Cucumbers in a garden near Moscow: how to choose and grow in 2020

Cucumbers are heat-loving vegetables, but in no case can they be considered southern culture. On the contrary, it is in central Russia that various holidays and festivals dedicated to the cucumber are held. And the names of the old varieties - Murom, Vyaznikovsky, etc. - indicate that in the central regions the cucumber feels quite comfortable. And, perhaps, not a single gardener of the Moscow Region can do without growing green and pimply.

The best varieties for Moscow region: description and photo

Many varieties of cucumbers are known, there are various classifications of their varieties according to one or another characteristic. They are bushy and climbing, pickling and lettuce, early and medium early, self-pollinated and pollinated by bees, etc. To date, the number of varieties and hybrids of cucumbers is so huge that you begin to doubt: is there at least one specialist who is able to understand them? Are all these several hundred varieties really different from each other?

In this regard, it is becoming increasingly difficult to give recommendations on the selection of varieties for a particular region: for taste and color ... Stop! Well, at least everything is fine with color: the overwhelming majority of cucumbers are all so green, their fruits are called greenery. But in everything else, you should rely only on your experience and the advice of close friends with extensive experience in gardening. Universal advice on choosing varieties in the Moscow Region can only be associated with a characteristic of the local climate, which is very unpredictable.

When choosing a grade for the soaked bed, the following should be considered:

• it is advisable, especially for open ground, to choose cucumbers with a harvest time of not more than 45-50 days, that is, if possible, early ripening;
• it is better if they are self-pollinated (parthenocarpic) cucumbers, since bees in the Moscow region do not fly actively every day, in bad weather, cucumbers may be left without their attention; however, bee pollinating varieties on the garden are required;
• choosing between salad and pickling, it is better not to go to extremes and purchase seeds of varieties or hybrids of universal purpose;
• and in any case, several varieties should be planted on the bed.

Outdoor Cucumbers

For planting in unprotected soil, you can choose one of the following popular varieties:

• Ant F1 - parthenocarpic, universal purpose, crop readiness - 37-38 days after germination, cucumbers weighing about 100 g;
• Spring F1 - a well-known pickling hybrid, bee pollinated, grown since the 1970s .;
  

  The fontanel is a cucumber, well known to experienced gardeners

• Masha F1 - early ripe, parthenocarpic, universal purpose, fruits no larger than 9 cm;
• Competitor - refers to early ripening pickling varieties. Productivity is high (up to 8 kg from 1 m²), is intended primarily for cultivation in open ground, as bees pollinate bees, greenbacks up to 13 cm long;
  

  Competitor - an excellent pickling variety from the number of traditionally grown

• Petersburg Express F1 - an early ripe bee-pollinated hybrid with a mass of greens of about 80 g, salad purpose;
• Vyaznikovsky 37 - the crop can be harvested after 40 days, the variety has been grown since the pre-war times, bee pollinated, pickled.
  

  Vyaznikovsky 37 - pickling grade of our grandmothers

Greenhouse Cucumbers

Since the bees do not fly in the greenhouse, and it is long and difficult to pollinate cucumbers on their own, here you need to choose from parthenocarpic varieties, for example:

• Amur F1 is an ultra-early hybrid; in the first month of fruiting, it gives the owner almost its entire crop of greenbacks weighing about 100 g;
  

  Cupid F1 - a cucumber that bears fruit before most other varieties

• Zozulya F1 - a well-deserved hybrid with long fruits, bears fruit for a long time, high yielding, greenery of excellent taste;
• Claudia F1 - an example of a hybrid with bunch fruiting, greenbacks are not large, the crop is high, cucumbers do not outgrow;
  

  Claudia F1 - one of the cucumbers that do not have to be collected every two days
• Courage F1 - a hybrid of universal purpose, with a very high yield and excellent fruit taste;
• The little finger boy F1 is a hybrid that meets the name: Zelentsy small size, great taste, well suited for canning;
  

  Finger Boy F1 - One-Bite Cucumber

• Goosebump F1 - an early ripe hybrid with short coarse-humped fruits of excellent taste, salad purpose.

