Cucumber is a thermophilic plant. Therefore, the first thing for a gardener is to choose the optimal time for sowing cucumbers for seedlings or directly into the ground. There are no uniform rules and dates for sowing, just as it is impossible to indicate exactly what the ideal cucumber day will be for the correct planting of this crop. It all depends on the region, on the weather in this area. And yet, there are general guidelines, knowing when to plant cucumbers, and when not recommended, can increase the chances of a good harvest.

When to plant cucumbers: the necessary conditions for planting

When growing cucumbers, you can use two methods - planting seedlings and planting directly into the ground. In the first case, the cucumbers are sown with seeds, in the second they are planted in a permanent place with seedlings. The methods are only good when the soil is warmed up to the desired temperature. It is believed that the minimum heating of the earth should be at least 15 degrees, otherwise both the seedlings and the seeds will not survive or will stop developing.

To grow perfectly even cucumbers, you need to sow them on time

Of course, 15 degrees for the growing season of a thermophilic cucumber is clearly not enough, but the daily spring increase in air temperature is taken into account. If the weather is not happy, you can save seedlings or seeds by making a small greenhouse from arcs and covering the beds with film or non-woven covering material.

Important! Warming up to 15 degrees should be at night!

Boarding times may vary by region. So, in the southern regions of Russia, April is suitable for planting, and gardeners in the central part of the country plant cucumbers in the ground around the middle or end of May, while Europeans can plant cucumbers as early as May. Re-planting, for a second harvest, falls on June-July, with such a time frame, you can manage to grow the crop again until October.

It should be borne in mind that both seeds and seedlings must be planted in open ground at about the same time. What exactly to choose depends on the preferences of the gardener himself. However, there is no significant difference. After all, the sown seeds give very fast shoots - already on the second or third day, the seeds soaked before planting hatch and throw out the first shoots. Further, under favorable weather conditions, cucumbers gain green mass and, planted with seeds, quickly catch up with their seedlings "brothers".

Seedlings grow and develop very quickly.

Another prerequisite for planting cucumbers is the looseness of the soil. It is very important to prepare a good, weed-free soil, fertile and capable of holding water. After all, cucumbers, in addition to being a thermophilic culture, also love moisture very much.

The choice of location is also important. Plants need light, sun, but they don't need wind. The ideal weather for them is when it is calm outside, the air temperature is about 25 degrees or slightly higher, and at night the air is warmed up to 15 degrees or more.

Important! Even the smallest frost leads to a halt in the development of cucumbers and damage to them with diseases.

And, of course, they need good care. Despite the fact that the culture as a whole is quite unpretentious, you need to look after carefully and competently.

How to plant cucumbers according to the lunar calendar

When to plant cucumbers and zucchini

Very often summer residents ask one question: when should cucumbers be planted according to the lunar calendar? This is really an urgent problem, because it has long been no secret to anyone that the Moon, being in its different phases, affects the life and development of all living things. Plants react very strongly to its changes.

Taking into account the phases of the moon, sowing calendars-tables are compiled for a variety of garden plants, including cucumbers.

It is necessary to look at which planting day is best for this particular plant and taking into account regional characteristics, and most importantly, try to avoid days prohibited for sowing and planting. Typically, these are days when the full moon comes or when 12 hours have not passed before or after it.

In addition to the days, favorable and forbidden for planting, the lunar calendar helps to understand the peculiarities of plant development depending on lunar activity. So, the lunar phases also affect the growth of cucumbers:

  • in the 1st phase, intensive growth of plant roots can be expected;
  • in the 2nd phase, the aboveground, visible part of the cucumber seedling develops;
  • in the 3rd phase, the root system grows again;
  • The 4th phase is responsible for the growth of the aerial part.

New moon and full moon fall on the first and second phases, during these periods the plants feel all processes on themselves faster than in phases 3 and 4. Thus, following this logic, one should try to sow seeds or plant seedlings at the moment when the night star begins to move from the first to the second phase, or leaves the third to the fourth.

It is better to take care of plants taking into account the lunar characteristics. So, in the first and third phases, the best time is when you can plant cucumbers, water them and feed them. And in the second and fourth phase, it is good to do weeding, spraying.

Favorable days for planting cucumbers in May (calendar)

Each year, a calendar of planting garden crops is drawn up for the year and for each separate month. By it you can find out exactly when to plant cucumbers: in May or another month.

Favorable days for planting cucumbers in May 2018.

When to plant cucumbers under film

Auspicious days for planting cucumbers are marked in green, prohibited ones are highlighted in red.

It should be remembered that the recommendations of the lunar calendar do not take into account the specific weather conditions of each specific region. therefore, it is better if the gardener looks for a zoned calendar for himself, in which dates are given taking into account local conditions. Or he will make himself an amendment for the climate of his region. So, the calendar of central Russia will differ significantly from the calendar of the southern regions.

Important! The main indicators are still air and ground temperatures.

Basically, sowing and planting is carried out in the following terms:

  • in late April - early May, it is recommended to sow seeds and plant seedlings in a greenhouse;
  • in mid-May - at the end of May, plant seeds in the open field;
  • from late May to early June, seedlings can be planted in the ground and under a film in a greenhouse.

In areas with unstable weather conditions, the greenhouse must be maintained throughout the season.

