5 Tips for Successfully Growing Cucumbers and Getting Juicy Vegetables
How to grow cucumbers and get a crisp, juicy harvest?
To get crisp and juicy cucumbers during harvest, you first need to successfully grow them. To do this, you can follow these 5 tips.
Sow cucumbers at the right time
Before sowing or planting a vegetable plant, it is important to first know its planting period. Concerning cucumbers, you can sow them between March and May. Moreover, cucumbers appreciate sunny exposure and a temperate climate.
From March, sow cucumbers under heated cover, putting 2 or 3 seeds per pot, exposed to a temperature of 20°C. After the seeds have sprouted, you can transplant the vigorous plants into the open ground, only from mid-May, at the end of the frosts. Keep a spacing of 1 m between the plants.
Note that cucumbers do not like cold and frost. If you want to sow them directly in the ground, do so only after the frost, usually around mid-May. Plant up to 3 seeds per pocket, i.e. per hole, also keeping a spacing of one meter between the plants.
Mastering Watering Cucumbers
Cucumbers like moisture, but they don’t like soggy soil. That said, keep the soil around your cucumber plants moist , but not too much, to prevent root rot. Don’t water with cold water, as this can make your cucumber bitter. Instead, use lukewarm water to get sweet cucumbers.
Water your cucumbers generously when planting, and then maintain a regular watering frequency. Water stress can also make your cucumbers taste bitter. Try not to wet the foliage when watering, to avoid fungal diseases. You can also add mulch around the base of the plants to keep the soil cool.
Pruning cucumber plants
Pruning plants is important, it helps protect them from disease, promotes healthy and vigorous growth, and stimulates fruiting or flowering. That said, it is important to prune your cucumbers to optimize their growth and obtain a good harvest. To do this, pinch above the 2nd leaf , once the plants develop 4 leaves. This will cause two new stems to form. Pinch these at the 4th leaf , as soon as they have 6 leaves. After the cucumbers have formed, keep only 4 leaves per stem. Note that pinching a plant means pruning the end of the stem, removing its growing tip.
Fertilizing Cucumbers
Cucumber is a greedy vegetable plant that appreciates rich soils, particularly in nitrogen and potash. Fertilize the cucumber during planting and throughout the growing season. Note that it is also advisable to fertilize the soil during the fall preceding planting, in order to prepare it for growing cucumbers. To do this, you can add decomposed manure to the soil.
During cucumber cultivation, regularly add nettle manure to stimulate plant growth and also to strengthen their resistance to disease.
Harvesting Cucumbers at the Right Time
To get tender cucumbers, it is important to harvest them as soon as they are ripe. Waiting too long will cause the seeds, and therefore the cucumbers, to harden. That said, you can harvest cucumbers as soon as the plants reach about ten cm, usually between 3 and 4 months after sowing. Picking cucumbers while they are still young will allow you to have crunchier and juicier vegetables.
With these 5 tips, you will successfully grow cucumbers and obtain crunchy and juicy vegetables when harvested.