These lists can be substantially continued, we can only say that now there are almost no bad cucumbers left. Competition…

Growing conditions

The most important thing that makes growing cucumbers stand out is that they need heat, moisture, and a lot of nutrients. In connection with the heat-loving culture in the Moscow region, high warm beds are often arranged for cucumbers. They are made especially high on heavy soils. At the same time, they pay attention to the direction. So, on flat surfaces, ridges try to orient from west to east, and on the slopes across them. In small suburban areas, ridges for cucumbers are often equipped near the southern walls of houses or fences.

Cucumbers are one of the champions for the need for fertilizers, especially organic ones. Without this, it is impossible to grow normal crops. This is one of the few crops that tolerate even fresh manure, although it is better to bring it under the autumn digging. Even better, if the manure is at least half quail; peat and compost are used instead, but mineral fertilizers are also required. So, at 1 m² the beds need at least one and a half buckets of manure, a handful of wood ash and up to 80 g of nitrophoska.

A garden for cucumbers is annually arranged in a new place, returning the culture no earlier than three years later. They carry a large amount of nutrients from the soil, and especially nitrogen. Therefore, the best precursors for cucumbers are legumes that accumulate nitrogen in the soil. In addition, cucumbers plant well after onions, garlic, peppers and tomatoes. You can - after carrots, beets or cabbage, but it is unacceptable after pumpkin vegetables (watermelons, zucchini, pumpkins).

Cucumbers take out a huge amount of fertilizer from the soil, so the bed should be arranged in a new place every year

Growing seedlings

In unproblematic regions, cucumbers are grown by direct sowing of seeds in the garden, but where spring comes late, and also if you want to get early harvests, seedlings are pre-grown, which takes about a month. To do this, you must have a warm greenhouse, a greenhouse or just a well-lit window sill in the apartment. In the Moscow region, both methods of cultivating cucumbers are equally common (through seedlings and without them).

Dates of sowing seeds for seedlings

Cucumber seeds can not be bought annually, since their shelf life is many years, and the best for sowing - 2-3 years. The timing of sowing seeds, and then planting seedlings in the ground is limited by the fact that cucumbers are extremely sensitive not only to real frost, but simply to low air temperatures. With a decrease in soil temperature to 10 ^aboutSince there is already a threat of death of seedlings or seedlings from sowing seeds. Therefore, sowing cucumbers in the garden, as well as planting seedlings, in the Moscow region before the beginning of summer is extremely risky.

Based on the fact that seedlings are planted in the soil at the age of 25-30 days, it turns out that sowing seeds in cups in the conditions of the Moscow region should be carried out in late April. If the cultivation of cucumbers is supposed in greenhouse conditions, the work on growing seedlings begins two or three weeks earlier. Of course, this does not apply to heated greenhouses designed for year-round cultivation of vegetables.

When to plant cucumbers for seedlings in 2020 in the suburbs: table

Below are the best and worst dates for planting cucumbers on the lunar calendar. Also, on these dates, you can plant all the "tips", that is, all seeds whose fruits are formed above the ground. For root crops other dates are applicable.

Sowing seeds in cups

In most cases these days, the seeds in sachets sold in the store are already prepared for sowing. They can be planted as they are, but their seeds (which can be taken only from varieties, but not from hybrids!) Need to be prepared a little. The list of preparation stages is impressive, but an experienced gardener will do only what he sees fit. By and large, they do this with seeds:

• calibrate (choose the largest and heaviest);
• warm up (keep 2-3 days at the heating battery);
• disinfect (keep 20-30 minutes in a dark solution of potassium permanganate);
• soaked in growth stimulants (Zircon, Epin, agave juice);
• harden (keep in a swollen state in the refrigerator for 1-2 days);
• germinate (keep warm in a damp cloth until tiny roots appear).
  

