Cucumber seeds for open ground: the best Dutch ones that do not outgrow

Cucumbers in open ground

The climate of our country is varied, most regions lie in cool latitudes. Therefore, many people prefer greenhouses or film shelters to open ground . Cucumbers are a heat-loving crop, so this choice is justified. However, breeders are developing varieties that are quite suitable for open ground, bear fruit well and even produce early harvests.

Cucumbers in open ground

Features of growing cucumbers Kurazh

Like any variety of cucumbers, Kurazh is planted with seeds directly in the garden bed (in open ground or a greenhouse), and by first growing seedlings. In those regions where warmth comes early, there is no point in sowing seeds for seedlings, except in cases where you really want to speed up the arrival of the first harvest. In the middle zone and more severe climatic regions, preliminary cultivation of seedlings is carried out quite often.

Growing cucumber seedlings

Seeds are sown in cups about a month before the expected date of transplanting the seedlings into the garden bed. By the time of transplantation, the soil in the greenhouse or open ground should warm up to about 15 °C, the air temperature should also become consistently high (at 10 °C, even at night, cucumbers feel very bad, and optimal conditions are about 25 °C). This situation, for example, in the middle zone develops only at the beginning of June, and therefore the time for sowing seeds for seedlings for growing cucumbers in open ground is the last days of April. When you can start growing seedlings for protected soil depends on the quality of the greenhouse.

Since Courage F1 is a hybrid, its seeds have to be purchased annually, and they go on sale mostly ready for planting. Therefore, most often no seed preparation is required, although, of course, it is at least worth calibrating them manually. If among a dozen seeds in a bag there are 1-2 puny ones, it is better not to plant them. Most likely, the rest will be quite suitable, and from the point of view of economy, it will be possible to sow them one at a time into cups.

You can soak the seeds in water for a couple of days and even germinate them, but this won’t make any difference: it’s easier to sow them as they are.

The cups for cucumber seedlings are not the smallest: at least 250–300 ml, optimally these should be peat pots. It is better to purchase soil in a store, but you can also make it up from what you have on hand: turf soil, peat, humus, sawdust, etc. The main thing is that it is nutritious, moisture-permeable and breathable. True, it is advisable to first disinfect your soil by pouring it well with a slightly pink, warm solution of potassium permanganate.

Sowing seeds for seedlings is simple.

Moisten the soil in cups and add a cucumber seed.
Reliable seeds can be sown one at a time
Cover the seeds with soil, adding a layer of about 1.5 cm.
Spray the cover soil with a spray bottle and place the cups on a well-lit windowsill, creating a temperature of 25–28 °C. You can cover them with glass on top to prevent the soil from drying out.
If the window sill does not face south, it is advisable to add artificial lighting

The emergence of seedlings of Kurazh cucumbers is possible in 5–8 days, depending on conditions. Immediately the temperature is lowered to 17–18 °C, leaving it there (and at night it can be a little lower) for five days. Failure to comply with this rule leads to stretching and weakening of the seedlings. Subsequently, room temperature is required (optimally - about 24 ° C during the day and 18 ° C at night), and the maximum possible light.

Caring for Kurazh cucumber seedlings is simple and includes periodic watering, and in the case of poor soil, fertilizing with complex mineral fertilizers. Seedlings are planted in open ground or a greenhouse at the age of about a month, but shortly before that they are accustomed to less comfortable conditions, periodically taken out to the balcony.

Planting Courage cucumbers in open ground

Courage, like all cucumbers, is very thermophilic. In addition to heat, any cucumbers require high doses of fertilizers, especially organic ones. Even fresh manure is suitable for them, which is difficult for most other crops to tolerate, but good humus is much more valuable, since the bushes can use it at first. For every square meter, apply 2-3 buckets of organic fertilizer. Properly prepared compost and peat-compost mixtures are also suitable for cucumbers, but in any case, mineral fertilizers are also added to them, and quite a lot: up to 100 g of nitrophoska per 1 m2. The best predecessor crops are cabbage, legumes and potatoes.

