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Many people like to dig in the ground in their backyard, especially this craving manifests itself with age. Of course, you can go on a fine day to a summer cottage in the country, or even better to live there all summer. But, unfortunately, not everyone can afford such a work holiday. The reason is simple, many simply do not have this piece of land where you can rest your soul. How can you replace summer cottages in your apartment?
Let a good rest fail, you can always arrange a small garden on your windowsill or balcony.
Perhaps it seems like a difficult task to equip such a garden in your apartment, and, in your opinion, apart from flowers in pots, no vegetables will grow, this myth is dispelled very quickly. There are a huge number of examples of how you can grow everything on the windowsill – from tomatoes and cucumbers to onions and radishes. Although the most difficult thing will be with cucumbers, but we will try to open the issue of growing them in our apartment as widely as possible. We will pay special attention to which varieties of cucumbers for growing on the windowsill are the best.
Possibilities of home gardens
All the disappointments associated with unsuccessful attempts to grow cucumbers in an apartment can most often be associated with ignorance of the rules for caring for the plant, which can lead to the involuntary destruction of the plant in the early stages of its life. It is not enough to know how to choose the right soil mixture, you need to understand which varieties are most suitable for it. There are the best hybrid groups to look out for:
- Natasha F1;
- Masha F1;
- Fontanel F1;
- Marinda F1.
Especially Rodnichok F1 fell in love with apartment summer residents, it can be safely called the best masterpiece of breeding activity of Moldovan specialists.
It has been bearing fruit steadily for ten years now, and its disease resistance allows even beginners not to spoil the first harvest.
Problems of growing cucumbers in an apartment
A negative feature of growing vegetables on a windowsill is the issue of the area they occupy, because usually plants grow much stronger in width than in height, and that is why cucumbers stand out favorably from their competitors, but in addition to the convenience of growing them, there are other advantages over other fruits.
- Cucumber plant is shade-tolerant, if not shade-loving. They will not suffer from insufficient lighting on the windowsill in the winter season.
- The ratio of the occupied area and the output of the crop exceeds any of the vegetables that can be grown in an apartment;
- The rate of fruit ripening from the moment of planting is 4-5 weeks, no other vegetables will give such a result.
The process of choosing varieties for the window sill
Growing varieties of cucumbers for a window sill can be far from any, but in order to understand which varieties are better to choose for a home garden, it’s worth a little understanding of what, in general, varieties are and what they are used for.
- Self pollinating – a variety of cucumbers in which both female and male sexual characteristics are present, in other words, there are pistils and stamens, as the name implies, they are pollinated independently;
- Hybrid F1 – the result of crossing two varieties, obtained in special agricultural laboratories. It should be borne in mind that only the first generation of such hybrids can be used, because they do not provide seed material;
- Bee-pollinated – the name speaks for itself, for the ovary of fruits, they need insects;
- Parthenocarpic – cucumbers that do not require any pollination, like the F1 group, there are no seeds in their fruits.
But plants are divided not only according to the properties of pollination, they can also be divided into groups according to the method of eating:
- Salad – the fruit has a thin skin, it can be easily eaten without peeling, such varieties are still characterized by the light color of the thorns;
- Dairy – a feature of this subspecies can be called good properties for pickling, their peel absorbs brine well, but it should be borne in mind that it is better to pickle such cucumbers immediately after assembly, because they do not last long after picking, after which they begin to turn yellow and become bitter;
- Universal – these are perhaps the best cucumbers for planting on the windowsill, they can be both salted and eaten raw, their spikes are usually black.
Useful tips for apartment beds
What are the best varieties to choose for planting on the windowsill? Here are some tips that will definitely help you:
- Pay attention to the yield, the higher it is, the more vegetables you will naturally pick;
- An important factor will be the whimsicalness of the plant, because in winter a rather dry climate can be observed in apartments, and they love moisture, and a small amount of lighting can also negatively affect some varieties.
- Dimensions – find out if this variety is characterized by strong growth, you can choose those that will not turn your house into a jungle;
- A good solution for a window sill is the choice of one of the hybrids, they are the most unpretentious and bear fruit in apartments without any problems.
The best varieties for growing on the windowsill
From the huge number of cucumbers suitable for growing on the windowsill, we have selected the best for you. Here are a few of those that can be purchased in our country, when buying, you should pay attention to these:
Faust F1
An early ripe hybrid variety, with a female color, does not need pollination, has smooth fruits of medium size, reaching a length of up to 18 cm, there is no bitterness, it can be used for salads.
Hostess F1
It has the best characteristics among analogues in terms of frost resistance, the disadvantages include excessive branching of the plant.
The size of the ripe fruit is about 15 cm, covered with black spikes, they can be used both in salads and for pickling;
Zozulya
The best in terms of yield, they bear fruit already on the 45th day after planting, cucumbers reach up to 21 cm in length, decorated with white spikes.
The variety has medium branching, it is used mainly for salads, although it can also be eaten lightly salted.
Masha F1
This is a parthenocarpic hybrid of cucumbers, they ripen, like the best varieties in 45 days, these cucumbers can be classified as universal, since they can be salted and eaten raw.
Catherine F
You can harvest for a very long time, no other varieties can compete with Catherine in this. They have a titanic size up to 24 cm, from one bush, so you can collect up to 18 kg of cucumbers.
It has time to ripen almost at the same time as the best varieties, in terms of precocity – on average, the ripening period is up to 50 days. Little susceptible to any diseases and frosts. It can be used for preservation, but the best taste qualities appear when consumed raw.
Window-balcony F1
It has a smooth skin and light green color. He is not afraid of any temperature fluctuations in the apartment, and he tolerates diseases well.
A specially bred variety for planting in apartment conditions, female flowers, you can harvest the first crop as early as 55 days after planting. Only Ekaterina has the best yield indicators, from one bush of these cucumbers, you can collect up to 15 kg. The fruit reaches a length of 16 cm.
Onega F1
Perhaps the best variety in terms of ripening speed (only 38 days).
Its vine is also slightly branched, the fruits are very small, up to 80 g, it is excellent for salting and pickling, we can say that this variety, if not the best in everything, then certainly it has no competitors among pickled cucumbers.