  When germinating seeds, you should not wait for long roots: when sowing, they can be accidentally broken off

Is the process worth the time? Of course, these operations are not superfluous, but a busy person has no time to do all this, and therefore you can limit yourself to disinfecting seeds. And those that are purchased in the store, before sowing, you can simply soak for several hours in water. After that, they can be safely planted in glasses with a good soil mixture.

The capacity of the cups should be at least 300 ml, and the mixture is better to just buy in a store. But if you do not want to spend extra money, you need to make a neutral soil with good moisture and air permeability. It can be, for example, a mixture of turf land, compost, sand and peat, taken in a ratio of 2: 2: 1: 1.

Cucumber seeds are planted in glasses to a depth of about 1.5 cm, well watered and kept until germination is warm (optimally at a temperature of 25-28 ^aboutFROM). It is better to cover the cups with film or glass, but if the house is not very dry, then shoots will appear in 5-8 days and so. Immediately seedlings must be transferred to a cool, illuminated place (16-18 ^aboutC) and keep there 3-4 days. After that, the usual room temperature is suitable for cucumbers, but there should be enough light.

Seedling Care

In caring for cucumber seedlings, the most dangerous ones are the first days. If at this time it was light and cool, seedlings did not stretch out, then bringing it to the garden is not a problem. With a lack of light, additional fixtures must be equipped, but you can not think about temperature: at this time, cucumbers need the same thing as their owner. The rest is moderate watering, if necessary - top dressing, as well as hardening before planting in the garden.

Watering seedlings should only be with warm water (with a temperature of about 25 ° C). Excess water is not necessary, but it is also impossible to dry the soil. The frequency of irrigation depends on the conditions, but this must be done far from daily. After each watering, it is a good operation to pour a small amount of dry sand to the roots of plants.

In the case of good soil, you can do without fertilizing. But if the seedlings grow poorly, and the leaves turn yellow, you need to water the cucumbers with at least infusion of wood ash (2-3 tablespoons per liter of water). In the absence of ash, you can use any complex mineral fertilizer. The most effective foliar top dressing (spraying the leaves with a solution prepared according to the instructions for the drug). After any top dressing, additional watering is required.

Cucumber seedlings are grown without picking. Transplanting seedlings into more spacious containers is possible only in case of emergency; they try to execute it without damaging the root system.

Cucumbers are transplanted using a transshipment method with an unbroken earthen lump. Any transplant for a cucumber is a big stress.

A week before planting in the garden, seedlings are hardened, temporarily taking to the breeze, unless, of course, the temperature in the street is at least 10-12 ^aboutC. Cucumbers are planted at the age of about a month, with 3-4 real leaves. Good seedlings should have a short powerful stalk and, perhaps, emerging buds.

Cucumber seedlings should not be too high, but the stem should be thick, strong

Transplanting seedlings into the ground

On the morning of the day of transplantation into the garden, cucumbers in glasses are well watered. You can plant seedlings in unprotected soil only in warm weather, preferably in the evening of a cloudy day. If a cooling is planned, and then you can’t pull it further, you need to build temporary shelters. In the greenhouse - it’s easier: somewhere in the middle of May it will definitely not be cold in it.

For different varieties, different planting schemes are offered, but in any case it is not necessary to thicken the bushes unnecessarily: from saving space, the harvest will not be higher, but rather the opposite. Typically, cucumbers are planted in rows, with a distance between them of about half a meter, and between bushes in each row 25-30 cm, but for varieties with powerful growth - freer. The process of planting seedlings - as for any vegetable plant:

1. Before planting, loosen the soil and level the bed with a rake.
   

   The rake for loosening the soil is not the easiest

2. In the designated places, they make a hole in the scoop: their depth should be slightly larger than the size of the containers with cucumber seedlings.
3. A handful of wood ash and a spoonful of any complex fertilizer are added to each well, mixed thoroughly with the ground and watered the well with warm water.
   