In open ground, so-called warm beds are often equipped for cucumbers. These are quite tall structures in which, under the top layer of good soil, there are various wastes brought in from last year: small twigs, fallen leaves, tops of collected vegetables, all sorts of peelings, garbage, etc., which are mixed, if available, with peat and manure. In the spring, wood ash is added, watered well and heated under plastic film until sowing seeds or planting cucumber seedlings.

Planting seedlings without shelter in the middle zone is possible only at the beginning of summer; at earlier times, it is necessary to construct a temporary shelter from film or non-woven materials. In warmer regions, the dates shift to mid-May, in the Urals or Siberia - to mid-June. The planting technique is the usual: seedlings are planted in peat pots along with them, and you should try to remove the plants from plastic cups without destroying the earthen clod. When planting, cucumbers are almost not buried, but very elongated seedlings are buried in the soil almost up to the very cotyledon leaves. After planting the cucumbers, water the soil around them well and mulch a little.

Cucumber seedlings do not need to have many leaves, but they should be strong and stocky.

Sowing seeds in open ground is possible about a week earlier than planting seedlings. Seeds are sown to a depth of 2.5–3 cm in pre-watered soil. There is no need to water from above, but it is advisable to cover the crops with spunbond until germination (and possibly for a longer period). If there are a lot of seeds, you can sow them every 10 cm, and then thin them out. But this situation, due to the high cost, is becoming less and less common, so you must immediately decide on a cultivation scheme.

Cucumber Courage grows as a powerful plant, so bushes are placed quite rarely. The scheme for planting seedlings or sowing seeds depends on whether the cucumbers are grown horizontally or vertically. When planted horizontally, the bushes practically do not form; the vines spread freely along the ground, so they require a lot of space. When vertical, they arrange trellises, lifting the lashes on them and tying them up, removing excess shoots. This option allows for a tighter fit.

Planting in a greenhouse

In a greenhouse, the success of growing cucumbers depends on the level of illumination, temperature conditions and qualified care. Since space in the greenhouse is expensive, the Courage cucumber is grown in greenhouses exclusively in a vertical culture, so planting is done in a compact manner. So that the bushes do not interfere with each other, they must be formed by removing excess shoots.

Sowing seeds in a greenhouse or planting finished seedlings is carried out at a time determined both by the climate of the region and the quality of the greenhouse: by the time of planting, a comfortable temperature must be established in it. The beds, as in unprotected soil, are prepared in advance by adding high doses of organic and mineral fertilizers. Once every few years, the soil in the greenhouse is completely changed, especially if obvious signs of plant diseases have been noticed.

If only a dozen cucumber bushes are planted, they are usually placed against the wall in the greenhouse

The technique for planting seedlings or sowing seeds does not differ from those for open ground. The planting pattern depends on the design of the greenhouse and the number of plants planted. Sometimes it is convenient to place a trellis at the side wall (25–30 cm away from it) and plant cucumbers in one row every 30–35 cm, sometimes equip it directly opposite the entrance, planting cucumbers in two rows with a distance between rows of about 30 cm and letting lashes of both rows on one support.

If a lot of cucumbers are planted, one of the possible schemes includes both inter-furrow spaces and passages for caring for cucumbers

Caring for Courage cucumbers

Regardless of whether Kurazh cucumbers are grown vertically or horizontally, with proper agricultural technology they give approximately the same yield, but in a greenhouse it is usually higher. However, it is clear that the most delicious cucumbers grow in natural light and outdoors.

Any cucumbers are a crop that requires constant attention. The main operations in caring for them are watering, fertilizing, tying. And, of course, timely harvesting. Water the cucumbers only with warm water (at least 25 °C), preferably in the evening, over the entire surface of the bed. Sprinkling can sometimes be used to cool the foliage on particularly hot days. The frequency of watering depends on the weather, but the soil should be constantly moist, although waterlogging is also not necessary.

At first, after each watering, loosening to remove weeds is mandatory. However, soon the roots grow strongly, and they are located close to the surface, so loosening can only be done to a very small depth in order to only destroy the surface crust. If the roots are exposed, soil should be added to them. It is useful to add wood ash to it, at the rate of about a handful for each bush.

