Room "garden": how to grow cucumbers on the balcony

It is good to eat fresh vegetables for a year, but this is often impossible due to the climatic features of the region. Most solve this problem by building greenhouses, but not everyone has the opportunity to build such a structure. Plants can be grown in room conditions. Do you want to know how to grow cucumbers on a balcony? For a successful result, several simple but important points must be observed.

Preparation of seeds before sowing

To make the plants strong, and there were many ovaries of female flowers, from which the fruits of cucumbers actually develop, the seeds should be subjected to special treatment with solutions and hardening. The first stage is roasting in a drying oven or in an oven at 60 ° C. Next, the seeds are soaked, exposing them to temperature changes.

In such a matter, how to grow cucumbers on a balcony, it is important to know several variants of compositions from different elements for soaking, such as boric acid (20 mg), methyl blue (300 mg), zinc sulphate (2 g) or soda (500 g). The solution is prepared from one of the listed substances, the indicated amount is calculated for 1 liter of water.

Also for pre-soaking you can use solutions of minerals, for example potassium nitrate (5 g), magnesium sulfate (0.2 g) and superphosphate (10 g) - per liter of water. Seeds should be soaked at room temperature for half a day in gauze pouches. After that they are removed and left until the first sprouts appear. Then the pouches are put in the refrigerator, where the temperature should be about -2 ° C, and they hold about 6 hours.

Soil preparation for seedlings

In order to be aware of how to grow cucumbers on the balcony, it will be superfluous to learn that it is better to grow the seedlings of these plants first. And for these purposes, you need to properly prepare the soil. It is prepared from a special ratio or humus (4), peat (5) and sawdust (1), or humus (7), Mullein (1) and sod land (2).

Also the prepared version of the mixture should be enriched with mineral fertilizers: ammonium nitrate (10 g), potassium chloride (5 g) and superphosphate (10 g). Such soil should be placed in cups of paper and placed in a well-lit and ventilated room. Pass the seeds of cucumbers one by one into a glass, watered regularly.

Growing seedlings

When the first leaf appears on the seedlings, you need to make a fertilizing. To do this, prepare a mixture of the above mineral fertilizers in a ratio of 8: 10: 15, diluting them in 10 liters of water. Repeatedly, this procedure should be performed after 14 days, doubling the concentration of the solution. To water should be warm water, so that the land is not dry. Seedlings can be heated with special lamps. Also it is necessary to consider, that cucumbers are sensitive to drafts. After 20-22 days of growing seedlings, cucumbers are planted on the balcony in the main containers.

Preparation and transplantation

Perhaps, many know how to grow cucumbers on the balcony, but there are some moments, knowledge of which will increase the success of this case:

• As a permanent container, you need to use large pots or special wooden boxes, on the bottom of which it is necessary to lay a layer of gravel.
• The soil should be enriched with nutrients (humus and minerals), and before planting, pour water at room temperature.
• Disembark the seedlings with a clod of earth.
• Over plants, you need to build supports for climbing stems.
• Watering and ventilation should be done regularly.
• The access of light should not be limited, it is better to place containers on the south side.
• When the roots are bare, they must be covered with earth. If the color of the leaves is pale, you need to carry out top dressing from the solution of humus and minerals.
• As seeds for planting, self-polluting varieties should be used. If this creates female flowers in excessive amounts, some of them are better cut.

Following simple advice and observing the simple rules of planting, fertilizing and transplanting seedlings, you can grow cucumbers on the balcony. Photos of variants of such "cucumber beds" are available in our article. And you too can create such an oasis at home.