A gardener who plants vegetables on his plot every year knows various ways to plant cucumbers. For original beds, various available materials can be used.
How to grow cucumbers, a variety of devices
Standard methods of planting and growing vegetables are being replaced by new, modern and more convenient methods.
When choosing original methods for growing cucumbers, you need to take into account some features that are discussed in the following descriptions.
- Unusual ways of growing cucumbers in bags or garbage bags are built on the principle of a vertical bed.
You only need to choose thick bags.Planting takes up little space, cucumbers are easy to care for, and the fruits begin to ripen ahead of schedule. The progress of the work can be described step by step as follows.
- To make a watering system, you will need three plastic tubes, the entire area of which needs to be drilled.
- The prepared bag is completely filled with soil, and a wooden peg is stuck in the middle. Several nails are driven into the upper edge of the stick, to which the ropes will then be tied.
- Plastic tubes are inserted around the wooden peg.
- You need to make several small cuts on the bag on one side.
- No more than three cucumber seedlings are planted in one bag.
Water is poured through plastic tubes to water the cucumber beds, and the degree of soil moisture is determined using a side cut.
As soon as the tendrils appear on the cucumbers, you need to install poles around the bag. A thick rope is pulled from them to a wooden stick located in the middle of the soil in the bag.
- Among the unusual ideas, planting cucumbers in buckets is not the least important. To grow cucumbers in a bucket you need to know a few rules.
Slightly branched and bush varieties are suitable for planting cucumbers in buckets. They do not have many root branches and therefore do not require much space. The main thing is that the bucket should not be less than 5 liters. The material can be any. Be sure to make drainage holes at the bottom of the container. Cucumber grown in buckets in a greenhouse turns out juicy, crisp, without a hint of bitterness.
Growing cucumbers in buckets has its advantages. The bucket can always be moved to another, more favorable place or completely removed from the garden bed if there are heavy rains or frosts. Cucumbers are rarely exposed to diseases and pests, the fruits are always clean and easy to pick.
2-3 grains are sown in prepared holes in buckets. As soon as the leaves of the seedling begin to unfurl and tendrils appear, arches or other support are installed above the bucket.
- In open ground, you can use another idea for growing cucumbers. You can plant cucumbers in unnecessary tires.
Growing cucumbers in tires has its advantages. The pyramid of wheels creates all the necessary conditions for growing cucumber beds. Tires retain heat well, take up little space, can be placed in any convenient place and there is no need to fertilize the entire area. A similar planting option can be used for greenhouse cucumber varieties.
Initially, you need to decide where to put the structure. Be sure to lay cardboard or paper under the tires to prevent grass from growing inside. First, the first tire is installed and drainage material is placed in it; dry tree branches work well. Sprinkle soil on top.
Place a second one on the first tire and fill it with dry grass, as well as food waste, which will serve as a good fertilizer. Cover with soil again. The third tire is filled with rotted manure, the next layer will be the soil itself.
Make holes in a circle and sow two seeds. When growing cucumbers in wheels, good germination is observed and the plant is less sick. If the weather is cool, you can cover the cucumber seedlings with film.
- A compact option is the option with drawers.
To grow cucumbers in boxes you don’t need a lot of space. They take ordinary wooden boxes, line the bottom with film, in which several holes are made. The next layer is sand (4.5 cm). After this, you need to decide on a permanent place in the garden so as not to drag a heavy box.
After placing the box, it is covered with ordinary soil. You can mix the topsoil with rotted manure. The prepared holes are watered with water and two seeds are sown. Be sure to tie the ropes vertically so that the lashes of cucumbers stretch upward.
- You can grow cucumbers on mineral wool.
This is a special material in the form of cubes that allows you to moisturize and drain cucumber root system. The root of the seedling receives oxygen, moisture and nutrients in sufficient quantities.
The width of the cube should be approximately 25 cm, the height about 8 cm. Two seedlings are planted for each cube. For cucumber seedlings, use smaller cubes.
How to plant cucumbers
Cucumbers are grown in two main ways: horizontal and vertical. When planted horizontally, the cucumber vines spread along the ground, and when planted vertically, they spread upward along the installed support.
Some vegetable growers suggest it is interesting to plant cucumbers in the form of a Christmas tree. When planting cucumbers in a herringbone pattern, the bed is made round (diameter approximately 1.5-2 meters). A round bed is dug up, hay is placed in the trench for insulation and covered with earth.
Cucumber seedlings in a dacha plot are planted at a distance of 45 cm. A wooden peg is driven in near each seedling. After 2.5 weeks they begin tying. A pipe is driven into the center of the round bed, with hooks at the end. Then stretch twine or a thick rope from the peg near the seedling to the hook. It turns out to be a Christmas tree or something like a pyramid.
If cucumbers are planted in a Christmas tree, then all parts of the plant receive free access to sunlight and air. Cucumber beds require minimal care.Weeds appear occasionally; pests and diseases, judging by reviews, are very rare problems. The grown fruits are convenient to collect.
To grow vegetables, gardeners also use another unusual method of growing cucumbers. In greenhouse conditions, Finnish sausages are built - a structure of two long boards and slats between them. At a distance of 30 cm, clamps are passed through. It turns out to be an elongated box, which is covered with film with an overlap on the sides.
From the experience of vegetable growers: “I have been growing cucumbers using the Finnish sausage method for several years now. I fill the bottom of the made beds with crushed stone, which will serve as drainage. I place a filter covering material on top, and then you can start filling the sausages with soil. I level the ground, spill it with water and wrap it in film, tie the clamps and leave the structure for a day.
Every other day, I move the joints of the film apart and plant the prepared cucumber seedling along with a lump of earth. As soon as the plant reaches 15 cm, I stretch a vertical rope along which the cucumber lash will be threaded.”
This method of planting cucumbers in a greenhouse minimizes vegetable diseases, there are no weeds, heat and moisture remain in the soil for a long time. The harvest pleases with its quantity and quality.
Special technique
Growing cucumbers using the Mitlider method allows you to fit beds even in a small space. The harvest is rich and of high quality. It is proposed to dig up the soil not on the entire site, but only on the beds. As a result, fewer weeds appear and there is no need to loosen the soil.
You can grow cucumbers according to Mittleider not only in garden beds, but also in boxes. A mixture of sawdust and sand is poured into the boxes if the soil in the area is rocky.
The scheme for vegetable growing in narrow beds is simple.A strip of land, only 45 cm wide, is enough. The passage between the beds should be about 95 cm. In the fall, after harvesting, all vegetable waste is placed in these passages. Beds for cucumbers should be located horizontally and parallel to each other. The length of the beds does not matter.
Fertilizers must be applied before sowing.
First, a lime mixture is added to the marked bed of cucumbers, then a mixture of nitrogen, phosphate and potassium, and topped with phosphorus, potassium and nitrogen. After this, the soil is dug up and leveled. Using the soil in the passages, sides approximately 9 cm high are formed along the edges of the bed.
If you plant cucumbers using this method, then sow the seeds in two rows and along the edges of the side. Cucumber seeds are not sown in the middle of the bed. You can plant cucumbers and seedlings. You should not forget to feed the cucumbers every 8 days.
As soon as the cucumber bushes reach a height of 18 cm, begin tying them up. Two wires are stretched over the bed. One edge of the rope is tied to the stem of the seedling itself, and the other is attached to the wire.
A gardener who plants vegetables on his plot every year knows various ways to plant cucumbers. For original beds, various available materials can be used.
