Unconventional ways of growing cucumbers - in bottles, bags, barrels

A variety of reasons force gardeners to resort to alternative methods. growing cucumbers - savings and / or the most efficient use of available areas, the desire to increase yields and, of course, the desire to facilitate work.

The most popular non-traditional ways of growing cucumbers are built on the principle of a vertical bed:

• in bags;
• in barrels;
• in 5 liter plastic bottles.

Growing cucumbers in bags

To implement this method, you must:

• strong seedlings - a healthy plant with a dark green color and at least 3 true leaves;
• a bag or a dense plastic bag (sugar or garbage), volume from 100 liters;
• strong stick, pole - 2 meters long;
• nails - 4 pcs., length not less than 100 mm;
• cord or thick fishing line - 30 m;
• hollow tubes (metal, asbestos, plastic) - 3 pcs., diameter 5–10 cm, length about 1 m;
• pegs - 10 pcs.;
• soil - self-prepared organic mixture or ready-made, purchased soil for cucumbers.

Advice! If you wish, you can prepare your own organic mixture for growing cucumbers in bags, for this it is necessary to take in equal proportions: rotted manure, compost and garden soil. Stir all the ingredients and add a glass of wood ash to the mixture.

Technology

1. Drive nails into the top of the prepared stick. The immersion depth of each nail in the wood is 3 cm.
2. Drill holes along the entire length of the tubes, staggered, each about 1 cm in diameter. When growing cucumbers in bags, the tubes with holes are used for uniform watering of the plants.
3. Place the bag or bag in a strictly vertical position in the selected sunny area.
4. Drive a stick into the middle (bottom) of the bag, it should pierce the bag and go at least 40 cm deep into the garden soil. Around the stick, in the inner space of the bag, at a distance of 12 cm, install hollow tubes, they should rise 20 cm above the package (organic mixture).
5. Fill the bag with soil to the top.
6. Cut 8-10 triangular holes on the sides of the bag. Each side of the triangular hole should be 4 cm long. You can do it easier and cut the holes crosswise.

Important! The holes should not be grouped in one place, it is necessary to arrange them evenly, while the lowest ones are cut at a height of at least 30 cm from the bottom of the bag (from the garden soil).

7. Carefully plant seedlings in the neck of the bag and prepared triangular holes located on the sides - no more than 13 plants per bag, optimally 9 (3 in the upper part of the bag, the rest of the seedlings in the side holes).
8. To prevent evaporation of moisture and as a protection against weeds, the top layer of the soil substrate must be covered with mulch.
9. Drive the pegs into the ground around the bag and connect them with fishing line or twine with nails located on top of the central stick. The distance between the package and the pegs is 20 cm. Subsequently, the twine will serve as a support for the plants.

Advice! In order for the cucumbers in bags to receive a full-fledged recharge, the easiest way is to add fertilizers to the water for irrigation, which, falling into the soil through the holes in the tubes, will be evenly distributed throughout the volume.

Growing cucumbers in barrels

This method is simpler than the previous one, due to the fact that there is no need to strengthen the container, the device of the irrigation system, and when using it, it is quite possible to do without forming a support for the plants.

To grow cucumbers in a barrel, you must prepare:

• barrel - wooden, metal, plastic. Any one will do, the main thing is that the volume is at least 80 liters, and in its lower part, ideally at the bottom, there are holes for drainage;
• organic substrate or soil suitable for cucumbers;
• seedling;
• if desired, but not necessary, you can prepare metal arcs for installation on a barrel as supports.

Preparatory stage and agricultural technology

Important! The preparatory stage must begin 2 weeks before planting the finished seedlings. During this time, the earth will settle and be compacted.

1. Fill the barrel with organic medium to the brim. If the substrate will be prepared on its own, then it should be remembered that food waste should not be included in its composition. It is good if it consists of equal parts of compost, humus and ordinary earth.

Advice! Despite the fact that some gardeners recommend placing various garbage on the bottom of the barrel: cut branches of fruit trees, grass, boards and even food waste, this still should not be done - over the summer all this will not turn into a fertile substrate, but the likelihood of damage increases sharply plants by pathogens, parasites and pests.

2. Water the soilafter which it should become slightly damp. This is an important point, it is necessary to ensure that the substrate is not too wet - excess water during irrigation can lead to rotting of the roots (seedlings) or block the supply of oxygen to the seeds.
3. Plant sprouted seedlings or seeds in a circle, 7-8 pcs per barrel, their number directly depends on the diameter of the container - there should be a free space of 15 cm between the plants.
4. When growing cucumbers in a barrel, do not cover the newly planted seedlings with anything. If seeds are placed in the soil, then you need to cover the neck of the barrel with a non-woven material or a dark film.
5. Care:
   • in the absence of rain - evening watering every 4–6 days, на bucket of water is enough for a 200 liter barrel;
   • weeding - rare, on average 2-3 times per month;
   • replenishment with fertilizers - the same as in traditional cultivation in beds, only taking into account a small volume of soil and the number of plants.

Advice! As the substrate subsides, throughout the entire period of growth and vegetation of plants, you can and should add garden soil to the container.

Growing cucumbers in 5 liter plastic bottles

As a rule, the cultivation of cucumbers in 5 liter plastic bottles is practiced when cultivating plants in greenhouses. At the same time, gardeners receive a lot of advantages, the most important of which is that the need for annual replacement of greenhouse soil disappears.

Agrotechnics and technology for growing bottles

1. In a plastic bottle, the bottom and the upper cone are carefully cut along the shoulders.
2. The bottle is buried in the greenhouse soil to a depth of 5 cm.
3. The container is 3/4 filled with soil (humus, peat, ash and ordinary earth).
4. Watering:
   • the first watering should be as abundant as possible;
   • subsequent (after planting seedlings or sowing seeds) - every 5 days, 0.7 liters per bottle, in a particularly dry and hot summer, watering can be done every 3 days, but always in the evening.

5. Seedlings are planted or, seeds are sown at the rate of 2 plants per container.
6. For the first 2 weeks, the upper part of the container can be used as protection from the night cold or to create an additional greenhouse effect. After the plants have grown noticeably and no longer fit in the containers, the upper cone from the bottle can be safely thrown away, it will no longer be needed.

By the way, if the question arose "How to grow early cucumbers?", Try one of the above methods, and you will get consistently good results - high yields in the shortest possible time, or read about growing cucumbers in a greenhouse... This is due to the optimal and much better heating of the soil in containers than on an ordinary garden bed.

An unusual way of growing cucumbers in a greenhouse - video