally.
• The shadow created by the plants inside the cone has its pros and cons. The positive aspects include long-term maintenance of moisture inside the flower bed, which makes it possible to water less often.
• The “herringbone” made of cucumbers becomes a beautiful decorative element of the suburban area.

Now let's talk about the cons.

• The shadow inside the cone, which the plants create, saves on watering, but it is in such conditions (warm and damp) that fungi and bacteria like to multiply.
• In addition, the slide itself casts a shadow over neighboring crops.
• Some of the fruits will hang inside the pyramid, and getting to them will be difficult.
• The slide may not meet the expectations of the owners in the ideal overgrowing of its surface. On the south side, it is likely to be lush and blooming, and on the north - rare and with bald patches.

Before growing cucumbers in a herringbone-shaped garden, you first need to build this structure, choosing the most suitable place for it on the site.

It should be borne in mind that the cucumber culture does not like drafts and strong winds. Having installed a cone in a lowland, one can expect constant flooding during rains and, as a result, the washing out of nutrients from the soil, rotting of the root system. And by choosing a hillock to install the pyramid, you will condemn the cucumbers to constant burnout from an overabundance of the sun.

Seedlings and young leaves of the plant develop well in illuminated areas, but excess direct sunlight is contraindicated for fruits. The best option would be to create diffused lighting. If such a place is difficult to find, it can be organized using a garden shed made of patchwork fabrics with ventilation slots or from a special mesh.

When the location is selected, a support should be installed in the center of the site.At the top of the post, screw in 3-5 screws to tie the guide twine. A circle must be drawn around the support. Prepare stakes or hooks in advance from strong thick wire. They should be evenly (in a circle) stuck with their long end into the ground, and the hooks themselves should be used for the lower twine garter. Ropes fixed at the top of the post must be lowered and attached to stiff wire braces. The screwed-in screws will help the twine not to slide down the support.

The result is a pyramid, along the twine of which the growing lashes of cucumbers will soon begin to rise. The dimensions of the cone in diameter can be 1-2 m, and in height reach from 120 to 200 cm.

To increase the yield before planting in the soil, preliminary preparation of seeds is carried out.

• Calibration... Empty and damaged seeds must be sorted. If the grains are dipped in a saline solution, empty specimens will float up, they will only have to be collected and separated from high-quality seed.
• Prophylaxis diseases... Before planting, the seeds must be held in a weak solution of manganese for 20 minutes, then rinsed. The procedure will help get rid of disease-causing bacteria.
• Activation growth... For rapid development, the seed is dipped in preparations that stimulate growth. They are purchased in specialized stores. From folk remedies, aloe juice diluted with water in a ratio of 1: 6 is suitable.
• Hardening... The seeds can be kept in the refrigerator for a day, after placing them in a canvas bag.
• Germination... Having spread the seeds on a wet napkin in a warm place, you need to give them the opportunity to hatch, then they will begin to grow more actively in the soil.

First, prepare the soil by adding 2 parts of a mixture of peat and humus, 1 part of sawdust. Then ash and nitrophosphate are introduced into the ground (50 g per bucket of soil). The prepared soil is filled into small containers for planting seeds. It is better if these are peat cups, together with which the sprouts will go into the open ground.... Water the seedlings once a week. After the appearance of the second leaf, top dressing is carried out. To do this, dilute 1 tsp. nitrophosphate in 1 liter of warm water.

Landing in open ground is carried out if the temperature outside is steadily kept at +18 degrees and above. Seeds or seedlings should be planted in a circle of the made conical bed, observing the distance between the shoots of 30-40 cm. Near each peg (hook) with a stretched string, two seeds or shoots are planted, on different sides of the stretch. Soon, the cucumber stalks will climb the twine to the top of the improvised herringbone.

Before planting, a little dry grass and humus is placed on the bottom of the holes. Then this "pillow" is sprinkled with a small layer of chernozem or nutritious soil. The pits are slightly moisturized. Planting material is lowered into the prepared holes and sprinkled with earth. When everything is ready, the garden is watered.

In order for the slide to delight in the future with a bountiful harvest, you need to do the following:

• organize diffused lighting, protect cucumbers from direct sunlight;
• protect from wind and drafts;
• prevent the soil from drying out;
• before planting, prepare fertile soil with a small percentage of nitrogen.

To achieve a high yield, you cannot plant cucumbers and forget about them. During growth, flowering and fruiting, they need some care. It consists of the following actions.

Growing stems do not need a mandatory garter, they can simply be braided around the twine, setting the direction of growth. The plant itself does not badly cling to the prepared supports with its antennae. Only too heavy lashes with a large crop load will have to be tied up.

It is enough to water the "Christmas tree" once a week in the early morning, so that the earth has time to receive water before direct sunlight. During flowering, the plant needs little watering, it can be reduced, and during fruiting, on the contrary, it is necessary to increase the frequency of irrigation. Cucumbers, in order to actively fill and become juicy, need an abundance of moisture. After watering, the soil is loosened, allowing oxygen to penetrate to the roots of the plant.

You can prepare the following mixture: add 1 teaspoon of potassium sulfate, superphosphate, urea to 10 liters of warm water. The liquid must be carefully poured under the roots of the young plant.

When the fruits are tied, you can start organic feeding: mix 30-35 g of nitrophoska with 200 g of dry mullein, add the mixture to 10 liters of water.

Cucumbers, like any other crop, can suffer from disease or pest infestation. Most often they are affected by peronosporosis, powdery mildew, cladosporium. In the first two cases, fungicides are used, and in the latter, benzimidazole antifungals are used.

Growing cucumbers in the garden according to the “herringbone” principle does not differ in anything other than planting seeds in a circle from the usual growing of a crop in a vertical way. Timely watering and feeding will allow you to collect several tens of kilograms of delicious crispy fruits from one slide.