Last spring we went to visit relatives in Belarus and brought back from there a method for planting cucumbers in the ground that my aunt, Vera Kirillovna, has been using for several decades.
For planting, she prepares the following components:
- humus,
- wood ash,
- boiling water
- seeds.
The tool used in this operation is known to everyone – it is a shovel.
- Digs a small bed 2 m long and 60–70 cm wide.
- In it, he makes holes in a checkerboard pattern “through the cell”: one, then two and one again. The holes should be at a distance of 60 cm from each other. The soil on our site is heavy, loam, so fertilizers play a big role.
- We prepare each hole as follows: we make a 10 cm deep hole, put a handful of humus, two spoons of ash, a handful of soil down and mix it all.
- Then pour boiling water over this mass, leave for 5-10 minutes and throw in 5-7 cucumber seeds.
- Afterwards, we cover the seeds with soil and do not water them anymore.
- If cold nights are expected, the hole can be covered with film and removed in the morning. And so on until the shoots emerge.
- It is best to water in the evenings, when the sun is hidden and the bed is in shadow.
We immediately tried this method of planting in our garden.
The seeds began to sprout together in a week, despite the fact that we planted seeds with different germination times.
I think that every summer resident has already taken root in his own plot of land with his own seeds of preferred varieties, so I will not give recommendations on the choice.
Belarusians who use this method get such a rich harvest that they pickle cucumbers by the barrel.