Cucumbers are a very popular garden crop that you will definitely find in any country house. And even novice summer residents can successfully master all the tricks for growing these vegetables and get an excellent harvest. The main thing is to create the right beds and thoroughly prepare them for planting seeds or seedlings. Therefore, the description of the beds for cucumbers and their preparation are very important points at the initial stage.
Features
Cucumber beds, like any other vegetables, must be positioned correctly.. To do this, you should find a well-lit place on the site. But at the same time it will be nice if some part of the landing day will be in the shade. Cucumbers are not too difficult a crop to grow, but they do need the right location.
The beds should be arranged so that the plants are comfortable and do not interfere with each other. That is, the distance between the bushes plays a big role. And even in the smallest area, you need to make sure that it is at least 50 cm. It is a mistake to think that the more bushes are located on a piece of land, the greater the harvest. Rather, on the contrary.
Cucumber bushes grow very strongly and begin to interfere with each other, under such conditions it will be difficult for the fruits to develop and ripen.
In addition, you need to arrange the beds so that you can later tie cucumber lashes without any problems, that is, so that there is enough space at the top for this manipulation. You can’t just leave them lying on the ground. It won’t lead to anything good. Such beds will look untidy, the fruits will quickly deteriorate.
Cucumbers need constant care, so plantings should be located so that access to them is free, and it is convenient to take care of the plants. You can not plant cucumbers in the shade of trees and shrubs.
As for the beds themselves, there are a large number of options for their arrangement. And every year summer residents go for new tricks, experiment, share their experience, and therefore, there are more and more types of such beds every year.
Cucumbers love both good watering and top dressing, so when preparing the beds, it is worth considering these nuances and creating the most favorable conditions for the development of plants.
Species overview
It is not difficult to equip cucumber beds in the open field or a greenhouse in the spring with your own hands. To make the most ordinary beds, summer residents go in two ways.
In the first case, trenches are dug at a distance of 60-70 cm from each other, filled with nutrient soil, where all the fertilizers are necessarily, including the manure component. Then seeds or seedlings are placed in the prepared soil, which were previously grown at home or purchased.
In the second case, the beds are made from boards. In this case, the boards are fences, the height of the board depends on what size the bed should be. Further, in the prepared spaces, limited by the boards, a nutrient mixture is poured, which consists of earth and manure. Next, plants are planted or seeds are sown.
Cucumbers in both the first and second cases feel great and grow well if they are properly looked after. But gardeners always have interesting ideas, they come up with unusual beds that allow not only to create favorable conditions for cucumbers, but also save space, and also become a decoration of the garden.
Vertical
Such beds can not only hide, for example, a not very attractive fence or part of an old barn, but they also save a lot of space. And their device may look different. Along the fence, you can install plastic pipes in a vertical position with convenient holes. Put sprouts in there. Just keep in mind that the root system also needs space, so pipes should be chosen with a wider diameter.
It can also be hanging structures such as planters, which can also be placed on the fence.
Over time, the cucumbers will grow, and the lashes will hide the entire fence. You just need to come up with support for them.
Warm
This bed is very convenient in the sense that you can forget about weeds for a long time and protect plants from pests and diseases. You can make as many such beds as you like. They are compact in size. They make them like this:
- first you need to choose a place on the site and mark the location of future structures;
- from the boards, pre-treated with a composition against fungus and moisture, they make a structure, a height of 30 cm is enough;
- at the same time, the width is made within 1 m, as for the length, it depends on the place that is planned to be allocated for such beds;
- then thick cardboard is laid on the bottom of the bed, or it can be in two layers, this is what isolates the bed from the ground and does not allow weeds and pests to penetrate from below;
- then a layer of sand, compost and soil is poured over the cardboard.
The bed will turn out beautiful and original, besides, it can have any shape. It will look equally good triangular, square, rectangular.
High
The type of such structures differs from ordinary beds in that beds are built from any material, earth is poured into them, fertilizers are laid and seedlings are already sent there. It is good to form such beds with a special mesh fixed on supports, along which cucumbers will then curl.
High beds can be made from any material that was found in the country. If you need solid beds for a long time, you can even build formwork and pour concrete. This option will last a very long time. There you will only have to renew the soil and observe the conditions of crop rotation.
