Growing vegetables is an exciting activity. Cucumbers can be included in the list of favorite crops that are popular among vegetable growers. They flaunt on vegetable beds next to tomatoes and greens and many other plants. In addition, they are grown in greenhouses and even on the window of a city apartment.
For the cultivation of cucumbers in the open ground,pick up sections, protected from drafts, well warmed by the sun. They can not be grown in the garden in shaded places. Heat and moisture are the basic requirements of a cucumber culture for normal development and fruiting.
When selecting a site, attention should be paid tosoil fertility. It has been prepared since autumn. After digging up the site, organic fertilizers are introduced. They will perfectly improve fertility and improve soil structure. If the liming was carried out in the autumn, fertilization is done in the spring. In terms of up to May 20, on sites for vegetable crops, the manure, ash and complex mineral fertilizers are applied.
Cucumbers belong to the family of cucurbits. This group of vegetable crops belongs to the heat-loving plants. This property determines the timing of sowing cucumbers in the open ground. They can vary according to weather conditions. In different regions this period occurs at different times. Start sowing cucumbers in the open ground can be when warming the soil and stable night air temperatures, which should not fall below 10 degrees Celsius. Usually acceptable conditions for sowing cucumbers in open ground occur at the end of May.
You should not rush to sowing. Under favorable conditions, cucumbers are grown in a week. And at an early sowing they can be damaged by short-term frosts. Untimely sowing can lead to damage and even death of seedlings. In this case, the sowing of cucumbers in the open ground will have to be repeated. With complete loss of plants, the beds are formed anew. With partial death of seedlings, sowing is carried out at the sites where they fall.
To grow successfully, you needpreliminary preparation of seeds of cucumbers for sowing, which promotes their good germination and seed resistance to diseases and adverse weather conditions.
Seeds sort out. Dull and damaged cull. Seed material can be sorted manually or with a slightly saline solution. For its preparation, in a liter of water, dissolve 2 teaspoons of salt. Full seeds fall to the bottom of the container. A unsuitable seed material remains on the surface of the liquid. Such seeds are thrown away. The remaining seeds are washed with running water and lightly 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. Then proceed to the next stage of preparing the seed of cucumbers.
Preventive treatment with manganese is replacedsoaking. To do this, the seeds are placed in a moist napkin treated with a solution of mineral fertilizers or growth stimulants. The process of pecking the seeds is carried out at a temperature of 22 degrees Celsius. When there are sprouts, you can sow cucumbers in the open ground. Such seeds very quickly sprout. Therefore, soaking should be predicted by the period of establishment of warm weather. Also sprouted seeds are well restored frost damaged beds.
Sowing cucumbers in the open ground can produceand dry seeds or dry and wet at the same time. In this case, after the decontamination, the seed is dried and sown in the soil. Purchased seeds that have been processed by seed suppliers do not require additional preseeding preparation.
</ p>