The best varieties of cucumbers for open ground in the middle lane and the timing of their planting
Almost every vegetable grower is engaged in the cultivation of cucumbers in their gardens. Before planting this vegetable on your site, you should choose the best varieties of cucumbers for open ground. After all, the quantity and quality of the harvest will depend on the variety of cucumbers.
Growing cucumbers in the open field in central Russia is a rather difficult job, which has certain nuances. Before doing this, you should not only choose the optimal plant variety, but also familiarize yourself with the planting dates and the features of growing cucumbers.
Varieties for the middle lane
There are several of the most common mid-lane cucumber varieties that are grown in this region much more frequently than all other varieties.
Masha
Such cucumbers grow well in the Kaliningrad region. The Nizhny Novgorod region is also suitable for them. Their main advantage is that the manufacturer processes cucumber seeds in advance and gardeners do not have to prepare the planting material before planting.
The variety belongs to early maturing cucumbers, which begin to ripen within 40 days. Masha bushes do not grow much, as they are determinant. Their growth is limited to the first flower cluster.
The plant is quite fruitful. A large number of fruits is achieved due to the fact that cucumbers have a bouquet of ovaries. About seven ovaries can form in one node.
Masha has very large cucumbers weighing more than 100 grams and about 3-4 cm in diameter. They are covered with a thick green skin with a slight light spot. The average length of one cucumber is 10-12 cm, but it is recommended to harvest at a length less than 10 cm. It is recommended to do this so that in the future new ovaries may appear, with which it will be possible to increase the number of cucumbers grown.
Most often, the cucumber variety is used for fresh consumption. However, some housewives make preserves from it for the winter.
Amur
Amur is great for the Black Earth Region and other southern regions of the country. Also, such cucumbers can be grown in other areas, but only in greenhouses or greenhouses. Its advantages include its resistance to the most common diseases.
Cucumbers are ultra-early varieties that ripen literally 25 days after transplanting seedlings into the ground. During the cultivation of bushes, vegetable growers do not have to deal with their formation, since they have very weak branching. Only one or two ovaries are formed in one node.
During planting, it is recommended to plant no more than five bushes on one square meter of the plot, since too dense planting can negatively affect the yield. With proper cultivation, 3-4 kg of cucumbers can be harvested from one plant.
The fruits have a short neck, about 10 cm long. They are covered with a dense dark green skin, on which small light stripes are visible. Cupid is used to prepare fresh vegetable salads. It is used much less often during the preparation of preserves.
Hermann
Herman belongs to the universal types of cucumbers that can be planted outdoors or in a greenhouse. The variety is early ripening, since the ripe crop can be harvested one and a half months after planting the seedlings.
A distinctive feature of Herman is its yield, thanks to which 5-7 kg of fruits can be obtained from one bush. This amount of harvest is achieved due to the fact that with good care, more than five cucumbers are formed in one node.
The fruits of the variety have a light green color. Their length is 12 cm, and the weight of each cucumber is 75-80 grams. Cucumbers have a good taste and are not bitter at all. Most often, they are used during the creation of pickles with canned food and the preparation of vegetable salads.
Competitor
It is recommended to grow the Competitor in open soil. The first harvest of cucumbers can be harvested 50-55 days after planting the seedlings in the ground.
The bushes of this variety are quite vigorous, as they have a long main stem. The size of the stalk is about 7-8 cm, which has a positive effect on the speed of harvesting.
During cultivation, it is recommended to engage in the formation of bushes. To do this, you will have to get rid of absolutely all the ovaries and stepchildren. This procedure is carried out in order to make the root system stronger in the future. After formation, the plant should have only a few basic ovaries.
Over time, small fruits weighing about 80 grams begin to form on the bushes. They are covered with green skin with white thorns on the surface. Competitors are excellent for creating winter salting and conservation. Also, many gardeners advise planting them for making salads.
Planting seeds
Before you start planting, you should decide when to plant cucumbers. In the middle lane, it is recommended to do this in early March, so that within a few months already sprouted cucumbers can be transplanted into a vegetable garden or greenhouse. Planting seeds for growing seedlings is carried out in several stages.
