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Experienced summer residents have long known that cucumbers love warmth, so a warm bed for cucumbers is needed at their summer cottage; it is advisable to make it in the fall before the onset of cold weather. It is quite possible to build such beds with your own hands, and as soon as the first harvest is harvested, you can begin preparing the beds for the next season. There are several structural types that can be built on the site.
Types of warm beds for cucumbers
If we talk about the principle installation of warm beds for cucumbers, they are almost the same. In all options, the bed must be raised above the ground and sides installed, filling the box with fertile soil and organic matter. You can build a garden bed at any favorable time of the year.
Arrangement options:
- cover bed;
- high;
- vitamin
A covering bed designed for early cucumbers is also suitable for growing eggplants, tomatoes, peppers and other heat-loving crops. The place where you plan to place the garden bed should be open and sunny. The height of the sides is selected from 30 to 40 cm. For installation you will need:
- edged tess (about 15 cm wide);
- metal profile (square);
- drill and roofing screws;
- several metal rods for arcs (2-2.5 m in length);
- covering material;
- twine for fixing the rods.
First you need to connect the future sides together using self-tapping screws. The length of the sides should be from 4 to 6 m, and the width should not exceed 1 m. The resulting frame is installed in the place of the future bed. Now you need to install the arcs, which will be connected at the top with twine for maximum strength.
The next step is filling the box:
- First, chips, branches or leaves are laid;
- next, sand is laid out;
- hay or straw or humus;
- the last layer should be fertile soil (20 to 30 cm).
You can plant seeds (or seedlings) in the finished bed; you need to cover it with special material. Experienced gardeners recommend preparing the filler in the fall, then the organic matter will rot thoroughly over the winter.
The better a high bed
A high, warm bed for cucumbers is good for early cucumbers. For it, you need to choose a place on the sunny side of the garden, then remove the top layer by about 0.5 m, the bottom itself needs to be covered with newspaper or cardboard. Then you can start building the frame for the garden bed. You will need boards and 4 bars to connect the structure. The approximate height of the bed itself should be about 1 m. The filling will be as follows:
- the first layer is rotted leaves (20-25 cm);
- 2nd layer - manure or compost (20 cm);
- 3rd layer - fertile soil.
Such a warm bed is made with an expectation of 5 years. Every spring it will warm up quickly, and in the autumn it will cool down more slowly than open beds.
How to make a warm vitamin bed
A vitamin warm bed for cucumbers is a popular option among summer residents. The construction will require the same frame, as well as polyethylene, organic matter and a rotting accelerator.You need to build a garden bed as follows:
- Mark the area of the future bed, then remove the top layer of soil (about 60 cm). The excavated soil should be placed nearby on cardboard or polyethylene.
- The walls of the resulting trench are covered with agrofibre or polyethylene. This is necessary so that no weeds did not grow into the garden bed.
- The bottom is lined with twigs or branches that have been cut from the tree in advance. Dry branches are covered with young shoots, for example, raspberries or currants along with leaves.
- Next, you can pour out half of the soil that was dug up at the very beginning and sprinkle it with a special mixture to speed up the decomposition of organic matter. Mixtures such as Siyanie-3 or Baikal M1 are perfect for this.
- Lay out organic waste, which is ideal for rotten leaves, vegetable trimmings or tops. All this must be watered abundantly.
- They pour out half of the remaining soil, again lay young growth on top of it and cover it with a special mixture for rapid rotting.
- The final stage will be installing a wooden frame inside the bed and adding soil. All this must be covered with hay or straw.
It is not enough to make a warm bed for cucumbers; the crop requires proper care.
Tips for growing cucumbers
In order to get a good harvest of cucumbers from a warm garden bed, you need to know some rules:
- Warm beds are installed not only in a sunny, but also in a windless place. No running water should pass through this area.
- It is important to know that not only the soil must be warm, but also the water that will be used to water the cucumbers, otherwise the plant may die.
- The best time to plant seedlings or seeds is the end of April, in which case it is possible to get the maximum yield.
- If weeds begin to appear in the garden, they must be dealt with immediately. During the growth of cucumbers, they need to be pulled out, and the soil must be cultivated before planting.
- If cucumbers have already grown in the garden bed before, then before planting new seedlings you need to remove the top layer and lay a new one.
- Warm beds are located in the direction from east to west, in which case they will warm up more intensely.
- For planting cucumbers, those warm beds on which tomatoes, onions, garlic or cabbage sprouted are also quite suitable.
Correct temperature conditions are also important for cucumbers. This determines how the seedlings will develop and how actively fruiting will occur. This is why it is so important for gardeners to take care of the presence of warm beds. Its basis is considered to be the branches that are laid out on the bottom. When they begin to rot, they produce methane, which creates heat. It is in a warm environment that microorganisms multiply abundantly.
Microorganisms begin to oxidize methane, resulting in the formation of carbon dioxide, which has a beneficial effect on fruiting.
Favorable conditions for growing cucumbers will give not only a bountiful, but also a tasty harvest. If you start building warm beds in the fall, you will have more time for planting in the spring. Over the winter, all rotting processes will take place, so crops can be planted in April-May.
