How to make a garden for cucumbers in the open field with your own hands
Cucumbers are a favorite vegetable for many gardeners. They love warmth and therefore it is recommended to plant them in special warm beds. It is not so easy to equip such places for growing. To do this, it is necessary to determine what kind of soil cucumbers like and where exactly it is better to have a warm bed for growing.
Varieties
Before equipping cucumber beds, it is recommended that you familiarize yourself with their main varieties. This will help in the future to choose the most suitable beds for cucumbers.
Trench
Quite often, before planting cucumbers in open ground, trench-type beds are created. In this case, the place for planting cucumbers is located in a pre-dug trench, into which all the necessary nutritional components are placed. The trench is created for better fertilizer decomposition and for warming up the soil. Before planting cucumbers, all fertilizers in the trench are covered with soil almost to the very top.
High
Some gardeners grow cucumbers in a tall garden bed. To create such a bed for cucumbers with your own hands, you need to create a special wooden frame. It contains mineral fertilizers with fresh poultry droppings. From above, all fertilizers are covered with a thick layer of soil, which should be slightly raised above the ground. Experienced vegetable growers claim that it is better to plant cucumbers in such structures, since they are reliably protected from weeds.
Combined
You can also grow cucumbers in combined beds. This growing method consists of the main components of the above types. The combined cucumber bed consists of a small underground trench and a top-mounted frame made from sturdy wood.
Where to plant cucumbers
Having familiarized yourself with the main beds, you should determine the place for planting cucumbers in the spring. First you need to figure out what exactly cucumbers love - sun or shade. Cucumbers are light-requiring vegetables. The area for their cultivation should be well lit throughout the day and therefore the beds should not be located under the trees.
The choice of a plot of a vegetable garden for spring planting of cucumbers in the ground directly depends on the region in which the vegetables will be grown. For example, in the southern parts of the country, you don't have to think about planting vegetables in the sun or in the shade. In shaded areas, they will grow even better, as some shrubs can dry out due to the sun's rays in summer.In more northern regions, the cucumber garden should be located on the southern slopes, which are well lit by the sun's rays.
Also, when choosing a place in the garden, it is necessary to take into account what kind of soil for cucumbers in the open field is the most suitable.
For the cultivation of such a vegetable, loamy and sandy loam soils are considered the most suitable. At the same time, the acidity of the soil should not be too high. If you plant cucumbers in too acidic soil, then the seedlings will develop very slowly. To make sure that the soil is not very acidic, you should use a litmus test. During the check, the soil from the garden is mixed with a liter of boiled water, after which a litmus paper is applied to the mixture. The most optimal soil acidity is 7-8 Ph.
How to prepare the soil
Before you prepare a bed for cucumbers, you should do the preliminary preparation of the soil on the site.
The first preparation of the soil without manure and the addition of other organic fertilizing is carried out in the fall. To begin with, the site is cultivated to get rid of weeds and loosen the soil a little. Then the entire area must be watered with a solution prepared from Bordeaux liquid or copper sulfate. In the fall, it is not necessary to water the ground with an alkaline liquid, since it is better to do this before planting cucumbers.
In the spring, the garden is fertilized with humus and other organic matter is added to the soil. Do not use too much organic fertilizer. We process 3-5 kg of rotted manure and 50 grams of mineral dressing per square meter of the plot. Some gardeners advise adding 100 grams of lime to the soil to slightly reduce the acidity level. When the soil is prepared, it should be dug up and leveled with a rake.
How to make a garden for cucumbers
Preparing the garden is a difficult job that is not easy for beginners to cope with. There are various helpful ideas to help you prepare lazy beds. To figure out how to make the beds correctly, you need to familiarize yourself with the main stages of its manufacture.
Trench creation
First you need to dig a trench, which is needed for growing vegetables. Its size should not be too large. The width of the trench is not more than one meter, and the height is 40-50 cm.
Laying the grass
To make the trench more durable and the cucumbers do not fall under the ground, a small layer of grass should be laid out on the bottom. For this, any tall grass is mowed, laid on the bottom and carefully trampled underfoot. If this is not done, then after the rains, the soil in the garden bed will sag strongly and because of this, young cucumber bushes will begin to rot.
Preparation of a fertilizer mixture
To get a good harvest of cucumbers prepare a special mixture for feeding. It is made from moldy bread mixed with potato skins. Before treating the bed with the solution made, the trench should be watered with warm water. Then the soil layer with the grass in the trench is covered with the mixture. Over time, a fermentation process appears, during which bacteria begin to appear. Cucumbers need them for normal growth.
Landing
We fill the entire layer with fertilizers with soil, after which we plant cucumbers in the garden. To do this, the cucumber bed is pre-watered with water and small holes are made on it. They should be 10 cm wide and 5-7 cm deep. Before planting cucumbers, seeds must be disinfected.
Some are wondering if it is possible to plant cucumbers too close. This is not worth doing, as the bushes can shade each other and therefore grow more slowly.It is recommended to install special supports near each bush, to which plants are suspended for better growth.
Care rules
Any smart housewife who grows vegetables knows they need the right care.
Watering
It's no secret that the bushes need to be watered periodically. Watering the grown cucumbers is necessary, as it directly affects the quality of the resulting crop. It is necessary to moisten the soil 2-3 times a week, if it is not too hot outside. On hot summer days, water the plants daily so that the earth does not have time to dry out.
Top dressing
Processing the soil with top dressing stimulates the development of plants, since the cultivated land contains a large amount of nutrients. Not every vegetable grower knows which component should be added to the soil during the fertilization of cucumbers. At the moment the leaves appear and the whips are formed, nitrogen fertilizing with potassium should be added to the ground.
Also, organic fertilizers should be added to the soil with crops. Many people recommend adding bird droppings with horse manure to the soil. Sometimes slurry made from cow dung is used instead.
Pinching
Cucumbers are pinched repeatedly during cultivation. For the first time, this procedure is carried out after the appearance of the first real leaves. In this case, the pinch is done over the second leaf. The next time the procedure is repeated, but already over 7-9 sheets. Next, you will have to pinch the plant every three leaves.
Conclusion
Any smart vegetable grower at least once had an idea to grow cucumbers in special warm beds. Therefore, some are interested in how you can make a garden for cucumbers in the open field. To deal with this, it is recommended that you study a few basic ideas that will help you create a cucumber garden in the open field.