Planting a cucumber according to folk signs

Lunar calendars were invented not so long ago, however, folk experience allows you to navigate with the time of landing. The so-called popular omen collects a generalized experience of observing the weather, which suggests how ready the earth is to receive the seed, how the wind will behave and whether the sun will warm.

When to plant cucumbers in a greenhouse in the Moscow region

Of course, you should not rely entirely on folk signs, they are just a tribute to the past time and a guide to how to correctly understand the world around us. And yet the wisdom of hundreds of years of weather observation is beneficial when planting plants. Moreover, in different regions, folk ingenuity and wisdom are used in different ways.

There are certain days when it was customary to plant cucumbers. For example, in the regions of the Volga region, it is common to plant cucumbers on Yegoryev's day. This is May 6, and for the Volgograd, Saratov, Voronezh regions this day was quite suitable for sowing.Recently, however, the weather has been surprising with its unpredictability, and therefore the timing of seeding in open ground is sometimes shifted, and very much.

It is interesting! The well-being and the very life of our ancestors depended very much on the results of their agricultural labor. If there is no good harvest, there will be no food and feed for livestock. Therefore, increasing yields was achieved in different ways. Sometimes completely surprising and incomprehensible to our contemporary.

So, they tried to hide the bed with cucumbers from prying eyes, the first cucumbers were not shown to strangers, and the very first cucumber was not eaten, but buried in the soil - such was the sign that promised a rich harvest. It was a kind of sacrifice made to the patron of the cucumber business, Falalei. By the way, there is even such a national holiday - Falalei-Borage Day, this is June 2. It's hard to believe, but in the Stavropol and Rostov villages, where the traditional craft is gardening and agriculture, you can still find such signs and beliefs to this day.

But if we cast aside superstitions and turn to the national sowing calendar, you can see a lot of interesting and useful things. So, many believe that the sowing of any plants must be completed before Trinity, after which the crops sown in the ground will no longer have time to go through all the stages of the growing season and will not yield a harvest. Is this so when it comes to cucumbers?

Probably, there is some truth in this, but we must remember that, firstly, the Trinity is not in number, its date can fluctuate very significantly, and therefore it is not very reasonable to be guided by this time. Secondly, there are regions, especially the south of Russia, where they manage to harvest not one, but at least two crops of cucumbers. So there is time to plant, and grow, and collect beautiful autumn cucumbers, especially if you plant them under a greenhouse polycarbonate or greenhouse film.

Fact! Folk omens work well in some regions and fail in others.

Finally, from the time of birth, the climate, and varieties of cucumbers, and cultivation technologies have changed so much that it is possible to fully follow the advice of a century ago, but with caution.

There is, however, another, religious component of the ban on sowing after the Trinity. The fact is that after this holiday, Orthodox Christians celebrated another significant religious holiday, called Spiritual Day. On this day, it was believed that people should bow down and honor the earth like a mother-nurse. And therefore, plowing, loosening, doing something with it was still considered sacrilege. That is why it was customary in Russia to prohibit all earthwork on this day, and then carry out sowing in the future.

It takes a lot of work to grow such cucumbers.

Those times are long gone, but the opinion that it is impossible to plant agricultural crops after Trinity lives among the population.

And yet, what holidays and significant days in the planting of cucumbers does the folk calendar carry? The first day in May to plant this crop was Job, May 19.

  • Planting on Job was considered a good thing, since the night was warm, and therefore the sprouted cucumbers should be sown directly in the garden, although for insurance it was still recommended to cover the planting with rags for several days at night.
  • Isidor - aka Sidor, was the name of another useful day for planting cucumbers. This is May 27, according to him the harvest was predicted. Clearly for Sidor - to be with cucumbers.
  • Pakhomov day fell on May 28, the most auspicious day, which was also popularly called Martha the cucumber. Together with cucumbers, this day was recognized as good for sowing flax and spring wheat.
  • June 2, as mentioned above, was the day of Falalei, in different versions - Philip. Later it was not advised to sow, as the August frosts could damage the development of the bushes. Moreover, when it rained on Falalea, it was a messenger that the month would, on the contrary, be dry. And if a lot of cones are seen on a pine tree on Falaleev's day, this will be a sign to numerous cucumbers.
  • There was also Leonty, it falls on June 5th. After it, they stopped planting in the ground, but if they planted it on that day, then you could get a lot of the most delicious cucumbers. Our ancestors believed in this.
  • August 17 is the day for Evdokia. By this time they had not planted planting, but the harvest was already being harvested. The nights are getting colder, the morning is damp, the harvest is ripe, and you can begin to prepare for the new season.

When planting cucumbers is not recommended

Summing up, it should be recalled that it is not recommended to plant and sow cucumbers on full moon days and in the hours around it. You should not take the risk and rush to sowing if warm and stable weather has not been established without night frosts.

In addition, you need to carefully monitor the seedling planting time.

On a note! Seedlings can outgrow very quickly, and then all efforts can go down the drain.

The overstretched seedlings become weakened, it takes time to recover after being transferred to a new place. The rule is that after sowing, seedlings must be planted in the ground no later than 2-3 weeks later. The greenhouse, of course, must be prepared in advance.

Observance of the terms of planting and planting of cucumbers will help to grow an excellent harvest of zelents.

Such simple recommendations will be useful in determining the most correct time for sowing seeds and planting seedlings in a greenhouse.