It is almost impossible to imagine a garden of a private house or a summer cottage without beds with cucumbers. Crispy and fragrant vegetables are good both fresh and pickled or canned. And especially tasty are s alted cucumbers, which were grown with their own hands. Today, there are many different ways to grow cucumbers - in a greenhouse, in an open-air garden, in nets, plastic bags and even tents. Our article will be devoted to growing cucumbers in a barrel. We will talk about the advantages of this method and share the features of this process.
Benefits
Why is it worth giving preference to growing cucumbers in a barrel? This method has a number of advantages. After reviewing them, you will certainly lose any doubts and questions about how to grow cucumbers in a barrel in a country house or garden.
Benefits:
- Colossal space savings, which is especially important in small footprints. One barrel, with a volume of about 200 liters, will replace 2 square meters of land for you. Pretty space efficient, isn't it?
- Sunlight spreads to the plant more evenly.
- This method allows you to get a crop much earlier than with conventional cultivation. Moreover, the fruiting period is significantly increased due to the higher quality of the soil - in a barrel it is less susceptible to frost and other adverse weather conditions, as well as pests.
- A barrel with overgrown branches is also a decoration of a garden plot. Especially if you paint the barrel itself in bright, positive colors.
- Very convenient to harvest ripe cucumbers - no need to bend over, the vegetables are at the level of your hands. And this means that you will be much less tired of this process.
As you can see, this method of planting cucumbers has no obvious drawbacks. Therefore, we further attach a description of growing cucumbers in a barrel step by step. The following sections highlight the most important points to consider when planting and caring for these vegetables.
Capacity selection
To start, of course, you need to choose a barrel for planting cucumbers. For these purposes, it is not necessary to buy new containers - it is quite acceptable to use old metal, plastic or wooden barrels. It is desirable to give preference to a volume of 200 or 250 liters, but you can use smaller barrels. The preparation of the barrel consists in removing its bottom and drilling holesin the walls. This is done to provide the soil with oxygen and the access of microorganisms and beneficial insects (for example, earthworms). Wooden barrels are prone to spoilage, so iron or plastic barrels are best.
Soil preparation
To grow cucumbers in a barrel, it is necessary to carefully prepare the land. The preparation process begins in early spring or autumn and consists in filling the container with several layers of fertile soil. Buying ready-made soil is not always cheap, and using plain soil from the garden is quite dangerous - you can bring in weed seeds and various diseases. Therefore, it is worth making a little effort and taking care of the fertile soil for cucumbers on your own. The combination of three layers is considered optimal:
- The first layer performs the functions of drainage to remove excess moisture and a kind of storehouse with useful substances. Leaves and stalks of corn and cabbage, small branches and even a small amount of food waste are laid out at the very bottom. In order to speed up the process of their decomposition, you can use composting preparations. If you start preparing the soil in autumn, then over the winter this layer decomposes perfectly and becomes a full-fledged substrate.
- The second layer is traditionally filled with fresh manure. Rotting, it releases a large amount of heat, which is essential for heat-loving cucumbers. The presence of manure in the soil helps maintain a favorable temperature throughout the growing of cucumbers in a barrel.
- Finally, the third,the top layer of soil is filled with loose fertile soil. It is best to use a mixture of peat, humus and ordinary earth. Peat is sometimes replaced with sawdust. You can also add a small amount of mineral fertilizers to the topsoil.
The filled barrel is left for the earth to subside, having previously spilled it with 3-4 buckets of water. For the convenience of fertilizing during the cultivation of cucumbers, you can bury a cut-off bottle in the form of a funnel in the center of the top layer.
Landing
Cucumber seeds can be planted in a barrel two or even three weeks earlier than when using open beds. Most often it is the end of April. The day before the seeds are immersed in the soil, it must be thoroughly moistened. In the prepared soil, along the circumference of the barrel, recesses are made (no more than 3 centimeters), in the amount of 4-5 pieces. Seeds are planted in the pits and sprinkled with a layer of compost. The barrel with landings is covered with a film and placed in a warm, well-lit place. Instead of a film, it is desirable to use agrofibre, which is much stronger than the film, but allows air and sunlight to pass through, while preventing the plantings from freezing.
Preparing seeds for planting is an easy process. It is enough to keep them in a warm place for a week, disinfect them in a weak manganese solution for about 20 minutes and immerse them in nitrophoska for a day.
Irrigation
Cucumbers are not only warm, but also moisture-loving plants. Due to the intensive growth of the leaves, the roots sometimes lack nutrients. Therefore, it is necessary to water at least 3-4 times a week. Soil in barrels dries slightly faster due to rapid heating and vertical outflow of water. To prevent the topsoil from drying out, you can cover it with mowed grass.
Feeding
Like any other plant, cucumbers need additional nourishment with mineral and organic supplements. To obtain a powerful and strong plant during the flowering period, nitrogenous fertilizers must be applied to the soil. To do this, a teaspoon of urea is diluted in a bucket of water and brought into the barrel. During fruiting, the plant more than ever needs mineral fertilizers. It is necessary to alternate top dressing with potassium, nitrogen and phosphorus. One of the best homemade fertilizers is considered to be a tincture of weeds, grass and chicken manure in warm water. This composition is insisted for about two weeks, after which it is used to nourish the soil.
Garter
Cucumbers grown in a barrel must be tied up. The easiest way is to install a wooden or metal pole, about two meters high, with a cross in the center of the barrel. From it, make several rays from the rope, along which the shoots will trail. The first garter is carried out when 4-5 leaves appear.
Opinion of experienced gardeners
Based on feedback on growing cucumbers in a barrel, it is safe to say that this method has proven itself among experienced gardeners and gardeners. This not quite traditional method is really veryhandy for small areas. The harvest collected from such peculiar beds has amazing taste qualities even with earlier ripening. Even in such a not quite warm region as the Moscow region, growing cucumbers in a barrel is a very real way to get a tasty and he althy harvest.
