We save space - we grow cucumbers in bags

Often, when buying their favorite vegetables from the market, people think about how good it would be to have a vegetable garden, tinker in it on weekends and reap delicious fruits. And those who have such an opportunity rack their brains over how to carve out a piece of land for a particular culture. Both for the first and for the second, inventive gardeners have found a solution - growing cucumbers in bags. If desired, city dwellers can organize this process even on the balcony and delight the family, and summer residents can save space in order to grow other cultures. In addition to the fact that this process is not only useful, it is also very exciting, but first things first.

Preparing the landing site

First of all, you need to determine the place where the cultivation of cucumbers in bags will take place, prepare the bags themselves, hollow tubes, cord, wooden sticks, soil and seeds.

Preparatory work carried out before filling the package with earth

1. We take the bag. For this purpose, it must be dense (polyethylene or from sugar), with a volume of 70-120 liters.
2. You will need a two-meter wooden stick. A nail is driven into the end.
3. We tie a cord, fishing line or ropes to the nail, along which the vegetable stalk will subsequently curl.
4. Holes with a diameter of 5 mm are made in the hollow tubes in a checkerboard pattern at a distance of 5-6 cm. The length of the tube should be equal to the height of the bag. The bottom of the tube must be closed; this can be done with ordinary plasticine.
5. Preparing the soil. To grow cucumbers in bags, you need a mixture of garden soil and rotted manure.

When all the materials are ready, we proceed to the preparation and arrangement of the "bed". The process takes place in the following order:

• a plastic bag is placed on a pre-prepared pallet;
• we fill the bag three-quarters with earth and wrap it with tape around the entire circumference so that it does not break;
• drive a wooden stick into the center of each;
• around the stick, at a distance of 10 cm from it, we place three or four tubes with holes;
• on the sides of the container on all sides in a checkerboard pattern, it is necessary to make triangular cuts, each side of which is about three centimeters, in order to determine at what distance to make the cuts, proceed from the fact that no more than 12-15 vegetable bushes can be placed in one package.

Thus, the place for growing cucumbers in the bag is ready, you can start planting.

We plant cucumbers

It is possible to grow cucumbers in a "vertical bed" (as the bags are called in another way), as in the case of a greenhouse and open ground, in two ways: by seeds and seedlings.

Seedling. The preparation of seedlings is carried out in the same way as if the planting of this culture was carried out in open ground: at the beginning of May, pre-prepared seeds are placed in glasses (200 ml) and when three full leaves appear, the seedlings are transplanted into a bag. How it's done:

• on top, 3-4 plants are planted on open ground;
• in each hole from the sides, the remaining seedlings are planted, placing the plants perpendicular to the package and parallel to the ground.

Planting seeds. Cucumbers are planted in this way in the same way as seedlings: on the upper surface of the soil, in small holes between the irrigation pipes, 3-4 pre-prepared seeds are placed. The rest are neatly placed in the side holes. Sowing is best done at the end of May.

A significant advantage of this planting method is that the seeds in such bags hatch earlier than the seedlings appear in the cups, and the plant itself subsequently develops faster and better.

Whichever method is chosen, after planting, the vegetables must be poured through plastic watering pipes.

Features of agricultural technology

There is nothing difficult in the process of growing a vegetable in vertical beds. They require even less attention than ground and greenhouse ones.

Watering. The main thing is not to flood. It should be borne in mind that polyethylene holds moisture well, therefore, unlike its relatives in the garden, the "bag" cucumber is watered as needed. On average, watering occurs once every 3 days, or in small amounts daily.

You can check the moisture content of the earth without any problems by immersing your finger inside the earth, and in transparent bags, the condition of the soil will be visible through the polyethylene. Irrigation is carried out through inserted tubes with holes, thanks to which the water is distributed evenly to all roots. As in the case of ground and greenhouse cucumbers, the water temperature should be + 22C - + 23C.

If the plants do not have enough moisture that they are provided with, they will begin to grow roots through the holes made and scoop water from the tray on which the bag stands.

Top dressing. The vegetable can be fed. As a fertilizer, you can use the same solutions as for soil or greenhouse "relatives". Top dressing should be done through the same tubes that are used for irrigation.

Garter. After the plant has 5-6 full-fledged leaves or antennae, they should be tied up, sent, so to speak, in the right direction. After that, the stem will curl itself.

Light. If the cucumber is grown on the balcony, then in hot weather, shading should be done, thus protecting the leaves of the plant from direct sunlight, which can burn them.

Plant formation. As a rule, cucumbers growing in a bag do not require pinching, but if the growth is very intense, then pinching can be done for 10-12 leaves.

What are the advantages of the method

By growing cucumbers in bags, you can avoid many of the troubles that accompany this crop when growing in open ground and greenhouses:

• the roots of the plant in the bag will not be damaged by the bear, which means that the bush will not die and will bring a crop;
• the plant will not hurt, provided that the care requirements are met;
• root rot does not form in the ground, provided that it is properly watered.

There are benefits for humans:

• the first and most important advantage of this method of growing cucumbers is that you can harvest no less from a small "piece of land" than from a garden;
• saving space in the garden;
• the possibility of growing on the balcony, since the bag does not take up much space;
• no need to dig a "bed";
• convenience and simplicity in the care of the crop;
• early ripening of the vegetable (faster and earlier than in the open field);
• convenience of harvesting;
• the purity of the cucumbers.

And one more tip: if you want to enjoy the tasty and juicy fruits of a fresh vegetable until the very frost, then you should plant different varieties of cucumbers.

Video "Little tricks of growing bagged cucumbers"

A video with the secrets of growing bagged cucumbers. How much humus should be put in one bag, how many bushes should there be per bag.