It is almost impossible to imagine a garden of a private house or a summer cottage without beds with cucumbers. Crispy and aromatic vegetables are good both fresh and pickled or canned. And especially delicious are light-salted cucumbers, which were grown by yourself. Today, there are many different ways to grow cucumbers - in a greenhouse, in an open-air bed, in nets, plastic bags and even tents. Our article will be devoted to growing cucumbers in a barrel. We will talk about the advantages of this method and share the features of this process.
Benefits
Why is it worth giving preference to growing cucumbers in a barrel? This method has a number of advantages. Having become acquainted with them, you will certainly lose any doubts and questions about how to grow cucumbers in a barrel in the country house or garden.
Benefits:
- Enormous space savings, which is especially important in conditions of small landing areas. One barrel, with a volume of about 200 liters, will replace you with 2 square meters of land. Pretty economical use of space, is not it?
- Sunlight spreads more evenly to the plant.
- This method allows you to get a crop much earlier than with conventional cultivation. Moreover, the fruiting period is significantly increased due to higher soil quality - in a barrel it is less susceptible to frost and other adverse weather conditions, as well as to pests.
- A barrel with overgrown branches is also a decoration of a garden plot. Especially if you paint the barrel itself in bright, positive colors.
- It is very convenient to harvest ripe cucumbers - no need to stoop, vegetables are located at the level of your hands. And this means that you are much less tired of this process.
As you can see, this method of planting cucumbers has no obvious drawbacks. And therefore further we enclose the description of growing cucumbers in a barrel step by step. The following sections highlight the most important points to consider when planting and caring for these vegetables.
Capacity selection
Of course, you need to start with the choice of barrels for planting cucumbers. For these purposes it is not necessary to buy new containers - it is perfectly acceptable to use old metal, plastic or wooden barrels. It is preferable to give preference to a volume of 200 or 250 liters, but you can use smaller barrels. Barrel preparation consists in removing its bottom and drilling holes in the walls. This is done to provide the soil with oxygen and the access of microorganisms and beneficial insects (for example, earthworms). Wooden barrels are prone to rapid deterioration, so it is better to use iron or plastic.
Soil preparation
To grow cucumbers in a barrel, you need to carefully prepare the ground. The preparation process begins in early spring or autumn and consists in filling the tank with several layers of fertile soil. Buying ready-made soil is not always cheap, and using plain land from the garden is quite dangerous - you can bring weed seeds and various diseases. Therefore, it is worthwhile to make a little effort and take care of the fertile soil for cucumbers on your own. The optimal combination of three layers is considered:
- The first layer performs the function of drainage to remove excess moisture and a kind of storehouse with useful substances. Leaves and stalks of corn and cabbage, small branches and even a small amount of food waste are laid to the very bottom. In order to speed up the process of their decomposition, you can use composting drugs. If you start preparing the soil in the autumn, then during the winter this layer decomposes well and becomes a full-fledged substrate.
- The second layer is traditionally filled with fresh manure. Rotting, it emits a large amount of heat, which is extremely necessary for heat-loving cucumbers. The presence of manure in the soil helps maintain a favorable temperature throughout the growing of cucumbers in a barrel.
- Finally, the third, topsoil is filled with loose fertile soil. It is best to use a mixture of peat, humus and ordinary land. Peat is sometimes replaced with sawdust. Also, a small amount of mineral fertilizers can be added to the topsoil.
A filled barrel is left for subsidence of the earth, after spilling it with 3-4 buckets of water. For the convenience of fertilizing in the process of growing cucumbers, you can bury a cut bottle in the form of a funnel in the center of the upper layer.
Landing
Planting cucumber seeds in a barrel can be carried out two, or even three weeks earlier than this when using open beds. Most often this is the end of April. The day before the seeds are immersed in the soil, it must be properly moistened. In the prepared soil, around the circumference of the barrel, grooves are made (no more than 3 centimeters), in the amount of 4-5 pieces. Seeds are planted in the pits and sprinkled with a layer of compost. The barrel with the landings is covered with foil and placed in a warm, well-lit place. Instead of a film, it is desirable to use agrofibre, which is much stronger than the film, but transmits air and sunlight, while preventing the plants from freezing.
Preparing seeds for planting is a time-consuming process. It is enough to keep them in a warm place for a week, disinfect in a weak manganese solution for about 20 minutes and immerse in nitrophosk for a day.
Watering
Cucumbers are not only warm, but also moisture-loving plants. Due to the intense growth of leaves, the roots sometimes lack nutrients. Therefore, it is necessary to water at least 3-4 times a week. The soil in the barrels dries a little faster due to rapid heating and vertical outflow of water. To prevent drying of the topsoil, you can cover it with mowed grass.
Top dressing
Like any other plant, cucumbers need additional nutrition with mineral and organic additives. To obtain a powerful and strong plant during flowering, it is necessary to introduce nitrogenous fertilizers into the soil. To do this, a teaspoon of urea is bred in a bucket of water and placed in a barrel. During fruiting, the plant needs mineral fertilizers as never before. It is necessary to alternate top dressing with potassium, nitrogen and phosphorus. One of the best home-made fertilizers is tincture of weeds, herbs and chicken droppings in warm water. Such a composition is insisted for about two weeks, after which it is used to feed the soil.
Garter
Cucumbers grown in a barrel must be tied up. The easiest way is to install a wooden or metal pole, about two meters high, with a cross in the center of the barrel. From it, make a few rays from the rope, along which the shoots will trail. The first garter is carried out when 4-5 leaves appear.
The opinion of experienced gardeners
Based on the reviews about growing cucumbers in a barrel, we can confidently say that this method has established itself among experienced gardeners and gardeners. Such a not quite traditional method is really very convenient in small areas. Harvested from such peculiar beds has amazing taste even at earlier maturity. Even in such a not very warm region like Moscow Region, growing cucumbers in a barrel is a very real way to get a tasty and healthy crop.