When there is not enough space on the site to form ordinary beds or gardeners want to do something unusual, they experiment and create interesting vertical beds for cucumbers on the site. To do this, use a variety of devices - barrels, pipes, trellises, plastic garbage bags, buckets and much more. Thus, the plantings take up little space on the site and look original. Let's learn how to grow vegetables vertically in your garden.
Methods for vertically growing cucumbers
You can grow cucumbers vertically both in the garden and in a greenhouse. In this case, it is not necessary to resort to using any additional containers for sowing. Some people plant seeds in a pre-formed bed, and then tie up borage, and he crawls, clinging with his antennae, upward. In a greenhouse, you can tie a rope to the greenhouse jumper located on top, and wrap the lower end around a cucumber bush. But there are also more interesting and original methods for making vertical beds for cucumbers with your own hands.
Growing cucumbers in barrels
An excellent option for planting borage in an area where there is little space would be 200 liter metal barrels. Of course, you can use wooden ones, but we will use a metal barrel as an example.
In order for seedlings to produce an excellent harvest, several growing factors need to be taken into account.
- Illumination of the area where the seeds will be planted.
- The presence of fertilizers in the planting soil.
- Watering and caring for plants.
It is necessary to choose a sunlit place on the site. Install the barrels according to plan - in a row or in a checkerboard pattern. The main thing is that there is a distance of about 80 centimeters between them for convenient watering and weeding of plants.
We form high-quality soil for planting cucumbers in open ground, fill the bottom of the barrel with last year's leaves, compost, dry branches and other materials that can rot, fill the top with garden soil fertilized with burnt manure and add 1 cup of mineral fertilizers. Mix the whole mixture and pour it well with warm water with the addition of a small amount of potassium permanganate.
Along the edge of the barrel, we plant seeds two at a time in a hole, to a depth of 1-2 centimeters. About 20 seedlings should form in 1 barrel.
Cover with film until the seeds germinate, remembering to water them when the soil dries out.
After the seeds germinate, remove the film and remove weak seedlings. That's it, our garden bed is ready. As the lashes grow, they fall down from the barrel, it will be completely covered with leaves and will look very beautiful. It is important to water the plants as the soil dries out; water in a barrel evaporates much faster than in a simple garden bed. Vegetables grown in this way will delight the owner with a harvest and decorate the site.
Pipes like a cucumber bed
This is another interesting vertical way to grow cucumbers. For this method you will need the following equipment: two pipes of different diameters, a drill and a jigsaw for cutting holes, soil, seeds.
Most often, a PVC sewer pipe and a thin watering pipe are used. In a pipe of larger diameter, holes of 20 by 20 centimeters are cut in a ladder order and from different sides, square or round, it does not matter. Holes with a diameter of 1 centimeter are also cut along the entire perimeter of the second tube.
The large pipe is covered with earth for stability. A small tube is inserted into a large one and fertilized soil is poured between them. The end of the small tube should not be covered with soil; water will flow there when watering.
Cucumber seeds are planted in the pipes, and they are wrapped with polyvinyl chloride film. During seed germination, constantly water the soil with warm water, pouring it into a tube with holes. Water is absorbed into the soil through them and moisturizes it.
After seed germination, the film is removed and the cucumbers are cared for in the same way as in the garden. There can be up to 20 plants grown in this way in one pipe.
Buckets for an original garden bed
Buckets can make many great vertical cucumber beds.
- They hang buckets on the wall of the house.
- They put it in a gazebo built from scrap materials.
- Install along the perimeter of the garden.
There is another way to grow cucumbers vertically in buckets.
The first method is to hang buckets on the wall of the house, so the plant will fall down, giving an excellent harvest of cucumbers. With this growing method, a sunny wall is chosen for planting and the buckets are raised above ground level by about two meters. When the whip reaches the ground, it is pinched, giving growth to the stepsons. It is necessary to constantly monitor the level of soil moisture in the buckets; the plants will die from drying out.
The second method is to install buckets along the perimeter of the garden or in any other convenient place; it is important that there is easy access to them for watering, weeding and harvesting. A crossbar is built over the buckets, two stable pegs are driven in on the sides, and a trellis or ropes are hung on them so that the growing lashes can catch on them.
As the plants grow, the entire net will be covered with borage and will look great from the outside. This method is often used as a temporary fence.
How to plant plants in plastic bags
Plastic trash bags are also a great material to make vertical cucumber beds.
They are placed around the perimeter - in a row, in a checkerboard pattern or in a circle. Fill the bags with soil and plant the seeds; first water the soil with warm water. Cover the bags with film. When the seedlings sprout, pegs with a cross at the end are inserted into the middle of the bag. Clothes lines are tied to the cross according to the number of seedlings.The lower end is tied to other pegs and inserted into the ground around the bags. When the borage grows, it is sent to weave up the ropes. This way you will get nice Christmas tree beds with a harvest of cucumbers with your own hands.
Vertical growing in a greenhouse using a trellis
In greenhouses there is little space for growing cucumbers, so gardeners rarely use the horizontal method; more often they use a trellis or ropes to grow the crop in a vertical position.
When growing cucumbers in a greenhouse using a trellis method, the seeds are planted in rows and a net is stretched between them to allow the borage to grow upward. With this vertical growing method, you can leave a few side shoots for a larger harvest. Be sure to monitor the number of leaves; the lower yellowed ones must be removed, allowing new upper leaves to grow.
When tied with a clothesline, the seeds are planted in a checkerboard pattern; the main thing is to provide access to the plants planted near the wall. Each cucumber is tied with a rope. Side shoots are broken off so that a lot of greenery does not form. As the harvest progresses, the lower leaves are torn off, but no more than two leaves per day, otherwise the plant will die.
When the whip reaches the ceiling, they act in two ways.
First: the lower stem is freed from leaves and twisted into a ring, so the plant drops 0.5-1 meter lower.
Second: the top is pinched, the side shoot is released to its full height, so from one seed you will get two or three crops. This is how vertical cultivation of cucumbers in greenhouses occurs.
It is important to take into account one nuance: you cannot use metal wire or bars as a rope or lattice.When heated in the sun, the metal will burn the growing plant.
Growing cucumbers in the garden
Planting cucumbers in a simple bed around stakes, previously dug into the ground and surrounded by twigs in the form of a hut, makes it possible to grow cucumbers in the form of Christmas trees.
Ways grow cucumbers in beds and greenhouse a huge variety. The beauty and practicality of such structures depend on the gardener’s imagination, and such structures can be made from scrap materials that do not require expensive investments.
This way, Christmas trees, posts and even fences grown from cucumbers will appear on the site.
