Cucumbers are classified as heat-loving plants. To get a good harvest, a cucumber bed in the greenhouse should be equipped. However, in order for the harvest to really please, it is necessary to comply with some requirements for the soil, the creation of the garden itself, as well as for planting this crop.
Soil for planting
An ordinary garden bed for growing cucumbers is not suitable for greenhouse conditions. The composition of the soil in the greenhouse must have certain components, such as humus, compost, soddy soil, sand, peat, limestone. All these components must be used in certain proportions. For example, humus in the amount of 30%, peat – 50%, and field soil – 20%. The greenhouse bed should have the following properties:
- provide good heat transfer;
- correlate the required amount of mineral fertilizers for maximum heating;
- it is easy to be saturated with water during watering and top dressing;
- be fairly light and loose;
- to pass the amount of air necessary for the growth of the culture.
An important procedure before planting cucumbers is the complete disinfection of the soil. It is carried out as follows:
- after the crop is harvested, the soil is watered with a solution of copper sulfate;
- soil is treated with steam of very high temperature;
- the soil is deeply dug up, having previously been treated with a formalin solution;
- use a highly efficient sulfur cartridge.
If we talk about the size of the beds in the greenhouse, then the width should be no more than 1 m, and the length should be less than 5 m.
It is believed that the richest crop of cucumbers can be obtained from a dung bed. To this end, in the fall or, as a last resort, in the spring they dig a ditch 35-40 cm deep and 40 cm wide for the entire length of the beds. Then cow dung is laid out in a thick layer, it is rammed, poured with a 1% hot solution of manganese and covered with polyethylene. After heating the manure, it is sprinkled with a composition of sawdust, peat and humus. At the end, they are again filled with potassium permanganate and covered with plastic wrap until sowing.
In addition, if the level of acidity is violated, special actions must be taken to normalize it.
Creation of warm beds
There are several types of beds for cucumbers: deep, high, normal, warm. It is easy to make a greenhouse bed even at home. To do this, you will need such tools: a bayonet shovel, pitchfork, rake, scythe. First of all, using a bayonet shovel, it is necessary to equip a moat of the above dimensions. The length can vary up to 5 m, which is due to the size of the greenhouse and the wishes of the gardener.
When the trench is ready, branches of trees or shrubs are laid across it, all voids between which are covered with sawdust. Instead of branches, you can also use freshly cut grass. It must be well trampled down so that the cucumbers do not fail and do not grow in the pit. If the grass layer is poorly compacted, then in a rainy summer, the fruits may rot.
The next layer should be straw (5 cm). After laying it in a trench, top dressing is poured from manure diluted in warm water. The edges of the resulting beds should be overlaid with some material: branches, slate, boards, etc.
In the case of using a grass layer, the technology for preparing the beds will be slightly different. So, on top of the grass, you need to pour a hot brew of potato peels and moldy bread crusts. Such a decoction leads to fermentation, as a result of which microorganisms arise that have a beneficial effect on the growth of cucumbers.
The finished ridge is covered with earth and poured with a bucket of boiling water, and then, as in the previous case, covered with plastic wrap. In both options, it is worth planting seeds or seedlings no earlier than 2-3 days after all layers have settled down.
Helpful hints and tips
When the preparation of the soil and the bed itself is completed, you can directly plant cucumbers. The bed should be at least 20 cm high, and the distance between the shoots should be 30 cm. If planted thicker, the plant will suffer from a lack of light. Since cucumbers are weaving, it is necessary to pull a rope or wire over the ridges at a height of 2 m.
Temperature plays an important role in effective germination. So, at a temperature of 30 ° C, the first sprouts from seeds will appear after 5 days. At 12°C they will not germinate at all. The most optimal temperature is 20°C. With such indicators, sprouts can be seen in 20-25 days.
In addition, in order to get a good harvest, the cucumber bed should be located in a place where there are no running waters, streams and irrigation canals.
Otherwise, the yield will be reduced. If the garden bed is equipped in the place where cucumbers already grew last year, then it is advised to replace the topsoil with a new one. It is necessary to ensure that there are no weeds on the beds. To do this, they need to be cleaned all the time, and the soil should be treated with special substances that prevent the appearance of grass and pests.
A place for greenhouses with cucumber beds is chosen so that the entire greenhouse is evenly illuminated by the sun, not too blown by the wind, and the landing sites are located from east to west, which contributes to their better warming.
With proper arrangement of greenhouse beds, their service life can be about 10 years.
The nutrients obtained by the described methods are stored for a long time, so it is not necessary to make new ridges for cucumbers every spring.
Thus, it is quite possible to grow a good crop of cucumbers in a greenhouse with your own hands. Despite the fact that a certain amount of knowledge and a considerable amount of time spent are required, the result will surely please any gardener.
