Almost every vegetable grower grows cucumbers in their gardens. Before planting this vegetable on your plot, you should choose the best varieties of cucumbers for open ground. After all, the quantity and quality of the harvest will depend on the variety of cucumbers.
Growing cucumbers in open ground in central Russia is a rather difficult job, which has certain nuances.Before doing this, you should not only choose the optimal plant variety, but also become familiar with the planting time and the peculiarities of growing cucumbers.
Varieties for the middle zone
There are several most common varieties of cucumbers for the middle zone, which are grown in this region much more often than all other varieties.
Masha
Such cucumbers grow well in the Kaliningrad region. The Nizhny Novgorod region is also suitable for them. Their main advantage is that the manufacturer processes the cucumber seeds in advance and gardeners do not have to prepare planting material before planting.
The variety belongs to early-ripening cucumbers, which begin to ripen within 40 days. Masha's bushes do not grow much, as they are determinant. Their growth is limited to the first flower cluster.
The plant is quite productive. A large number of fruits is achieved due to the fact that cucumbers have a bouquet of ovaries. About seven ovaries can form in one node.
Masha has very large cucumbers, weighing more than 100 grams and about 3-4 cm in diameter. They are covered with a thick green peel with small light spots. The average length of one cucumber is 10-12 cm, but it is recommended to harvest when the length is less than 10 cm. This is recommended so that in the future new ovaries can appear, with which you can increase the number of cucumbers grown.
Most often, the cucumber variety is used for fresh consumption. However, some housewives preserve it for the winter.
Amur
Amur is perfect for the Black Earth Region and other southern regions of the country. Also, such cucumbers can be grown in other areas, but only in greenhouses or greenhouses.The advantages include its resistance to the most common diseases.
Cucumbers are ultra-early varieties that ripen literally 25 days after transplanting the seedlings into the ground. When growing bushes, vegetable growers will not have to deal with their formation, since they have very weak branching. Only one or two ovaries are formed in one node.
When planting, it is recommended to plant no more than five bushes per square meter of land, since planting too densely can negatively affect the yield. If grown correctly, you can harvest 3-4 kg of cucumbers from one plant.
The fruits have a short neck, about 10 cm long. They are covered with a dense dark green skin, on which small light stripes are visible. Cupid is used to prepare fresh vegetable salads. It is used much less frequently during the preparation of preserves.
Hermann
Herman is considered a universal type of cucumber, which can be planted outdoors or in a greenhouse. The variety is early ripening, since the ripened harvest can be harvested a month and a half after the seedlings are planted.
A distinctive feature of Herman is its productivity, thanks to which you can get 5-7 kg of fruit from one bush. This amount of yield is achieved due to the fact that with good care, more than five cucumbers are formed in one node.
The fruits of the variety are light green in color. Their length is 12 cm, and the weight of each cucumber is 75-80 grams. Cucumbers have a good taste and are not bitter at all. Most often they are used when creating pickles with preserves and preparing vegetable salads.
Competitor
It is recommended to grow Competitor in open soil.The first harvest of cucumbers can be harvested 50-55 days after planting the seedlings in the ground.
The bushes of this variety are quite powerful, as they have a long main stem. The size of the stalk is about 7-8 cm, which has a positive effect on the speed of harvesting.
During cultivation, it is recommended to start forming bushes. To do this, you will have to get rid of absolutely all ovaries and stepsons. This procedure is carried out so that in the future the root system becomes stronger. After formation, the plant should only have a few main ovaries left.
Over time, small fruits weighing about 80 grams begin to form on the bushes. They are covered with green skin with white spines on the surface. The competitor is excellent for creating winter pickles and preserves. Also, many gardeners advise planting them for making salads.
Planting seeds
Before you start planting, you should decide when to plant cucumbers. In the middle zone, it is recommended to do this in early March, so that within a few months the already sprouted cucumbers can be transplanted into the garden or greenhouse. Planting seeds for growing seedlings is carried out in several stages.
