Sowing cucumbers - the ultimate guide to homegrown cucumber plants.

You want to sow cucumbers for the first time and have a lot of questions about it. Then you've come to the right place! Here you will learn everything you need to know about sowing cucumber seeds!

I love cucumbers. On hot summer days, there is nothing better for me than a cucumber salad with sour cream, dill and garlic. But when I think of braised cucumbers, my mouth immediately waters.

Of course, it tastes best with homegrown cucumber plants.

If you want to harvest cucumbers yourself, but there are still a lot of questions, then you should read this post very carefully.

I'll tell you what really matters when sowing cucumbers and caring for the plants.

Sowing cucumbers - The peculiarities of the plant

Cucumbers love the sun, hate the wind and cold. So sowing cucumber seeds requires a little flair. But it's not as hard as you think, as long as the plants get sun and enough water, they grow as well as themselves.

Before you start sowing cucumbers, you should first decide which variety to choose.

Basically you have the choice of: Snake cucumber or field cucumber.

Snake cucumbers grow quite long, are rather thin and have no spines on the skin. They are optimal for salads and have a high water content. That is why they are also called salad cucumber. Modern varieties form only female plants - so from each flower develops a cucumber.

Field cucumbers are smaller, rounder and have a spiky surface. They are very well made for pickling, braising cucumber recipes and snacking. In my opinion, they have a little more flavor than snake cucumbers. Large ones should be peeled before eating because the skin can turn out quite tough.

Mini cucumbers are like a mixture of snake and field cucumber. They have the soft skin of the snake cucumber and the bulbous shape of the field cucumber. They are optimal for snacking.

When you finish pre-drawn plants If you want to buy a pumpkin, then you can find in the garden specialty store a lot of plants that have been grafted. The rootstock for grafting must be a pumpkin seedling. This has the advantage that the roots are more resistant and provide the plant with more water and nutrients.

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What seeds you should buy for sowing cucumbers

Whether snake cucumber, field cucumber or mini cucumber is up to you. Personally, I find that field cucumbers have the most flavor. These are the medium sized dark green cucumbers with spikes.

Whatever you choose, make sure that the cucumber plant is resistant to powdery mildew. It is the biggest enemy of the plant and can cost you a lot of trouble.

For a few years now, I have been relying on the Hocus cucumber*. The outdoor cucumber is bitter-free and mildew-resistant. The cucumbers themselves are around 10 to 15 cm in size and are perfect for snacking, pickling or salads.

You can find a huge selection of different cucumber seeds online.

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How to grow cucumbers from seeds obtained by yourself

Of course, if you want, you can get your own seeds. To do this, you need to overripe cucumber in the previous year. So it just stays on the plant until it turns yellowish. Field cucumbers get a very hard and tough shell when filled with seeds.

Modern snake cucumbers have only very tender seeds, it is difficult to get them to the point where they form really strong seeds.

• Slice open the cucumber and remove the seeds.
• Put them to dry in a bright and warm place. Direct sun is fine as long as the seeds do not cook in the sun all day.
• Collect the dry seeds after about 3-4 days and put them in a bag that you label.
• Store the seeds in the dark and at room temperature if you plan to use them to sow cucumbers next year.

A cucumber from the supermarket is not suitable for obtaining seeds from it. It is not ripe enough and the seeds are not yet properly formed. So if you did not set aside seeds last year, then this time you have to sow your cucumbers with purchased seeds.

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Sowing cucumbers on the windowsill - here's how

Put all the utensils aside. You will need seeds, soil, pots and a place to put the cucumbers.

The right time

With cucumbers it is a little complicated. After all, they absolutely need to go outdoors - their tendrils can not find a place in the living room. At most in the winter garden is enough space for them.

But in principle, cucumbers like to be at home outside. From April, the light conditions are optimal for sowing cucumbers.

You can buy the seeds in advance and then get started right away. I usually go in search of seeds in the winter, which should be in the garden the next year. So the anticipation increases :)

The right time depends on where you grow your cucumbers.

• From mid-March you can sow cucumbers in a heated outdoor greenhouse.
• From mid-April, grow cucumbers on the windowsill.

Why not earlier? On the windowsill cucumbers grow very quickly. The high room temperatures make the seeds sprout quickly. If you put them in the ground too early, they will grow huge. When repotting and the first days outdoors, they have a hard time adapting to the new conditions.

In general, cucumber plants are known to grow rapidly. So you can sow them even in May.

The ideal location for sowing cucumbers

In order for the seeds to germinate quickly, they need at least 20 ° Celsius. Cucumber plants love the sun, so you should put them in a warm and sunny place already when they are still seeds.

In my house they are placed at one window, where they get sun rays already in the morning. Later, around noon I put them on the other window, where they have sun until late afternoon. This is certainly a little exaggerated, but I like to do it :)

The small plantlets tolerate drafts very poorly in the first few days. Therefore, you should place them in a sheltered place.

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Sowing cucumbers step by step guide

To ensure your cucumber plants have a carefree start in life from the very beginning, here's how to do everything right.

