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Many gardeners prefer to grow cucumbers. This tasty, aromatic vegetable, grown with your own hands, is one of the first to appear in your summer cottage. In order for the cucumber harvest to please you, it is important to plant seeds or seedlings in the ground according to certain rules.
Main characteristics of cucumber
Cucumber is an annual plant belonging to the dicotyledonous class, the pumpkin family. India is considered the birthplace of this vegetable. Many summer residents prefer plant cucumbers seeds, not seedlings. Cucumbers have a rough stem. With the help of tendrils, the plant catches on the support and stretches upward. Cucumbers have multi-seeded fruits that differ in size, shape, and color. Cucumber seeds are white or cream, flat in shape.
Conditions for full growth of cucumbers
Cucumbers can be planted in open ground, provided that all conditions, terms, and growing methods are met:
- you can plant cucumbers in soil that is not covered with film only after the frosts have passed;
- to increase productivity, trellises are used;
- cucumbers give an excellent harvest in sunny areas of the land;
- Plants should not be planted in the wind.
How to properly plant cucumber seeds in open ground
Professionals recommend planting cucumbers on plots of land where tomatoes or white cabbage were grown last summer season. Carrots, potatoes, peppers, and onions can be considered as predecessors.
Rules for preparing planting material and cucumber seeds
How to properly prepare seeds for planting in open ground? This issue worries summer residents, and therefore deserves close consideration. Otherwise, it will be difficult to count on a large harvest. The selection of seeds, as well as their planting in the ground, is carried out according to certain rules. What should the seeds be like? How should they be planted in the ground correctly? What to consider when selecting planting material? Modern technology for selecting seeds and growing cucumbers should take into account the following points:
- duration of ripening (early, middle, late varieties);
- hybrid seeds are less susceptible to various diseases, but it will not be possible to obtain your own planting material from them;
- take into account the purposes of growing plants. For example, there are varieties that are intended for pickling, they are not suitable for making salads;
- taking into account soil characteristics, climatic parameters of the area
Cucumber seeds have an average shelf life of five to six years if they are stored in a room where the air temperature is in the range of 2 to 25 degrees.They retain maximum yield only for two to three years.
Germination of seeds
The technological process of growing plants in open ground conditions involves preliminary preparation of seeds for planting, which is carried out at home. First, the cucumber seeds are sorted. Select the largest seeds, dip them in a weak solution of table salt, shake, and soak in it for 10-15 minutes.
Next, the planting material is disinfected. Those seeds that float after immersion in a saline solution are removed. Those remaining at the bottom are washed, then placed for 30 minutes in a one percent solution of potassium permanganate (potassium permanganate), and washed thoroughly. Next, they must be left for several hours in a solution of wood ash, and then completely dried. The next step will be heating the seeds. To do this, you can use a stove or battery. A day is enough to completely dry cucumber seeds.
Dried up seeds need to be germinated before they are planted in exposed soil. It is advisable to use fabric bags for germination. Cucumber seeds are placed in them, then they are placed in a container containing a weak solution of nitrogen fertilizer. After 10-12 hours, they are washed, the seeds are placed on damp cotton wool or a cloth, and covered with a cloth on top.
As soon as a small root appears, you need to start planting the plant in a pot for seedlings or planting it in unprotected soil.Everything depends on the climatic characteristics of the region, as well as on the temperature regime. If there are no morning frosts and the average daily temperature is not lower than 15 degrees, you can safely plant the sprouted seeds directly into the prepared soil. At lower air temperatures, we do not recommend taking risks; it is better to leave the cucumbers in the balcony boxes “until better times.”
Advice from professionals
In order to speed up the process of growing tasty and aromatic cucumbers in unprotected soil, use seedlings. Interesting and useful tips and recommendations regarding growing cucumbers are presented in the video:
In this case, the “seedlings” need to be prepared at home. To obtain healthy and dense plants, they must be exposed to sunlight for at least 12 hours. For seedlings you will need small containers, for example, paper bags for kefir or milk. They need to be filled with a mixture of peat and soil from the plot or use ready-made humus. Sow the seeds approximately three centimeters deep into the prepared soil. On average, it will take about a month to obtain viable seedlings. Before you start planting cucumber plants in uncovered soil, check that the cucumber plant has 3-4 leaves and dense roots have formed.
Conclusion
Pickled gherkins, pickled cucumbers, delicious cucumber jam - this is not a complete list of those dishes, the main component of which is an ordinary cucumber.To ensure that the efforts spent on growing seedlings and germinating seeds are not in vain, and you get a wonderful harvest of cucumbers, take seriously the advice and recommendations that were offered. The soil itself, in which you plan to place the planting material, also needs special preparation. The soil is carefully dug up, adding a mixture of wood tar and dolomite flour as fertilizer.
