Growing vegetables is a fun activity. Cucumbers can be included in the list of favorite crops that are popular among vegetable growers. They show off on vegetable beds next to tomatoes and herbs and many other plants. In addition, they are grown in greenhouses and even on the window of a city apartment.
For growing cucumbers in open ground, select areas protected from drafts, well warmed by the sun. They can not be grown in the garden in shady places. Warmth and moisture are the basic requirements of cucumber culture for normal development and fruiting.
When choosing a site, attention should be paid to soil fertility. It has been prepared since autumn. After digging the site, organic fertilizers are applied. They will perfectly increase fertility and improve soil structure. If liming was carried out in the fall, then fertilizers are applied in the spring. Until May 20, rotted manure, ash and complex mineral fertilizers are applied to vegetable plots.
Cucumbers belong to the gourd family. This groupvegetable crops refers to heat-loving plants. This property determines the timing of sowing cucumbers in open ground. They are subject to change according to weather conditions. In different regions, this period occurs at different times. You can start sowing cucumbers in open ground when the soil warms up and stable night air temperatures, which should not fall below 10 degrees Celsius. Usually acceptable conditions for sowing cucumbers in open ground come at the end of May.
Don't rush to sow. Under favorable conditions, cucumbers sprout in a week. And with early sowing, they can be damaged by short-term frosts. Untimely sowing can lead to damage and even death of seedlings. In this case, sowing cucumbers in open ground will have to be repeated. With the complete loss of plants, the beds are formed anew. In case of partial death of seedlings, sowing is carried out in the places of their fallout.
For successful cultivation, preliminary preparation of cucumber seeds for sowing is necessary, which contributes to their good germination and seed resistance to diseases and adverse weather conditions.
Seeds are sorted out. Frail and damaged are discarded. Seed sorting can be done manually or with a lightly s alted solution. To prepare it, dissolve 2 teaspoons of s alt in a liter of water. Full-weight seeds sink to the bottom of the container. And unsuitable seed remains on the surface of the liquid. These seeds are thrown away. The remaining seeds are washed with running water and slightly dried. After that, the treatment is continued with a pink solution of potassium permanganate. Disinfection in this way is carried out for fifteen minutes. This is an excellent preventive measure that will help protect future plants from diseases. Next, proceed to the next stage of preparing the seed of cucumbers.
Prophylactic treatment with potassium permanganate is replaced by soaking. To do this, the seeds are placed in a damp cloth treated with a solution of mineral fertilizers or growth stimulants. The process of pecking seeds is carried out at a temperature of 22 degrees Celsius. When sprouts appear, you can sow cucumbers in open ground. These seeds germinate very quickly. Therefore, soaking should be adjusted to the period of warm weather. It is also good to restore frost-damaged beds with germinated seeds.
Sowing cucumbers in open ground can be done with dry seeds or dry and wet at the same time. In this case, after disinfection, the seed is dried and sown in the ground. Purchased seeds that have been processed by seed suppliers do not require additional pre-sowing preparation.