Courage cucumbers are fed at least 3-4 times per season, and any fertilizer is suitable: an infusion of mullein or chicken droppings, and the so-called stink (an infusion of cut grass), and mineral fertilizers. The first feeding is carried out 2 weeks after planting the seedlings or the emergence of seedlings, the second - after the appearance of the first flowers, and then, during fruiting, they are fed every 2-3 weeks. Before and after fertilizing, the bed must be watered.

You need to be especially careful with bird droppings: if it is not diluted well, you can burn the plants

In order to fully realize the benefits of the “bouquet” of the hybrid, it is necessary to correctly form the bush, especially if the vertical cultivation option is chosen. As a rule, Courage is grown in one stem, but we must not forget that cucumbers are formed mainly on the side shoots. Therefore, this hybrid is not pinched above the fifth leaf; the situation looks a little more complicated.

The side shoots emerging from the axils of the first 4–5 leaves are removed immediately, and female flowers are not left in these locations. This operation allows the bush to strengthen and the roots to grow. The ovaries that appear in the next 2–3 nodes are left, and the shoots growing at this place are also removed. The side shoots that grow even higher are left for fruiting, pinching them off after the flowers appear. The central shoot is allowed to grow to the top of the greenhouse or, if grown in open ground, to some reasonable height, after which the top is pinched off.

The entire vegetative mass is evenly distributed over the support, tying the stems with soft strings (the main stem can simply be twisted around a vertical support). In case of abundant growth of foliage, some leaves that cover the fruits from the sun can be periodically trimmed, leaving the petioles. There is no point in rationing the harvest, as in the case of grapes: with proper care, the bush is able to pull out all the formed ovaries.

They harvest as the cucumbers grow to the required size, but this must be done often, preferably once every two days. Overexposure of green plants on bushes leads to a deterioration in their quality and inhibits the appearance of new ovaries. It is not advisable to grow the very first fruits of Courage to a length of more than 10 cm. Harvesting is carried out early in the morning or late in the evening, when the cucumbers are most juicy. It is advisable not to tear them off with your hands: it is better to use pruners or scissors. The harvest of this hybrid is stored well: in the cellar for almost a month, but the most delicious cucumbers come straight from the garden.

Video: Courage cucumber in open ground

Drip irrigation for cucumbers

The soil in the cucumber bed should always be moist. It’s not easy to keep track of this without even leaving the site, and even more difficult if you only visit the dacha on weekends. Therefore, drip irrigation systems are popular, which constantly and little by little supply water directly to the roots. There are a huge number of offers for such systems on sale, but you can build drip irrigation using improvised means.

Everything for drip irrigation can be bought in the store

Drip irrigation can be done either from a water supply or from a large container, from where water will flow by gravity. In most dacha cooperatives there is no constant supply of water through a collective water supply system, so enthusiasts try to accumulate water in large containers and use them to water the cucumbers. And it is more difficult to use the capabilities of the water supply system for this purpose: the installation of various gearboxes and other auxiliary devices is required. And if you install the water container high enough and make sure it is filled completely on weekends, a gravity-flow system can water cucumbers quite satisfactorily throughout the week.

The container can be of any shape, but its volume must be impressive: a 100-liter barrel is unlikely to cope with the task. It is better to make the tap not on the bottom plane, but on the side wall, at a height of 6–8 cm from the base of the container, so that various debris does not fall into the hoses. Pipes or simply rubber hoses with numerous holes with a diameter of 2–3 mm are laid from the container, which are laid out in shallow furrows dug along the rows of cucumbers. The intensity of water outflow is selected experimentally.

Drip irrigation for a short time can be done using small containers

Self-pollinating varieties for open ground

Gardeners, wanting to increase the yield of cucumbers and get an early harvest, moved cucumbers from the street to greenhouses. And here a problem arose - how to pollinate plants? Cucumbers are pollinated only by insects, how to lure them into a greenhouse? This prompted scientists to develop hybrid varieties - parthenocarpics - self-pollinating cucumbers. However, they also grow well in outdoor garden beds. Hybrid crops always surpass varietal crops in their characteristics. They are tasty, productive and rarely get sick. This article will tell you about growing ginger at home.