   It’s more convenient to plant seedlings in the mud, and it will take root so better

4. Gently removing the seedlings from the glass, plant it in the prepared hole. Seedlings can be slightly deepened, approximately to cotyledonous leaves, but you can not dig too deep into the roots: the deeper, the colder.
   

   Whatever the seedlings, it is important to remove it from the cup without disturbing the roots and also plant it in the hole

5. Carefully water the bed with warm water, after which they mulch with peat or humus.
   

   For mulching cucumber plantations, even dry grass is suitable.

In the greenhouse, seedlings are planted in the same way, but the preparation of the greenhouse is more difficult, since it needs to be sanitized since the fall, water the beds with a solution of copper sulfate or karbofos, and possibly replace the soil with a new one. Fertilizers are brought in the greenhouse more than in the open ground, and a week before planting seedlings warm the bed by pouring it with hot water with mullein and covering it with a film. In addition, if in an unprotected ground cucumbers are not always erected on supports, then in a greenhouse the trellis device is a common technique. Seedlings are planted in the greenhouse after warming up and beds, and air to a temperature of at least 16-18 ^aboutFROM.

Planting cucumbers with seeds directly in the garden

In most Russian regions, growing cucumber seedlings, strictly speaking, is not mandatory. This also applies to the Moscow Region, the climate of which allows you to get normal yields with direct sowing of seeds in open ground, and even more so in the greenhouse. Indeed, many modern hybrids begin to bear fruit after a little more than a month from the appearance of seedlings. Therefore, in order to enjoy cucumbers in the middle of summer, seeds in May can be sown directly in the garden.

Sowing seeds in open ground

You can sow seeds about a week earlier than planting seedlings, that is, immediately after May 20. And if for the first time you use the simplest film shelters, then in the middle of the month you can sow cucumbers, and at the end of June get the first fruits. It is even better if you preheat the prepared bed in advance by pouring it with hot water and covering it with plastic wrap for a week. At the same time, the smartest weeds will emerge, which can be destroyed before sowing seeds.

Seeds in the garden are sown a little deeper than in the cups: 2.5-3 cm. The sowing pattern is the same as when planting seedlings. But if the seeds are not in short supply, it is better to sow them more densely, every 10-15 cm, in order to then remove the extra ones (and maybe gently plant them with a lump of earth!). Regarding how the rows are located relative to each other, a lot of options are possible, and the owner chooses them himself.

In the mass cultivation of cucumbers, the tape method is used (the tape is two rows with a distance of 30-50 cm between them, while at least 90 cm is left between adjacent ribbons). When planting a small amount of seeds, this is usually about an ordinary method, when between two single rows leave a free passage, or only about one tape within a standard garden bed.

When arranging one small garden, two rows are arranged on it

Sometimes a square-nesting method is also used, when holes about 12-15 cm in diameter are arranged at a distance of about 70 cm from each other, in each of which up to 5 bushes are grown.

Most conveniently, having made a hoe of a groove of the required depth, it is good to spill them with water from a watering can without a strainer, then decompose the prepared seeds and sprinkle them with soil, slightly compacting it. Watering from above is not necessary, but cover the crops with a film or spanbond to preserve moisture and heat is necessary.

Sowing seeds in a greenhouse

The timing of planting cucumbers in a greenhouse near Moscow depends mainly on its quality and the degree of readiness of the beds. In any case, you can sow at least two weeks earlier than in unprotected soil. However, it is necessary to wait until a temperature comfortable for the cucumbers is established in the greenhouse. The sowing technology does not differ from that used in open ground, only a change in the sowing patterns is possible: any distances between the bushes depend, inter alia, on the geometry of the greenhouse.