But most often summer residents build such beds from any materials at hand. It can be boards, slate, brick remnants, stones.
Round
The principle of creating a bed, you can choose any of the above, while only making a round shape. It can be laid out of stones, adhering with cement mortar. And such a design will resemble a flower bed. A round shape can also be laid out from planks, and then painted, giving an attractive look to the garden. But the easiest way to build such options is from old tires. They are simply laid out in the chosen place, covered with earth and seedlings are planted. For a more attractive appearance, the tires can be painted.
Pyramids
Not a very good option for planting cucumbers, because they still need space, they grow very quickly, and the whips need to be tied up. But some are experimenting with this type of design. Tires can be placed on the ground to create a pyramid. For example, in the bottom row there will be five pieces. A distance is left between them in order to lay the second row between the lower ones. Then the third row.
Care should be taken to ensure that the tires of the second and third rows have a bottom. It can be built from any material, the same boards or thick cardboard. This design is quite economical. After all, the space on earth will be occupied by the minimum.
Another version of the pyramid can be built from boxes. In this case, the bottom box will be the longest, the next shorter, then even shorter. And the top drawer will be the smallest. Get a real pyramid.
“Smart”
With such an invention will have to tinker. But it’s worth it.
To begin with, a trench is dug, 50 cm deep. Boards or slate are placed on its sides. Cardboard is placed at the bottom, as is the case with warm beds.
And then the drainage layer, soil, fertilizers are already being laid. At the next stage, all this is covered with agrofiber. This will keep moisture in the soil longer and prevent weeds from breaking through.
Then cuts are made at a distance of at least 40 cm from each other. Seedlings or seeds are planted in these holes, depending on which method is chosen.
In a barrel
In this case, the barrel plays the role of a bed. If it is plastic, then you can make holes over the entire surface at a certain distance. After the earth is covered, sprouts are planted in these holes or seeds are laid. The whips will then hang from these holes, and they will not have to be fixed and come up with supports for them.
Mobile phones
Here the name speaks for itself. When there is not enough space on the site, you can come up with options that, in which case, if necessary, can be transferred from one place to another. Anything will do as containers. But keep in mind that these should be lightweight items so that they are more convenient to carry.
Any old plastic basins, bags for construction debris, small boxes, baskets will do. A great option is to adapt an old cart on wheels for mobile beds.
boxes
Compact boxes can be built from boards and placed in any convenient place. The arrangement of such options will be similar to any of the listed options. You can put cardboard on the bottom or just drainage and subsequent layers in the form of earth and compost.
Boxes are compact. And you canβt get a big harvest from such an area.
But if you build the right supports nearby, you can count on quite a decent amount of fruit with significant space savings.
Closed
Such options can be equipped in a greenhouse or greenhouse. The easiest way to equip such a bed is to place arcs over the plantings and pull covering material over them. Most likely, it is better to choose the white option, since the sun penetrates through it better, and cucumbers need it just as much as water.
dimensions
The width and height of the beds varies from the capabilities of the site and the desire of the gardener himself. But at the same time, it is desirable that the height of the bed, whether it be smart, warm or some other original design, should be at least 50 cm. As for the width, the optimal size would be no more than one meter.
Wider beds will simply make it more difficult to care for vegetables. After all, there will need to be regularly removed weeds.
The garden bed is best equipped so that it has a convenient approach from one side and the other.
How to prepare?
For planting cucumbers, you should prepare the right place. The preparation will be as follows:
- First of all, it is necessary to decide which beds will take place on the site and find a suitable place for them, a lot depends on the chosen site – how the plants will develop and what harvest can be expected;
- on this basis, it is necessary to prepare material for construction, it can be wood or stone, slate or concrete mortar, or maybe tires or old boxes will do;
- when the structure itself is ready, you need to place drainage below, it can be small pebbles or broken bricks;
- then a layer of sand is poured, after which it is already possible to place a layer of compost and fertile soil;
- if necessary (if this option is chosen) a bed cover with agrofibre and make cuts for planting future bushes;
- before planting seedlings or sowing seeds, the soil must be very well moistened and only after that proceed directly to planting.