Self-pollinating cucumber varieties

Self-pollinating cucumbers have a pistil and stamen; they do not need outside help to form ovaries. There are two types of flowering - male and female. Varieties with the female type give higher yields.

Variety Rafael F1

This is a mid-season hybrid; 50 days pass from the first shoots to the start of fruiting. They are planted in the garden as seedlings, which are sown in early May. After three to four weeks it can be transplanted into prepared soil. Begins to bear fruit at the end of June. Cucumbers grow up to 20 cm and have an excellent taste. This is a salad variety and is not suitable for pickling. Not afraid of root rot and fungal diseases.

Variety Zozulya

An early ripening hybrid with good yield. Fruiting is long and consistent, yields can reach up to 30 kg/1 sq. m. The fruits are large, tasty, and not bitter. The surface of the cucumber is lumpy and prickly. Equally good in salads and pickled. The variety resists viral diseases well. Grown by seedlings. It does not need to be pruned because it produces shoots in the right quantity. To obtain a good harvest, it requires constant watering.

Variety Patti

This is a new variety that has already earned approval. This variety produces a good harvest of small, lumpy fruits. Resistant to cold and disease, bears fruit for a long time and ripens smoothly. Small cucumbers are great for pickling.

Variety Zador F1

Hybrid of gherkin type, early ripening, high-yielding. Its small greens - up to 10 cm - have pimply skin with light whitish pubescence. More suitable for canning. Like all hybrids, it does not produce seeds, so its pulp is always dense and does not form internal voids when canned. Read about growing champignons at home here.

Cucumber variety Director F1

This is a popular hybrid variety that pollinates itself, making it very practical. It belongs to the gherkin type, since its length barely reaches 10 cm, and its weight ranges from 60-80 grams. The first harvest can be harvested on the 45th day. They grow well in slightly dark places, so they are also in demand. The harvest is rich, because up to three cucumbers can form in one node. The taste is excellent, there is no bitterness or voids in them. This hybrid variety can resist various diseases well, and also has an attractive presentation, which helps in sales. Wide use, rolling or fresh salads - everything is acceptable.

Early varieties for open ground

Early varieties of cucumbers are always grown through seedlings. You need to start doing them in the spring. Cucumbers are planted in the garden when the soil has warmed up sufficiently. There are many varieties, the first harvest of which can be done at the end of June. Cucumbers are considered early ripening, the ripening period of which is 35-50 days from the first shoots.

Altai early 166

Ultra early variety with high yield. Ripening time is 37-39 days from the first shoots. It produces large fruits – up to 80 g – 9-10 cm in length. The shape of the cucumber is ovoid. The light green skin is covered with tubercles and a slightly whitish coating. It tolerates cold weather well and is resistant to some diseases.

Moscow dude F1

An early ripening hybrid of the female type of flowering. Gives an excellent harvest - from 12 to 15 kg per 1 sq. m. Its long, medium-branching lashes are best tied to a trellis. Zelentsy grow up to 10-12 cm, weigh on average 100 g. They do not suffer from olive spot and bacteriosis.

Baby

This is an ultra-early variety, fruiting begins after 30-40 days. Used for salads and all types of canning. Its fruits do not turn yellow, so they do not have to be collected immediately after ripening; if they sit a little longer, nothing bad will happen. The fruits are not bitter and have good shelf life - they can be stored for up to 10 days, maintaining their taste and crunchiness.

red mullet

It bears fruit in 43-48 days from germination, is a self-pollinating variety with a female type of flowering. Zelentsy grow up to 10-12 cm, weighing up to 100 g. Like all hybrids, it does not produce seeds. When canned, it does not form voids and does not taste bitter when fresh. It is distinguished by the friendly ripening of fruits and a yield of up to 6-7 kg per bush. Resistance to fungal diseases is average.

Lukhovitsky F1

An early ripening variety, the harvest begins to produce on 45-50 days from germination. The fruits are tasty, strong, crispy, weighing up to 100-120 g. They are not bitter and are used fresh and canned. Suitable for long-term storage and fresh transportation. The variety demonstrates good resistance to root rot and fungal diseases. Productivity up to 6-8 kg from 1 bush.

