Growing Zucchini In High Beds In Low-lying Areas

2024 Author: Sebastian Paterson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:47

And zucchini can grow in the swamp

The summer of last year in the Kirov district of the Leningrad region turned out to be unfavorable for the cultivation of many crops, especially on soils with a close standing of groundwater.

That summer, on my site, women and children could not pick berries of garden strawberries, because the limp paths between the beds, dry and hard in an ordinary summer, sucked up to the knee, and there was not enough strength to pull out their legs.

Due to waterlogging of the soil, plants grew only in raised and high beds. Such beds are usually arranged for the convenience of the elderly when caring for plants, for composting large wood residues, construction and household waste. Unfortunately, one cannot do without the device of high beds when developing peaty soils with a close standing of groundwater, which is present on my site.

× Gardener's handbook Plant nurseries Stores of goods for summer cottages Landscape design studios

My high beds are 3 m long, about 1 m wide and 50-60 cm high. The width of the beds is determined by the convenience of caring for plants and harvesting, the length is determined by the length of the available building material.

This is how I do them. I mark a place on the site for the future garden. I remove stumps on it, if possible. In the corners, I dig in wooden posts, deepening their ends treated with an antiseptic by about half a meter. The direction of the long side of the ridges is west-east. I nail slabs hewn along the edges (to reduce the gap in the walls of the garden) to the posts. It turns out a rectangular box of slabs. I arrange the northern side of the box 10 cm higher than the southern one.

If the slabs are thin and the side walls bend, then in the middle of the wall for rigidity I drive in a peg from the inside, to which I nail the slabs. On the bottom of the bed between the walls of the box, I put parts of the stumps, large trimmings of tree trunks. The gaps between them are filled with stumps of roots, moss, bark, sawdust, hay, leaves, grass and other available organic material. I trample all this to reduce the voids. It turns out a layer of rough materials about 40 cm thick. I water all this abundantly.

On top of the compacted layer, I pour 10 buckets of peat and sand, if any, add 3-4 buckets of semi-rotted compost (the remains after sifting last year's bookmark) and mix the top layer. Then I sprinkle evenly with a thin layer of 1.5 kg of dolomite flour (to neutralize the acidity of the peat) and mix everything with a cultivator. Sprinkle 0.5 liters of azofoski evenly on top and mix the top layer with a rake.

After leveling the surface, the soil level on the south side does not reach the top of the wall by 5 cm. On a high bed, I mainly grow pumpkins, zucchini and cucumbers. A radish planted in late summer works well.

I place the seedling holes along the tops of a regular triangle with a side of 60 cm. The size and depth of the hole is determined by the volume of the seedling earthen lump. I put a lump with seedlings in it, deepening it by 2-3 cm, and cover it with soil. I sprinkle 2 tbsp of seedlings around each bush. tablespoons of granulated "Giant" and spread a layer of 5-7 cm of hay. (I have long been using this technique when planting seedlings of cabbage, cucumbers, zucchini and beans in open ground, it allows you to protect the delicate unhardened leaves of the seedlings from direct sunlight, and also ensures uniform penetration of moisture into the root area when watering).

After planting, I water it with 2 liters of water under a bush. I plant seedlings with 2-3 true leaves in early June so that they do not fall under frost. Further care consists in weeding, watering and feeding with a nutrient solution (50 g of azophoska per 10 liters of water) once every two weeks, 2 liters at the root (for hay).

× Notice board Kittens for sale Puppies for sale Horses for sale

Over the summer, beautiful thickets of pumpkin seeds with a good harvest grow on the beds. In August, I start picking zucchini of the Goldrash and Zebra varieties for food. Some of the large ripe zucchini and pumpkins I do not pick until September. After frost, I pull out all the bushes and use them to make compost. In 2004, one zucchini bush gave me 12 fruits, each weighing up to 1 kg.

And in 2003, 3 pumpkin plants of the Golosemyannaya variety pleased me with fruits weighing 5 kg each, i.e. collected about 60 kg of dietary food with healing seeds without peel. Luxurious bushes with whips up to 5 m long presented an impressive sight. On each lash, I left 1 ovary, and did not pinch the ends of the lashes until mid-August to increase the total area of pumpkin leaves, due to which the ovaries are poured, and to increase the green mass that goes for composting.

On the site I had a pit filled with water and overgrown with moss, up to 3 m in diameter, formed from a mighty pine tree that had long been felled by its roots. She spoiled the view and was dangerous for her granddaughter. I did not have time to clean this hole and fill it with sand.

I showered it with branches, over the branches I sketched stumps, pieces of tree roots, bark, moss, sawdust, peat, sand, etc. The result is a round "high bed" or squash bed, only without a side fence. Planting seedlings and caring for zucchini in the "high bed" were the same as in the "high bed". It turned out beautifully and profitably.

Both "high beds" and "high flowerbed" in this rainy summer became bright, cheerful islands that gave a good mood and caused surprise among neighbors. When growing zucchini and pumpkins in high beds, compost was not widely used due to its shortage: the site was at the initial stage of development, there was still little organic material (tops, root residues, etc.) for laying in the compost.

In addition, I could not bring some organic fertilizers to the garden, because there was no road to the site. And in this case, the use of regular fertilizing with mineral complex fertilizers allows you to accumulate plant material for composting and the transition in the future to organic farming technology.