The fact is that greenhouse cucumbers almost never get in horizontal culture, because you need to save space in the greenhouse! Therefore, trellises must be equipped, and the sowing pattern is determined by where and how it is more convenient to build them. If the owner thinks that the trellis is near the wall, then 25-30 cm retreat from it and sow the seeds in a row. If it is more convenient to place the bed in the middle of the greenhouse, then they arrange two rows, observing a distance of about 30 cm between them, and arrange the trellis between the rows, orienting the lashes on both sides.

Precisely because, during trellis cultivation, cucumbers can be planted a little denser, in the greenhouses they bring in more fertilizers: the distance between plants in a row can be reduced to 20, and for weakly-grown varieties - up to 15 cm. But vertically growing cucumbers are much easier to care for, although they have to be tied up periodically, or at least guided the growing lashes in the necessary direction.

Cucumber Care

Caring for cucumbers with any growing system is not very difficult, but it requires frequent and plentiful watering, mandatory dressing, the formation of bushes, weed control (and if not lucky, then diseases) and timely harvest.

Outdoor cultivation

Cucumbers of any kind require constant attention. They cannot be poured so that there is a swamp, but they need a lot of water. You can water cucumbers only with warm water (at least with a temperature of 25 ^aboutC), therefore it is easiest to do this in the evenings, when the water in the tanks warmed up from the sun.

Watering with tap water from a hose should be excluded: cucumbers stop growing from cold water, and often become sick.

Watered on the surface of the entire garden, and not just under the root. Moreover, cucumbers do not like soaking stems and foliage. Sprinkling is possible only in very hot weather, when the leaves require refreshment.

The frequency of watering depends on the weather: sometimes twice a week is enough, and it happens that daily watering is also necessary. At first, after watering or rains, it is necessary to loosen the soil shallow, while removing weeds. But over time, the roots grow over the entire surface of the bed, and they are located very shallow. Therefore, loosening becomes impossible, and it is replaced by periodic mulching of the beds. If the roots are exposed, they add not only mulch, but also fertile soil, adding wood ash to it every two weeks (about a handful on a bush).

Cucumbers are fed several times during the summer, while the choice of fertilizers is practically unlimited. Infusions of various organic fertilizers and any complex minerals are also used. The first feeding of cucumbers is given 12-15 days after transplanting seedlings (or three weeks after emergence), the second after blooming the first flowers, and then every 2-3 weeks. Before performing any top dressing and immediately after it, cucumbers are well watered.

Most natural nutritional supplements look unappetizing, but cucumbers like

As for the formation of bushes, it is impossible to give the same recommendations: the technique of this work depends not only and not so much on the method of cultivation, but on the variety.

Twenty years ago it was possible to clearly say that after the appearance of the fifth leaf, pinch the stem so that the side shoots grow, on which the main crop is formed. Now this recommendation can lead to a sharp decrease in yield: many hybrids have a different fruiting type.

Therefore, in some cases, the bushes do not form at all, sometimes they achieve the growth of side shoots, and sometimes, on the contrary, concentrate on the main shoot, adding only 2-3 side shoots to it. In this regard, one should carefully read the recommendations on the method of forming a bush on a package with seeds, and if they are absent, try to find a competent description of the variety in the literature. But to tie up the stems when grown in a vertical culture is not difficult: most varieties of cucumbers themselves climb on any wall, they only need to be sent in the right direction, and the tying itself is necessary only at the initial stages.

To do this, use soft twine (even better - knit from old sheets), trying to distribute the entire leaf mass of the plant on the trellis. If there are a lot of foliage, occasionally you can pick off damaged leaves, especially those that cover the fruits from light. Those varieties that give too long lashes limit their growth by pinching the top of the main stem when it grows to a very “indecent” length.

Video: cucumbers in the open ground

Greenhouse cultivation

Basically, growing cucumbers in a greenhouse and in open ground involves the same operations and rules, but there are some differences. Many varieties of cucumbers are generally intended only for greenhouses or, conversely, open air. Greenhouse varieties should be more shade-tolerant: after all, the materials of the walls of the greenhouse retain a certain amount of sunlight. Insects do not fly in greenhouses, so cucumbers should be self-pollinated.