Cucumber variety Shosha F1

One of the smallest varieties, where cucumbers are only 50 grams. The fruits are of the gherkin type, as the length of the fruit is up to 8 cm, so it is ideal for preservation. Excellent taste, absence of bitterness and voids, as well as good external characteristics, which significantly increases demand in the market. This variety adapts well to home conditions, so you can safely grow it on a windowsill. Pickling or fresh consumption – the taste value is the same.

You should grow cucumbers of proven varieties, since diseases do not sleep and even in a favorable season there can be negative surprises, so grow proven and high-quality varieties, then success is guaranteed.

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Gherkin varieties

Gherkins are hybrid varieties of cucumbers developed exclusively for pickling and pickling. They are all like big ones - they look the same and really crunch, only they are very small - up to 4-7 cm. They are collected before ripening, when the fruits grow to the desired size. This must be done every day, otherwise they will outgrow and become just ordinary cucumbers.

Philippok F1

This is a mid-season hybrid, ripens 50-55 days after germination. Grows well in open ground. It is characterized by intensive fruiting and good yield. The fruits are dense and crispy, do not overgrow and do not turn yellow. Does not suffer from viral and fungal diseases. Productivity up to 10 kg from 1 bush. One of the most beloved gherkins by gourmets.

Brownie F1

An early ripening hybrid with a ripening period of 45-50 days. It has an excellent taste and a strong cucumber aroma. The fruits can be eaten fresh; they are not bitter. The type of fruit formation is bouquet. When canning, they do not form voids. You can harvest up to 8 kg of cucumbers from one bush.

Children's F1

This hybrid can be grown not only in a garden bed, but also on a windowsill. The gherkins are crispy, without bitterness, up to 7 cm in size. A mid-early variety. Gives a good harvest - from 1 square meter to 17 kg.

Favorite son-in-law F1

Early ripening hybrid - ripens in 41-45 days. A self-pollinating variety, it can be grown in the country and at home - on a balcony or windowsill. Gherkins have an excellent taste, without bitterness, crispy. Very good yield - up to 25 kg per 1 sq. m. Resistant to major cucumber diseases.

Parisian gherkin F1

Zelenets grows only up to 5-7 cm , the fruits are, as they say, calibrated - one to one, and have an excellent taste when salted and pickled. The variety is high-yielding, early ripening, ripening period is 40-45 days. Grows well in open ground, but requires staking. Tolerates bad weather well and is disease resistant. Find out how to make drip irrigation from plastic bottles here.

Dutch cucumbers

If you plant cucumbers in open ground and want to get a high yield, pay attention to Dutch cucumbers. These are hybrid varieties that have excellent consumer qualities - taste, product, technical. They are cold-resistant, which is important for our temperate latitudes, and are easy to care for.

Angelina F1

An ultra-early variety with universal use - fresh and canned. The fruits are up to 14 cm long, have a pleasant taste and are juicy. Resistant to downy mildew, cladosporiosis, and powdery mildew. Productivity is high.

Satina F1

A self-pollinating hybrid with fruits up to 15 cm. This is a gherkin-type variety; cucumbers can be harvested when they grow to 5-7 cm. They have a good taste in fresh and canned form, and do not taste bitter. Productivity is high.

Hector F1

Ultra-early self-pollinating variety with female flowering. Fruiting is friendly and abundant, the fruits are calibrated, of the same shape, dense with excellent taste. The advantage is that they do not outgrow and do not turn yellow. Suitable for fresh consumption and canning. Productivity is high.

Cucumber variety Masha F1

One of the most fertile varieties, as the yield is high, because about six cucumbers can grow in one node. This variety belongs to the bunch variety. Cucumbers do not grow large, weighing only 70 grams, so this is an excellent option for pickling in any form. The length of the cucumbers is not large and is approximately 12 cm. The taste is excellent, there is absolutely no bitterness, and no voids are noticed. Cucumbers are very attractive in appearance and crunchy, so they will be irreplaceable on your table.

