At each summer cottage or in the beds in the garden, cucumbers are necessarily grown. Every gardener knows his secrets of planting and growing methods. They are found through years of experience on the ground. What materials are not used for the original beds. All the means at hand are used, from which you can make supports for this vegetable crop. Inventive gardeners have come up with more than a dozen interesting and unusual ways of breeding and growing cucumbers. Here are just a small part of them.
Method 1. Growing cucumbers in barrels
The barrel can be metal, wooden (always full of holes on the bottom and sides) or built from several car tires. You need to fill it (approximately seventy-five percent) with various organic waste, mixing them with earth. This process is more convenient to carry out in the autumn, but it is possible with the onset of spring.
The filled barrel must be watered every day with warm water, and even better with a special solution of the drug with effective microorganisms. Before planting cucumber seeds, the top layer (about ten centimeters), consisting of fertile soil, is poured into the barrel. It is in this land that seedlings or seeds need to be planted.
To get the seeds to germinate as quickly as possible, you need to cover them with large plastic bottles or close the barrel with an opaque film. And for watering and for making various liquid additives, the same plastic bottle will help. She needs to cut off the bottom and dig it into the barrel with the neck down. It is used as a watering can through which the necessary fluids enter the soil.
Cucumber ovary in the process of growth descends along the walls of the barrel, and all the cucumbers are in plain sight.
Benefits of growing cucumbers in barrels:
- The roots of the vegetable crop are constantly in favorable conditions, because decomposing organic waste generates a lot of heat. The development of the plant is much faster, which means that the first fruits will appear earlier than in ordinary beds.
- The organic barrel takes up very little space.
- With this method of cultivation, frosts on the ground are not terrible for cucumbers, because they are in a kind of shelter.
- No need to waste energy digging up the beds.
- The fruits are located in plain sight, you do not need to look for them in dense cucumber thickets, and you do not need to bend low, as in garden beds.
- The fruits do not get sand and earth, they remain dry and clean.
- The organic soil in the barrel is itself a fertilizer; it contains all the nutrients you need to grow your plants.She practically does not need additional feeding.
Disadvantages of growing cucumbers in barrels:
- We'll have to purchase barrels.
- To fill them, you will need a lot of different organic waste.
- The "barrel bed" will have to be watered more than the garden one. Organic matter should not dry out, it should always be sufficiently moist.
Method 2. Growing cucumbers in bags or bags
This method is also built on the principle of a vertical bed. To form such a bed, you will need a large dense bag (you can use any cereal or sugar), soil for growing cucumbers, ten wooden or metal pegs and one wooden stick (at least two meters high), three plastic tubes (thirty in diameter and one hundred centimeters) and a thin cord (about thirty meters long).
First comes the preparatory work. Holes must be drilled along the entire length of each plastic tube. They will act as a watering system. On one edge of a wooden stick, you need to drive in several nails, for which the cord will then be attached.
Then you need to completely fill the bag with the prepared soil, and insert a wooden stick into the center. Plastic tubes are inserted into the soil around the stick. Small cuts are cut on one side of the bag with a knife. It is enough to plant three seedlings in one bag.
Watering is carried out through plastic tubes, and soil moisture can be determined through the side cuts on the bag. In hot and dry summers, these beds need to be watered daily, and in mild and cool weather - once a week.
When a mustache begins to appear on the cucumber bushes, it means that it's time to take care of the support for twisting cucumber lashes. The previously prepared pegs are driven into the ground around the bag. Then a cord is pulled from each peg and tied to the top of a wooden stick installed in the center of the bag.
Advantages of growing cucumbers in bags or sacks:
- Does not take up much space in the garden.
- No digging time required.
- It is very convenient to care for vegetables.
- The fruits ripen earlier and remain always clean.
Disadvantages of growing cucumbers in bags or sacks:
- The cost of purchasing materials will be required.
- It is necessary to allocate time for the preparation and construction of a vertical bed.
- Strict control over the frequency of watering is required. In dry soil, plants will die from drought, and in waterlogged soil - from developing diseases.
Method 3. Growing cucumbers in a tent or hut
This method is not ordinary and even original. At first, it looks like a small round flower bed, and as it grows, it takes on the shape of a hut.
Cucumber seedlings or seeds are planted in holes along the entire diameter (about a meter in size). Near each hole, you need to stick small pegs or metal hooks into the ground. A prepared pipe (about three meters long), about a meter deep, must be driven into the center of the cucumber bed. Hooks are attached to the top of the pipe. A wire or thin cord is pulled from these hooks to the lower pegs. The entire structure must be covered with a transparent film until the end of the spring cold. If you are not ready for the material costs of a cord, pipe and wire, then the entire structure can be assembled from ordinary tree branches. Such a bed will be more like a tent.
Such a cucumber hut will not only give a good harvest, but will decorate the entire summer cottage.
Such structures can be used not only in garden beds. Growing cucumbers in barrels or bags, such a hut (only slightly smaller in height) will serve as an additional shelter in cold weather.
The advantages of growing cucumbers in a tent or hut:
- The hut becomes an element of decor on the site, it attracts attention and cheers up.
- Ripe fruits are in excellent condition, they are easy to tear and do not need to be washed.
- Such a tent saves space at the summer cottage.
Disadvantages of growing cucumbers in a tent or hut:
- Material costs will be required to purchase additional materials.
- The preparation and assembly of the entire structure itself will take time and effort.
Method 4. Growing cucumbers on a trellis
This is a proven and very popular, and most importantly effective way of growing cucumbers. Wooden posts (one and a half to two meters long), metal slats, polymer mesh, twine and the like are suitable as a material for making a trellis.
You need to start by planting seeds or seedlings in the beds. Two beds should be parallel to each other at a distance of no more than half a meter. An average of twenty-five centimeters should be left between the cucumber holes. As soon as the seedlings reach ten centimeters in height, then it's time to start installing the trellis.
It is placed in the middle, between the beds. There are no strict recommendations for the construction of the structure and the use of materials. Everyone can come up with their own form of support for the plant. You can even use corn or sunflower planted between cucumber beds as a support. Cucumbers, with the help of their antennae, will find the necessary direction for themselves and will firmly hook onto the support.
Advantages of growing cucumbers on a trellis:
- It is convenient to harvest, the cucumbers are dry and clean.
- The cucumber beds are located in an open area, which guarantees good ventilation. This is important as a prophylaxis against fungal diseases.
- Such beds are fully provided with sunlight and warmth.
Disadvantages of growing cucumbers on a trellis:
- Material costs are required for the purchase of material - mesh. Twine, slats, posts.
- You will need physical strength and free time.
- Such beds need to be dug up.
Method 5. Growing cucumbers on willow twigs
This method will appeal to those who do not like to engage in the construction of additional structures. Cucumbers are grown in the traditional way, in the garden beds. Willow twigs are used only as a support. They bend easily, so the ends of the twigs are stuck into the ground in cucumber beds. Each twig turns into an arc that rests on the other. The arcs intersect with each other, supporting each other. Such a natural hedge prevents the vegetable plant from contacting the soil and provides good air exchange.
Method 6. Growing cucumbers under black film
This method will appeal to those who appreciate the benefits of a warm garden bed. For its construction, you need to prepare the necessary materials in advance: black plastic wrap, various organic waste, small tree branches, sand, ash, humus, EM preparations.
In such a bed, cucumbers do not have to be watered often, they will need much less moisture. The first harvest will appear at the end of June.
There are a huge number of ways to grow cucumbers, but maybe one of the described methods will appeal to you and will delight you with a bountiful harvest.
