Cucumbers are very fresh and can be used in many different ways as a snack. Of course, you can buy them year-round at the supermarket or grocery store, but growing your own is also fun. Growing cucumbers is not easy, but you can harvest a lot for a long time if you have a good foundation. In other words, you can always have fresh cucumbers from your garden! Here you will find the essential information about cucumbers, including when to sow cucumbers and when to harvest them.
Is a cucumber a vegetable or a fruit? There is sometimes confusion about this question. Cucumbers are a fruit vegetable, just like tomatoes, eggplants, and peppers. Cucumbers are plants that grow in a variety of shapes and sizes. This fruiting vegetable is very popular and is used mainly in salads and as a tasty snack. If you are looking for a healthy snack, cucumbers are a great choice. This vegetable consists primarily of water, vitamins, and minerals.
Here Is How to Grow Cucumbers in 5 Steps
To enjoy the taste of homegrown cucumbers, you need to follow a few steps and make a few choices. We have listed them below.
1) Choose the Right Seeds
When choosing seeds, it is essential to look at the possibilities for your garden. You can make your choice based on that. You can grow cucumbers a little larger if you have a large garden, greenhouse, or vegetable garden. Do you only have a balcony? Then cucumbers are easy to grow, but for potted plants: choose snack cucumbers.
2) Start Sowing in Pots
Growing cucumbers begins with sowing. Sowing is done in pots. One seed per pot of approximately 9 x 9 cm. This size is recommended because the cucumber seedlings will be pretty large by the time they get outside, which means the seeds can develop solid roots. For sowing, use special soil for seeds and cuttings and cover the seeds with coarse sand or a mixture of sand and soil. Water the seeds thoroughly and be careful not to over-moisten the soil. It is preferable to place the seeds at room temperature in a sunny window pot.
Cucumber seeds are susceptible to frost, so it is important not to sow them too early. Therefore, cucumbers should be sown between April and May. That way, they will large and ripe and you can begin to be harvested around July. It is very cold for cucumbers at the beginning of the year and the seeds can be eaten by rats. Therefore, it is essential to sow cucumbers indoors.
3) Choose Between Climbing or Crawling Plants
Cucumbers are creeping plants, which means they can grow in all directions. This problem can be easily solved. You have to choose whether your cucumber seedlings will be climbers or creepers. If you have a small garden or greenhouse, it is recommended to let the plants climb: they do not take up much space. Even if you are growing plants in pots, letting them climb can be useful. You will need a fence for the plants to grow. It is useful to make creeping plants in flat raised containers. A shelter can also be built to protect the plants from rain.
4) Remove the Plants From Their Pots and Place Them in the Garden or on the Balcony
If you live in cold and rainy areas, it is recommended to put the cucumbers in a greenhouse or cover them well to protect them from rain and cold. When the seeds are fully grown, put them outdoors. When two embryo leaves are visible, that is enough. Cucumbers naturally grow quickly and take up a lot of space. Therefore, when placing cucumbers, it is necessary to provide enough space in the garden or greenhouse.
5) Harvesting Cucumbers
Cucumbers should be harvested at your own discretion, that is, when they are large enough for you. However, if you grow cucumbers too long, the flavor of the cucumber, a fruitful vegetable, will be lost. The cucumbers may not be able to support the weight and the vines may grow out of control.
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