Tip: Do you know the Growing kit from Kiepenkerl*? You'll find everything you need as a beginner gardener.

1. prepare the seeds

This step is not mandatory. You can also put the seeds directly into the soil.

Put the cucumber seeds in lukewarm water for about 2 hours. They will absorb the water and thus begin to germinate faster.

If you want, you can also soak them in a chamomile tea. This will prevent the formation of mold.

The seeds should be noticeably larger and thicker after 2 hours. They also become slimy and are now ready to be planted.

2. prepare the earth

Anyone who has ever grown seeds in the house, knows the phenomenon of black little gnats that climb out of the ground after a few days. These are fungus gnats.

They annoy not only us, but also your plants. The larvae of the mosquito make themselves at the roots of the plant, which can be very harmful, especially for small plants.

It is best to prevent the pests right away and not have to fight them in the first place. To do this, put the potting soil in a small bowl and place it in the microwave for 4 minutes at full power.

After that, let the soil cool and then you can use it.

If you don't want to mess with it, leave the soil out. Alternatively you can Use coconut swelling tablets*. Simply pour water over them and they are ready for use.

Look here: How to get rid of fungus gnats!

3. sow the cucumbers

Seeds, soil and pots are ready and the windowsill is also waiting.

Then it can start now. Let's sow cucumbers!

1. Prepare the pots and fill them with soil.
2. Moisten the soil with a spray bottle.
3. Place the seeds on the soil and cover them with soil about a finger thick.
4. You can put 2 to three cucumber seeds in each pot.
5. Lightly press the soil and then it's off to the windowsill.
6. Cover the pots with foil so that the soil does not dry out.

You can easily make your own growing pots!

4. wait

Now you should make sure that the soil is constantly moist. The temperature should remain the same. Take off the foil about an hour a day, so that the soil does not begin to mold.

Depending on the location and quality of the seeds, you can see the first cotyledons after 1 to 2 weeks.

From now on you can omit the film. Once the seeds have sprouted, the cucumbers grow very quickly.

Be sure to water them regularly now, but don't drown them.

On warm days, the plants can be placed outdoors in a sheltered place. In the evening, however, they must be indoors. Low temperatures are not good for them.

How to sow cucumbers outdoors

If you have a sunny and warm place in the garden, then you do not have to sow and grow cucumbers on the windowsill. You can sow the seeds directly in the garden.

But beware: slugs love small, delicate cucumber plants. Make sure your plants are very well protected!

If you plant the seeds directly outdoors, then the harvest may be delayed a little.

What you need to pay attention to when putting outdoors

From about 20 centimeters in height of growth, cucumber seedlings are strong enough to be planted in their final location.

Important: Do not put outdoor cucumbers outdoors before the Ice Saints. It could be too cold for the sensitive plants during the night.

You should plant cucumbers in the same spot four years apart each time.

If you put the plants in the garden, you should enrich the soil with compost. If you plant the cucumber in a pot, then you should provide it with a vegetable fertilizer about every 2 weeks.

As climbing plants, cucumbers need climbing aids. You can use sticks, boards, trellises or thick cords for this purpose. Cucumber plants should not rest on the ground, because then there is a great risk that the cucumbers will rot. Also, the plants may not get enough light.

Cucumbers love a location in full sun and sheltered from the wind.

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What you need to pay attention to cucumbers in the greenhouse

In the greenhouse cucumbers have a good start. It is comfortable and constantly warm. But from June it can be quite hot, and the leaves can even burn. Therefore, the cucumbers in the greenhouse should not be too sunny. After all, behind the glass, the sun is much more aggressive than without it.

You can use shade nets or put large plants like tomatoes to shade the cucumbers. Make sure there is enough air supply, from June you can have the greenhouse open almost all the time.

And if you have grown enough cucumbers, then you can make delicious Braised cucumbers with salmon prepare from it!

How to properly care for cucumber plants

Sowing cucumbers is not enough, of course. Your seedlings want to be nurtured to grow into large plants.

Therefore, you need to know that cucumber plants do not like drought at all. The cucumbers become bitter and inedible. You can prevent this on the one hand by watering a lot and on the other hand by a mulch layer of grass, which you simply lay on the soil.

The plants love preheated water. This is best taken from the rain barrel.

When the first small fruits appear on the plants, cucumbers in pots should be fertilized every two weeks.

Professional tip: Cucumbers need a high humidity of about 60 percent. If you spray them regularly with a little water, they will thank you with an especially large number of fruits. If the humidity is too low, small cucumbers may turn yellow and be rejected.

About two weeks after the first flowering you can harvest the first cucumbers. In the greenhouse, with pleasant temperatures, this can be as early as the end of May. Outdoors and on the balcony it takes a little longer. Here, the harvest starts in mid-July, if you have grown the plants in advance.

The fruits of seeds planted directly in the garden are ready to be harvested from the end of July.

Our conclusion

Sowing cucumbers is not witchcraft. If you pay attention to enough sun and water, you can do almost nothing wrong. Protect the young plants in the garden from slugs and start treatment at the slightest sign of mildew.

Good luck and enjoy it! :)

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