Fresh taste, a storehouse of vitamins and areas for winter preparations - this is all about cucumbers. But, unfortunately, not all gardeners get an excellent harvest, especially an early one, so that after winter they can begin to restore the body as early as possible.
The article will tell you how to get fresh and aromatic cucumbers at the beginning of summer.
Choosing early-ripening hybrids
Breeders, through scientific advances, annually create new varieties of cucumbers that are resistant to different climatic conditions and diseases, early ripening, and have good shelf life.
Every summer resident has his own proven variety of cucumbers, but there should always be room for experimentation. Early ripening varieties with resistance to cold are what will help to get cucumbers at the beginning of summer in greenhouse conditions with well-fertilized soil.
Growing exclusively by seedling method
You can get cucumbers early only with the help of pre-prepared seedlings. The crop planted with seeds will begin to yield a harvest only closer to autumn.
Strong and vigorous seedlings, healthy and with good green mass, having undergone a period of hardening on the balcony, will quickly adapt to new conditions after transplantation, will get stronger and will begin to form ovaries. In this case, the gardener will enjoy cucumbers already in June.
Place of cultivation
Cucumbers are very heat-loving plants. They can stop growing at a temperature of +14 degrees. If the temperature is below +10 degrees for a week or more, cucumber vines can die.
In most regions of Russia, recurrent frosts are not uncommon. Therefore, for early-ripening hybrid varieties, you should choose only a greenhouse.
Moreover, cucumbers in June are the result of growing in a warm bed, where the required soil temperature has been reached. To create a warm bed, you need to lay layers of branches and chips, manure, leaves and fresh grass, a layer of fertile soil.
Correct feeding
A quick harvest can happen with the right fertilizing. The first one should be done 14 days after transplanting the seedlings, when the stress has passed and they have acclimatized.
The following should be introduced every 10 days, using iron, nitrogen, phosphorus, magnesium, copper, etc. Due to the shallow root system and its delicacy, fertilizers should be introduced in a weak concentration and exclusively in liquid form, having previously watered the soil.
Mulch for cucumbers
Using mulch is a good technique for actively growing cucumbers for an early harvest.
Mulching will help to retain moisture in the soil, normalize acceptable temperatures at night, and save the soil from a crust that prevents the penetration of fertilizers and oxygen. Mulch can be humus that has gone through all stages of rotting, sawdust, compost, or hay.
Early cucumbers are the result of crop care, proper fertilizing, mulching, creating a warm bed and growing healthy seedlings in advance. Only in such favorable conditions will the gardener get a fresh harvest at the beginning of summer.
