When to plant cucumbers in open ground: planting dates and conditions

Most vegetable growers grow cucumbers on their plots. It is not so easy to grow cucumbers in the open field on your own, therefore, it is recommended to prepare for planting. It is necessary to decide in advance when to plant cucumbers in open ground and familiarize yourself with the features of planting this vegetable.

Growing seedlings

Before planting cucumbers in the open field, it is necessary to start growing its seedlings. After all, most vegetable growers do not plant cucumbers in open ground with seeds, but plant them with seedlings.

Date of landing

First you need to decide when you can plant seeds. The time for sowing cucumbers directly depends on climatic conditions. Residents of the southern regions are advised to plant at the end of winter or at the beginning of March, so that the time for planting cucumbers in open ground falls on mid-May. Residents of the northern regions should plant them a little later so that the planting dates for cucumbers in open ground fall in June, when the temperature at night will be above zero.

When planting cucumber seeds in open ground, the sowing time is completely different. In this case, they will have to be planted only when the night temperature outside does not fall below 10-15 degrees Celsius.

Preparation of seeds

Before sowing cucumbers in open ground, you should do the preliminary preparation of seeds for planting. To begin with, you will have to deal with the calibration of planting material so that you can select the most suitable seeds.During calibration, only large seeds with a perfectly flat surface should be selected. After that, they are placed in a saline solution and soaked in it for about 5-10 minutes.

During this time, all defective seeds will float to the surface. They should be disposed of immediately, as they will not germinate.

Quite often, cucumbers die from various diseases. In order to somehow protect them from this, they should be disinfected. To do this, all planting material is placed for half an hour in a weak solution prepared from manganese. The next day, the procedure is repeated again.

Preparing the soil

When the time for sowing seeds comes, it is recommended to prepare the soil. For planting cucumbers, you need to use a specially prepared soil mixture, which should contain a considerable amount of nutrients.To prepare it, you need to mix humus with soddy soil in equal amounts. If there is no soddy soil, then compost can be used instead. Some gardeners add some oven ash to the soil.

Also, do not forget that the soil has an optimal temperature for growing cucumbers. Before planting, the heat treatment of the soil must be carried out. Especially if he was outside for a long time or in a room with a low temperature. Seeds can be planted in soil, the temperature of which is not lower than 15 degrees.

Preparation of containers

Planting cucumbers should be carried out in special containers where cucumbers could grow as comfortably as possible.

The best type of containers for growing young seedlings are peat pots. Their main advantage is that they are very easy to use. To do this, it is enough to fill them with a small amount of soil mixture and place them on pallets.Also, the advantages of peat pots include the material from which they are made. Indeed, thanks to it, the tanks have an optimal water-air regime, which has a very positive effect on the planted seeds.

Landing

It is recommended to plant seeds before the deadline for planting cucumbers. During sowing, all containers are filled with prepared soil and special holes are made in them for planting. No more than one seed is sown in each pot. If you plant too many seeds in one container, then because of this they will grow much more slowly.

The next day after planting, all containers with cucumbers are transferred to a warm room. The minimum temperature for cucumbers should not be less than 15 degrees and therefore, you should choose a room in which such a temperature regime could be maintained.

Planting seedlings

When all the seeds that were planted germinate well, it will be possible to plant cucumbers in open ground. However, before that, it is recommended to decide how many you can plant them and how to do it correctly.

Selection and cleaning of the site

For sowing cucumbers in open ground, you need to choose the most suitable site. It is recommended to look for cucumbers only in the most illuminated places with good protection from strong gusts of wind. However, it is not always possible to pick up a calm area. In order to somehow protect cucumber bushes from wind gusts, tall crops should be planted near them.

It is recommended to prepare the site for cucumbers in the middle of autumn. At this time, the territory is completely cleared of the remains of plants. They are recommended to be burned or buried in the ground.If the site is not cleared of plant residues, then over time they will become a source of diseases that cucumbers can become infected with.

Soil preparation

It is recommended to do preparatory work in autumn or spring. During this period, 10-15 kg of manure is added to the soil, which then will have to be dug up with the ground. In spring, it is advisable to use fresh hot manure to warm the soil. To do this, several beds 40 cm deep are made on the site, to which fresh manure mixed with soil is added. From above, the plot is sprinkled with a special garden mixture or ash. Thanks to this, the soil will be able to warm up to the optimum temperature within 2-3 days.

Also, soil preparation includes mulching the site. Most often, ordinary film is used for this. In the fall, it must be removed from the site, washed well and transferred to the basement for further storage.

Main recommendations for choosing the sowing date

To determine the optimal or last date for planting cucumbers in open ground, many vegetable growers are guided by the lunar calendar. It is worth noting that it is not always possible to determine the best day for planting cucumbers in the ground with its help. Therefore, the following recommendations should be taken into account:

1. The average daily temperature for the growth of cucumbers should not be below 15 degrees. If there is a possibility of a serious drop in night temperature, then it is better to transfer the seedling transplant. When growing cucumbers in a greenhouse, you don't have to monitor the outside temperature, as you can control the climate in the greenhouse yourself.
2. The temperature of the soil should also be more than 15 degrees. This is the most favorable temperature for growing this vegetable.
3. It is better to plant cucumbers in the last month of spring, when westerly and southerly winds prevail most of the time outside. In this weather, the probability of frost is extremely small.

Types of sowing dates

For planting cucumbers, it is recommended to familiarize yourself with the varieties of sowing dates:

• Early. Early planting of cucumbers should be carried out in early May. Early sowing is most often used by residents of the southern regions, since at this time they no longer have night temperature drops. However, residents of the northern regions can plant cucumbers later. Only they will have to plant cucumbers in the greenhouse to create optimal conditions for greenhouse cucumbers.

• Medium. Many do not like early sowing and therefore they decide to plant cucumbers later. In this case, the planting of cucumbers is carried out in mid-June. Almost all varieties of cucumbers are suitable for this. If you grow bushes in June, then the harvest will need to be harvested in early August.However, the harvest of ripe fruits depends not only on the planting period, but also on the varieties planted.
• Late. The latest planting date for cucumbers is recommended to be used only during the planting of early-ripening cucumbers, which can ripen 40 days after planting. Thus, the planted vegetable will ripen along with the tomatoes. Late sowing has its advantages. For example, if you plant seedlings at the end of summer, then you can collect fresh fruits before the first frost. However, you should not plant cucumbers too late, as frosts can begin in the fall and because of this, the plant dies even before fruiting. Therefore, the last landing should be carried out at the end of July or at the beginning of August.

Landing

It is recommended to plant only good seedlings in the garden. It should be hardened and have a good stem with several developed leaves.For hardening young bushes, it is recommended to take them outside during the day. At the same time, it is necessary to monitor what temperature is kept outside. If it is more than 15-17 degrees, then the seedlings can be taken out for the whole day. The duration of hardening should gradually increase. Therefore, a few days before transplanting, plants should be outside not only during the day, but also at night.

Before planting cucumbers, you should start creating planting beds. So that the plants do not shade each other, the distance between the holes should be at least 50 cm. The gap between the rows should be slightly larger - 60-70 cm. When all the holes are prepared, you can start transplanting.

Carefully remove all seedlings from peat pots and plant in an upright position on the beds. Then they should be sprinkled with soil, poured with water and tamped a little. The day after planting, all bushes should be watered with warm water.

Conclusion

Growing cucumbers is not as easy as it might seem. After all, for this you need to figure out at what temperature cucumbers grow and when cucumbers are planted.

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