If the gardener has a greenhouse, he tries to use its advantages in full to get a really early harvest. Therefore, most often, ready-made seedlings are planted in the greenhouse, immediately preparing and support for plants. The simplest structure is a thick wire stretched under the ceiling, to which the plants are tied, making a loop with a soft cord at a height of 10-15 cm from the surface of the earth. Even simpler is the construction of a vertically installed coarse mesh, along which the cucumbers themselves perfectly climb up.

Almost all varieties intended for greenhouses require the formation of bushes, carried out according to one or another rule. If it was not possible to find a description of the variety, then at least you should not let the lashes grow indefinitely: you should pinch both the main stem and the lateral ones when they reach a length that seems to the gardener inappropriate. Cucumbers are not required to ration the harvest: as a rule, the bush is able to grow everything that has been planted, especially if you help it with top dressing.

If there are few cucumbers, they are usually planted closer to the wall in the greenhouse

Watering in the greenhouse is carried out more often than outside it (after all, rain does not help), but too much humidification is undesirable even for cucumbers, and even more so for tomatoes usually adjacent to them. Therefore, the greenhouse is periodically ventilated: if the temperature rises above 30 ^aboutC, the risk is great that the greenbacks will grow bitter, and with even greater heat, the flowers are not pollinated, but die. And diseases in the greenhouse attack most often in case of too hot and humid atmosphere.

From the point of view of diseases and pests, despite the fact that cucumbers have a lot of them, most summer residents do not carry out preventive treatments, at least with the use of chemicals. Probably, this has its own logic: I want to grow environmentally friendly products. However, at least it’s worth using folk remedies: it’s better to prevent a disaster than to deal with it. Good results are given by spraying plants with ash and soap solutions. Infusions of various plants are also effective: garlic, onion husks, nettles, wormwood, etc.

Video: tying cucumbers in a greenhouse

Harvesting and storage

Cucumbers of any kind must be collected often: preferably every other day. This is due not only to the fact that overgrowing worsens the quality of greenhouses. Untimely harvesting inhibits the appearance of the following ovaries and reduces the overall yield. It is especially important to remove the very first cucumbers as soon as possible: they don’t even need to grow to conditional sizes.

During mass fruiting, it is necessary to collect not only beautiful fruits: it is more important to remove the “freaks” in time: various hook-shaped cucumbers, greenbacks of an unnatural shape, slowed down growth, etc.

It is better not to tear off any greenbacks with your hands, while injuring the whips. Cucumbers should be carefully cut with scissors or secateurs, while trying to leave the stalk on the plant. The best time of day for harvesting is early morning or, conversely, late evening: at this time, greenery is the most juicy, delicious, and will be stored longer.

Such hooks sharply inhibit fruiting, they must be collected quickly

Unfortunately, most varieties of cucumbers are stored very briefly: the most "long-playing" can lie in the cellar for up to 3 weeks, but their quality will gradually decrease. A week or two of cucumbers can lie in the refrigerator, wrapped in plastic wrap. Sometimes the reception helps to extend the shelf life, consisting in the fact that the cucumbers are cut together with the stem and put them in the water almost like flowers, but the fruits are immersed so that, in addition to the stem, only 1-2 cm of the fruit was in the water.

It also keeps cucumbers and a film of egg white, which is created by simply coating the green stuff with raw protein. But any measures do not allow you to keep the cucumbers as tasty as they are "directly from the garden."

Cucumber, although it came from warm countries, is now considered a true Russian vegetable, it is often compared to a strong and healthy person: "like a cucumber!" Without it, not a single Moscow garden can be imagined. And, although the cultivation of cucumbers has its own wisdom, almost all summer residents are engaged in this, and most do well.