I will share with you my experience of an early cucumber harvest in May.
Choosing the sowing date. I use seedlings to grow cucumbers and change the planting date every year. This year I sowed only on March 30 (and some on April 4), although I had previously sowed them on March 20. Despite the difficulty of accurately determining the sowing date, in order to get an early harvest, cucumbers must be sown 25 days before planting in the beds.
Selection of seeds. My family has tried dozens of cucumber varieties and hybrids over the years, and now we grow only Monolith, Chopin, Trilogy and Bjorn for three years in a row. Although these seeds are expensive, their quality is excellent and we get productive and tasty fruits and, most importantly, without bitterness.
Sowing method and date. I plant cucumber seedlings in early May, using arches over the beds and two-layer film to retain heat. In sunny weather, I open the ends for ventilation. Although the weather sometimes allows planting cucumber seedlings on April 17-20, we never plant them after 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 tbsp of azofoska. I do not form or tie cucumbers, they grow “lying” and I do not remove stepchildren. 10 days after planting the seedlings, I begin to cover the beds with agrotextiles, which retain moisture, protect against weeds and prevent contact of leaves and fruits with the soil.
