"Pillow" For Cucumbers

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

Hybrid cucumbers Masha F1

What a vegetable garden without a cucumber patch? Without the crunchy vegetable that has grown on it in pimples? In the summer it is in a green salad, and in the winter when we open a jar of pickled or pickled cucumbers - here's a nice snack or a nice addition to boiled potatoes. In a word, we cannot do without cucumbers.

There are many ways of growing cucumbers, I myself have tried several of them, but only one of them most pleased me with its harvest. And I spied on this method of growing cucumbers in a Siberian village. Summer there is short and cool, but the cucumbers turn out to be just a feast for the eyes!

In early spring, a gardener builds a high bed of last year's straw manure, makes recesses in it, pours soil into them and covers them with polyethylene.

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A reliable way to grow cucumbers

As soon as the weather permits, they spill the dimples with water and sow cucumber seeds in them. The seeds are not soaked or germinated, they are sown dry. Then the arcs are installed on top and covered with covering material. And then all that remains is to wait for the active development of plants and a rich harvest.

Layer cake for the garden

So at my dacha, I also decided to build a similar bed. But since I have nowhere to take straw manure, I decided to use what I have. In the fall, I cleared a 1x3 meter area on the site, deepened it by 10 cm and laid dry raspberry branches on the bottom. She poured 10-15 cm of garden soil on top, then a layer of waste went after processing grapes into wine (pulp), then she laid another layer of dry grass. Completed this bed is a layer of a mixture of garden soil and humus. I installed it over the ridge of the arc and left it all until spring. I got a bed about 40 cm high. I call it a "pillow" for cucumbers.

In early spring, I cover the bed with plastic wrap and, as soon as the ground warms up, I sow cucumber seeds in the prepared holes. On each square meter of such a bed, I grow no more than three plants. For planting, I choose seeds of only Dutch selection, for example, the Masha F1 hybrid never let me down. I usually do not soak or germinate seeds. There are two reasons for this: firstly, Dutch-bred seeds are usually processed with trace elements, so they do not need to be soaked in order not to wash off the nutrients, and, secondly, germinated seeds are very injured when planting, plant survival is reduced.

As soon as the cucumber lash grows to 50 cm, I pinch the top. I water the holes with cucumbers usually in the late afternoon and only with warm water. I feed the cucumbers with infusion of green herbs (nettle, dandelion, burdock). I noticed that when fertilizing with mineral fertilizers, plants really develop faster, but they often get sick with powdery mildew and other diseases. And I insist the grass for 5-7 days, dilute with water in a 1: 1 ratio and water it once every 10 days.

Prepared bed

The advantage of such a bed is that it warms up better, excess moisture does not accumulate in it, and weeds hardly grow. In addition, it is easier to care for plants on it. And picking cucumbers is a pleasure! I noticed that earthworms multiply quickly in such a bed, and, therefore, plants better absorb nutrients processed by worms. In addition, the activity of microorganisms is very high in plant waste, therefore, possible pathogens are destroyed by natural "antibiotics". Plants are less sick and bear fruit until frost.

"Filling" for such a bed can be built from what is on your garden plot. The main thing is that it is sufficiently air and moisture permeable, fertile enough for the development of beneficial microorganisms, as well as for earthworms. You can build such a bed in early spring, using semi-decomposed compost for one of the layers.