How to grow a cucumber on a windowsill: step by step instructions

On the approach of spring, and the body already requires vitamins. With what pleasure you now crunched fresh, freshly picked cucumber! It is not necessary to wait for summer, they can be planted at any time of the year on the windowsill. And in a month and a half you will enjoy the first fruits of your efforts.

Choose seeds for planting

Answering the question about how to grow a cucumber on a windowsill, it should be mentioned that not all cucumber varieties will grow and bear fruit in the apartment conditions, so you need to carefully consider their choice. For these purposes, self-pollinating hybrids, such as "zozulya", "April", "stella", "cucaracha", are optimal. If you give preference to bee-dusted varieties, then you must also plant hybrids-pollinators. And this will create unnecessary worries and will take additional space on the windowsill. And planting, for example, cucumber "zozulya", you will get a friendly return of early cucumbers already 50 days after emergence. Green large-bunched fruit weighing from 160 to 300 grams will please you with an excellent taste.

Choose a place, capacity and soil

If the house has windows facing south, then it's best to plant cucumbers there. The eastern and western sides can also be considered as an option, but the northern side is best avoided. If you have long thought about how to grow a cucumber on a windowsill, do not miss this important moment.

The capacity for planting should be large enough - at least eight liters for one plant. For these purposes, a wooden box or a strong plastic bag will do. At the bottom of the tanks you need to make holes for the drainage of excess water and root ventilation.

The soil for planting cucumbers should be light and nutritious. In stores there is a large selection of ready-mixed soil mixtures. You can use them, or you can make a substrate yourself. For a quality mix, you need 20% of the earth, 40% of compost, 10% of sawdust and 30% of peat. To the mixture you need to add an incomplete match box of urea and two boxes of superphosphate and potassium sulfate.

At the bottom of the tanks before filling them with soil, be sure to put a layer of drainage.

Growing sprouts of cucumbers

Now we pass directly to the answer to the question of how to grow a cucumber on a windowsill. Soak the seeds and wait for them to germinate. Take the strongest ones out of them and put them in peat pots. Now they need to be made in one box, covered with a transparent film and put in a warm place. After the shoots appear, the seedlings need to be rearranged to a cool place, so the seedlings will not stretch. After the appearance of 4 or 5 leaves, the top should be pinched. This technique will strengthen the growth of the root system and lateral lashes. It does not hurt to create additional lighting for seedlings with fluorescent lights.

Planting seedlings in a permanent place

After about 25 days, cucumbers can be transplanted to a permanent place. Seedlings need to be planted directly in peat pots in a well-moistened earth, additionally watering each cucumber. The photos shown in the article show that with this method of growing one can get strong healthy plants. Carefully monitor the moisture of the soil - the soil should never dry up.

Care for cucumbers

When the seedlings begin to grow actively, you need to stick pegs next to the plants and stretch the ropes along the balcony wall or to the top of the window. Gherkins need to tie to them. Then they will cling to the rope themselves. From time to time, feed the seedlings with mineral fertilizers, on daylight days, light up with fluorescent lights. With the collection of ripe cucumbers do not tighten - they slow the growth of other fruits.

That's all the tricks about how to grow a cucumber on the windowsill. Following these recommendations, you can get up to 30 cucumbers from each plant.