ComputerHunter.org |
|
|
|||
|
 |
How to Grow Cucumbers
The versatile cucumber (cucumis sativus) is tasty pickled, in a salad, as a salad, in a sandwich, or just eaten raw. How to grow cucumbers depends largely in part on how you plan to eat them. Cucumbers come in over 120 varieties that range from small picklers to large slicers and from dark green to the yellow of the lemon cucumber. They come "burped" or burpless, seeded or without seeds. Originating in India where they have been cultivated for over 3,000 years, the cucumber is a quick growing subtropical vine. In fact, many varieties of cucumber are ready to harvest after 50 days. However, some gardeners shy away from learning how to grow cucumbers because of their peculiar pollination habits. The traditional cucumber produces both a male (staminate) and a female (pistillate) blossom. Male blossoms appear first and soon drop from the vine without bearing fruit. However, the vines soon bloom again with both male and female flowers and continue blooming throughout the growing season. Cucumber vines bear fruit in abundance as long as you harvest them before they reach full maturity. Relatives of squash, melons, and pumpkins, there are a variety of ways to learn how to grow cucumbers. Grow them in hills, in rows along a wire trellis, or train your cucumber vines to climb a wall or wooden trellis. In addition to growing directly in the garden, cucumbers make an attractive container plant. The cucumber is an appealing plant with lovely blossoms that permeate the air with the heady fragrance of - what else? - cucumbers! When getting ready to learn how to grow cucumbers in your garden, it's best to prepare the soil about a month ahead of planting them. Cucumbers are not good at competing for space and nutrients. Remove weeds and spade in rich organic material. You'll have plenty of time to do this, since cucumbers are subtropical vines that prefer the sunny days and balmy nights of summertime. Seeds need about an 80F temperature to germinate, but then will do so in four to five days. Although seeds can be planted directly into the garden, cucumbers can also be started indoors for transplanting. If you use peat pots to start the seed, you can bury the whole pot in the garden lessening the risk that you'll damage the tender vines. Once established, in addition to keeping the fruit cleaner, a layer of mulch in your cucumber patch minimizes weed growth and helps your soil retain moisture. Although cucumbers hate wet feet and won't grow in standing water, the more moisture they can absorb the juicier and sweeter they will be. Harvest cucumbers at whatever size you like, as long as you don't wait for them to turn yellow (unless they are a yellow variety). Once they begin to turn yellow, they're past their prime. Flavor turns bitter and the fruit begins to dry out. Besides, frequently picking your cukes will promote more prolific blossoming resulting in larger harvests. About The Author Hans is gardener and owner of Gardening-Guides.com and Patio-Furniture-Ideas.com.
Google News - Top Stories
|
|
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
A Guide for Servicing Your Chainsaw Chainsaws provide many years of service for very little upkeep. Taking the time to service your chainsaw will help ensure that your equipment will not let you down. For safety reasons, make sure you only service your chainsaw when it is fully cooled, with the spark plug disconnected. If you are working with an electric chainsaw make sure it is unplugged first of all. You should also wear gloves and protection for your eyes. Do You Know About A Bamboo Orchid Bamboo Orchid Plant Are My Grapes Ready to Harvest? This is the time of the year that I keep hearing the question "When do I harvest my grapes?" Or sometimes the question is phrased "Are my grapes ripe yet?" And then there's the "Are they ready yet?" Orchid Care - What The Root Tells Us Orchid Care Part 4 Diseases of the Roots The Flower Garden in August Our flower garden in August can be brimming with activities we can do at this time of year, as we can for most of the year. We have some flower gardening tips to give you and some experiments to try. Feel free to send us your own flower gardening tips for any time of the year. Starting Seedlings Indoors Unless you have access to a greenhouse, or something like it, those living in cooler climates will have to start seedlings indoors if they are to take full advantage of their growing season. Hot Feeding Tips Summer is the most enjoyable water gardening season and the time to watch for potential problems caused by high water temperatures during extreme or extended hot periods. February in the Garden Often in February there is a surprisingly warm day. Everybody sheds their coats and puts a bounce in their step. The next day they hear a snow plow at 4 AM. But the brief warmup gets you thinking "what is there to do in the landscape?" All About Hybrid Tea Roses Hybrid tea roses and the original tea rose are the worldâ??s favourite roses and are available in many gorgeous colors. Store Your Outdoor Furnishings to Make Them Last In many parts of North America, the end of "porch season" has arrived. Whether you're clearing out for some oncoming bad weather, closing up the cottage for the season, beating the vandals on devil's night, or just retreating to your nest for the winter, you'll want to store away all of your outdoor items with maximum care. Choosing the Right Roses for Your Garden The selection of roses you can grow in your home garden is enormous. With so many to choose from, finding just the right ones may seem more like work than play. To make this process easier, here are a few important factors to help you narrow down your field of choices. Spice up Your Garden with Rare Flowering Bulbs Any experienced gardener knows the secret to a beautiful garden is in the bulbs. Flowering bulbs are usually quite hardy and undemanding and can provide the most amazing shower of spring and summertime colors. Bulbs naturally package all the essentials they need to flourish and grow. All that's required is warming temperatures to bring the bulbs out of dormancy. The great thing about bulbs is the wide variety of colors and shapes you can produce. How to Grow Chocolate Cosmos Chocolate cosmos (Cosmos atrosanguinea) is both nose and eye candy for your garden. When it's in full bloom, mature blossoms on long, slender stems look like candy kisses on a stick and fill the late afternoon with the sweet scent of vanilla tinged chocolate. New blossoms hug the foliage of the plant, nearly concealing it with their numbers! Add to that the sweet chocolate fragrance and you end up with something very special. What is Compost Tea? Organic gardeners all know compost is fantastic stuff. But now, there's something even better and that's compost tea. If you start with a good compost you'll have a versatile elixir for all your garden needs. Compost tea helps prevent foliage diseases and at the same time increase the nutrients to the plant and shutdown the toxins hurting the plants. It will improve the taste/flavor of your vegetables. So why not give this tea a try either by buying it or brewing it yourself. You won't believe the results! Laying Out Your New Landscape When planning your new landscape, the first place to start is by driving around your neighborhood and seeing what other people have done with their landscapes. Bring a sketch pad or digital camera to record things you like. Your next stop is your local nursery or garden center. Look at what plants do well in your area. Look at any displays they have setup to get an idea of which plants work well together. And don't be afraid to ask questions. Three Stumbling Blocks to Growing Grapes in the Backyard Are you one of those home gardeners that don't know the three stumbling blocks to successfully growing grapes in your backyard? Don't worry, you're not alone. Guide to Basic Lawn Mower Maintenance Trying to start your lawn mower after a long winter can be very frustrating. Performing a few routine maintenance tasks before you store your lawn mower for the winter can save you time in the spring, prolong the life of your lawn mower, and save you money over the long run. Even if you have already put your lawn mower into storage for the winter, a few simple maintenance tasks performed before starting your lawn mower in the spring can be very beneficial. Pressure Washing Decks A beautiful wooden deck, properly maintained, can add greatly to the aesthetic and resale values of a home. Selling Your House? Mow Your Lawn! A property that has a well manicured lawn has one of the best chances at showing pride in ownership than any other outdoor technique. Landscaping Design - The Primary Principles Principles refer to standards or prescriptions for working with or arranging various elements to produce the intended landscape design. Good landscape design follows a combination of seven principles: unity, balance, proportion, focalization or emphasis, sequence or transition, rhythm, and repetition.
|
|
|
|
|