Growing seedlings in peat tablets

Seed preparation

Soak the seeds in a glass of water;
Throw away those that float, place the rest near the heating device (battery) at +25C for a month;
then soak for an hour in a solution of potassium permanganate or tincture of garlic pulp: for 30 grams of pulp, 100 ml of cold water;
after disinfection, transfer to a fabric bag and soak for 12 hours in another solution: a teaspoon of nitrophoska and wood ash (sifted) per liter of water;
after this, wash the seeds in clean water and spread them on gauze folded several times, keep moistened at +20C for 48 hours (so that they hatch);
Once the seeds begin to hatch, place them in the refrigerator for 24 hours.

Hybrid cucumber varieties can be germinated without preliminary seed preparation

Planting and caring for seedlings

place the peat tablets in a plastic container and fill them with water so that they expand to a certain size;
deepen the sprouted seeds into them one at a time;
cover the container with film or a transparent lid to create a greenhouse effect;
ventilate the greenhouse and moisten the soil with warm water (+20C);
prepare the fertilizer: 3 liters of warm water, 3 teaspoons of nitroammophoska;
as soon as real leaves appear (2 pcs.), water with this liquid once a week;
after 26 - 33 days, plant the seedlings in open ground along with a peat cup

Cucumber variety Chinese snakes

The variety is early ripening. The plant is powerful, predominantly of the female type. Greens are dark green, long, thin with a short neck, dense, juicy, amazingly tasty. Excellent fresh and pickled.

Seeds for seedlings are sown at the end of April - beginning of May. The culture does not tolerate transplantation well, so it is better to use peat pots. Seeds begin to germinate at a temperature of 13-15°C, the optimal temperature for development is 25-30°C. The cucumber is warm and moisture-loving; it prefers lighted places protected from cold winds. Grows well in fertile, humus-rich, light, warm soils. Care involves frequent watering, weeding and loosening. Watering should be done with warm water, combining it once every 10 days with fertilizing.

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Little Leaf Cucumbers

;Little Leaf has small (5-7 cm) aligned fruits (there are no non-standard ones at all), which set even without pollination. The taste is good. True, the disease resistance of little leaf cucumbers is not very high, but due to their early ripening, they are practically not affected by viruses and bacteria.

The astronaut does not particularly stand out in terms of taste. But the female type of flowering and resistance to disease make it possible to harvest a full harvest of standard fruits. At least not inferior to Parker! I use the fruits mainly for canning.

Many people think that the time of cucumber varieties has passed, but I don’t think so. Plant at least one of the varieties I mentioned on your site and see that I’m right.

Good varieties are the key to a harvest, but we must not forget about care. Cucumbers bear fruit well only on fertile, loose soils provided there is sufficient moisture supply. Even with a slight deficiency of soil moisture, plant development slows down, most of the female flowers fall off, the set fruits become ugly, and in some varieties they also acquire bitterness.

Cucumber Phoenix

Phoenix is a late-ripening salad variety, widespread everywhere. However, at first I was not interested in him. But one day, while visiting the Donetsk vegetable and melon experimental station, I accidentally tried this Phoenix cucumber and was amazed - the taste of the unusually juicy sweet fruits could not be compared with the Parker and Asterix, which I had previously planted on the site. In addition, Phoenix has a very high marketability (93-100%) and resistance to downy mildew.

I also grow varieties of American selection, Little Leaf (Little Leaf) and Astronaut.

Cucumbers in open ground

Features of growing cucumbers Kurazh

Growing cucumber seedlings

Planting Courage cucumbers in open ground

Planting in a greenhouse

Caring for Courage cucumbers

Video: Courage cucumber in open ground

Drip irrigation for cucumbers

Self-pollinating varieties for open ground

Variety Rafael F1

Variety Zozulya

Variety Patti

Variety Zador F1

Cucumber variety Director F1

Early varieties for open ground

Altai early 166

Moscow dude F1

Baby

red mullet

Lukhovitsky F1

Cucumber variety Shosha F1

Gherkin varieties

Philippok F1

Brownie F1

Children's F1

Favorite son-in-law F1

Parisian gherkin F1

Dutch cucumbers

Angelina F1

Satina F1

Hector F1

Cucumber variety Masha F1

Growing seedlings in peat tablets

Cucumber variety Chinese snakes

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Little Leaf Cucumbers

Cucumber Phoenix