I will share with you my experience of getting an early harvest of cucumbers in May.
Selection of the sowing date. I use seedlings to grow cucumbers and adjust the planting date each year. This year I only sowed the seeds on March 30 (and some on April 4), although I previously sowed them on March 20. Despite the difficulty of accurately determining the planting date, in order to obtain an early harvest, cucumbers must be sown 25 days before planting them in the beds.
Seed selection. My family has tried dozens of cucumber varieties and hybrids over the years, and now we’ve only grown Monolith, Chopin, Trilogy, and Bjorn for three years in a row. Although these seeds are expensive, their quality is excellent and we obtain fruitful and tasty fruits, and most importantly, without bitterness.
Method and date of planting. I plant cucumber seedlings in early May, using arches over the beds and a two-layer film to retain heat. When it’s sunny, I open the ends to ventilate. Although sometimes the weather allows for planting cucumber seedlings from April 17 to 20, we never plant them later than May 2.
Accommodation and care
I plant seedlings in two rows in beds 1.5 meters wide and a distance between plants of 50 cm. In each hole I put 2 cucumbers and add 1 tablespoon of Azofoska. I don’t shape or tie cucumbers, they grow “lying down” and I don’t take away their stepchildren. 10 days after planting the seedlings, I start covering the beds with agrotextiles, which retain moisture, protect against weeds and prevent the contact of leaves and fruits with the soil.
When I grow cucumbers, I don’t need them to be formed and tied up, as they grow “lying down.” I also don’t eliminate stepchildren. 10 days after planting cucumber seedlings, I start covering the beds with agrotextiles, which not only protect against weeds, but also retain moisture well and also prevent the leaves and fruits from coming into contact with the soil.
Throughout the season, I regularly feed cucumbers the complex mineral fertilizer “Solar Final” once every 14 days, whose analogues are Agricola, Aquarin, Mortar, and Fertika. When it’s hot, I water the cucumbers twice a week with warm water, as they don’t tolerate drought or cold water. If they don’t get enough nutrients, the ovary can start to turn yellow and dry out. In mid-June I remove the film and the cucumbers grow in the open field.
To protect cucumbers from pests and diseases, I use miticides like Vertimek to control mites, which are the main pest of cucumbers and can completely destroy them in as little as a few weeks. To prevent peronosporosis, a disease that cannot be beaten unless you start fighting it early, I use drugs such as Ordan, Quadris, Strobi, Ridomil Gold and Kurzat.
Yesterday we harvested our first crop of cucumbers and the results were quite good considering the abnormal weather. Normally we harvest the first harvest on May 15, but last year we only picked the first cucumber on May 23.