Seed preparation
Quite often, people store planting material in refrigerators or in rooms with low temperatures. In this case, you will definitely have to start heating the cucumber seeds. However, it is not recommended to immediately place them in an environment with too high a temperature. It needs to be increased gradually from 20 to 70 degrees. For warming up at home, batteries are perfect, on which you can heat seeds for 2-3 days.
It is also necessary to carry out disinfection, since some microbes may be on the surface of the seeds. With the help of disinfection, it is possible to prevent infection of cucumber seedlings with this or that disease. For disinfection, the seed must be placed in a weak manganese solution for half an hour. Some people instead use a solution of hydrogen peroxide, which is heated to 35 degrees. Using this mixture, the procedure should not last longer than 10 minutes.
After disinfecting the cucumber seeds, you can start soaking them for better germination. To soak the seeds, place them in a small cloth bag and put them in a pot of warm water.The procedure should take about 10 hours, after which the cucumber seeds are removed and dried.
Soil preparation
To grow good seedlings, you need to properly prepare the soil for growing them. The process of preparing soil for cucumbers begins with mixing the soil with various fertilizers. To do this, sprinkle all the necessary ingredients on a plastic wrap to create a soil mixture.
Cucumbers must be planted in the ground, which contains humus. Therefore, a bucket of soil is mixed with a bucket of humus. Then 300 grams of ash and a little potassium are added to the soil. After that, everything is thoroughly mixed again and 20 grams of superphosphate is added to the ground.
Landing
It is recommended to plant cucumbers in special peat tablets, which greatly simplify transplanting seedlings into the ground. After all, you can transplant plants without removing the seedlings from the pots.
First, it is necessary to fill all the planting containers for cucumbers with the prepared soil mixture. After that, small holes with a diameter of several centimeters are made in the ground. It is worth planting 1-2 seeds in one peat tablet, but some vegetable growers also plant 4-5 seeds.
When all the planting material is planted, the containers with cucumbers should be covered with foil and transferred to a room with good lighting and room temperature.
Planting seedlings
Plant cucumbers in your gardens only when the night frosts have completely passed. Because some varieties do not tolerate low temperatures well and may die at night due to slight frosts.
Site selection
Young cucumber seedlings need good lighting and therefore need to be grown in an area that is well lit by sunlight. Also, the place for cucumbers should be protected from strong winds, which can damage tall plants.
If there is no windless place on the site, then you will have to take care of the protection of the bushes on your own. For example, you can set up a low fence to help keep the cucumbers out of the wind.
Also, when choosing a suitable place for cucumbers, one should take into account what was grown there before. It is not recommended to plant cucumbers in areas where plants from the pumpkin family used to grow. The most suitable predecessors are cabbage, tomato, onion and potatoes.
Soil preparation
Before plant cucumbers in open ground, you must prepare the site in advance. If the grown seedlings are planted in too dense soil, then a little sand will have to be added to it. In addition, several kilograms of compost with manure should be added to the soil in the fall. Also, before winter, the site must be carefully dug up with a shovel.
The next stage of preparation is carried out in the spring, several weeks before planting cucumbers. At this time, 2-4 kilograms of hot manure and several glasses of ash are added to the soil. This is done so that the earth warms up faster.
Planting
Planting cucumber seedlings begins with the preparation of the beds. To do this, a small trench is created on the site, into which it is recommended to add a little compost or manure. Then the fertilizers are sprinkled with a small layer of earth.
Having prepared the beds for cucumbers, you can start planting. The seedlings are carefully turned over and the seedlings are taken out of them. After that, each plant is placed in an upright position in the ground. The distance between each cucumber bush should be about 30 cm. When all the seedlings are planted, the garden should be watered with warm water. When growing tall varieties of cucumbers, it is recommended to install special supports for their garter.
Conclusion
Everyone can grow cucumbers in the middle lane.To do this, you need to decide on the timing of planting cucumbers in open ground in the middle lane and study the recommendations for planting.
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