Seed preparation
Quite often, people store planting material in refrigerators or in rooms with low temperatures. In this case, you will definitely have to warm up the cucumber seeds. However, it is not recommended to immediately place them in an environment with too high a temperature. It needs to be increased gradually from 20 to 70 degrees. Batteries are perfect for warming up at home; they can be used to heat the seeds for 2-3 days.
It is also necessary to carry out disinfection, since some microbes may be on the surface of the seeds.With the help of disinfection, you can prevent infection of cucumber seedlings with one or another disease. To disinfect, the seed must be placed in a weak manganese solution for half an hour. Some people use a solution of hydrogen peroxide instead, which is heated to 35 degrees. Using this mixture, the procedure should not last longer than 10 minutes.
After disinfecting cucumber seeds, you can soak them for better germination. To soak the seeds, place them in a small cloth bag and place them in a pan of heated water. The procedure should last about 10 hours, after which the cucumber seeds are removed and dried.
Soil preparation
To grow good seedlings, you need to properly prepare the soil for growing them. The process of preparing soil for cucumbers begins with mixing the soil with various fertilizers. To do this, scatter all the necessary ingredients to create a soil mixture onto plastic film.
Cucumbers must be planted in soil that contains humus. Therefore, a bucket of soil is mixed with a bucket of humus. Then 300 grams of ash and a little potassium are added to the soil. After this, everything is thoroughly mixed again and 20 grams of superphosphate are added to the soil.
Landing
It is recommended to plant cucumbers in special peat tablets, which greatly simplify transplanting seedlings into the ground. After all, you can replant plants without removing the seedlings from the pots.
First, you need to fill all the planting containers for cucumbers with the prepared soil mixture. After this, small holes with a diameter of several centimeters are made in the ground.It is worth planting 1-2 seeds in one peat tablet, but some vegetable growers plant 4-5.
When all the planting material has been planted, the containers with cucumbers should be covered with film and moved to a room with good lighting and room temperature.
Planting seedlings
Plant cucumbers in your garden only when the night frosts have completely passed. Because some varieties do not tolerate low temperatures well and may die due to slight frosts at night.
Site selection
Young cucumber seedlings need good lighting and therefore they need to be grown in an area that is well lit by sunlight. Also, the place for cucumbers should be protected from strong winds, which can damage tall plants.
If there is no windless place on the site, then you will have to take care of protecting the bushes yourself. For example, you can install a low fence that will help protect cucumbers from gusts of wind.
Also, when choosing a suitable location for cucumbers, you should take into account what was grown there before. It is not recommended to plant cucumbers in areas where plants from the pumpkin family previously grew. The most suitable predecessors are cabbage, tomato, onion and potato.
Soil preparation
Before plant cucumbers in open ground, it is necessary to prepare the site in advance. If the grown seedlings are planted in too dense soil, then a little sand will have to be added to it. In addition, several kilograms of compost with manure should be added to the soil in the fall. Also, before winter, the area needs to be carefully dug up with a shovel.
The next stage of preparation takes place in the spring, a few weeks before planting the cucumbers.At this time, 2-4 kilograms of hot manure and several glasses of ash are added to the soil. This is done so that the earth warms up faster.
Planting
Planting cucumber seedlings begins with preparing the beds. To do this, create a small trench on the site, into which it is recommended to add a little compost or manure. Then the fertilizer is sprinkled with a small layer of soil.
Having prepared the beds for cucumbers, you can begin planting. Containers with seedlings are carefully turned over and seedlings are taken out of them. After this, each plant is placed in a vertical position in the ground. The distance between each cucumber bush should be about 30 cm. When all the seedlings are planted, the bed should be watered with warm water. When growing tall varieties of cucumbers, it is recommended to install special supports for gartering them.
Conclusion
Anyone can grow cucumbers in the middle zone. To do this, you need to decide on the timing of planting cucumbers in open ground in the middle zone and study the recommendations for planting.
