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Many people love to dig in the ground in their backyard, especially this craving manifests itself with age. Of course, you can go to a country house on a fine day, or even better live there all summer. But, unfortunately, not everyone can afford such a work rest. The reason is simple, many simply do not have this piece of land on which to rest their souls. How can you replace summer cottage work in your apartment?
Even if a good rest does not work out, you can always arrange a small vegetable garden on your windowsill or balcony.
Perhaps it seems like a difficult task, to equip such a garden in your apartment, and, in your opinion, besides flowers in pots, no vegetables will grow, this myth dissipates very quickly. There are a huge number of examples of how you can grow everything on a windowsill - from tomatoes and cucumbers to onions and radishes. Although the most difficult thing will be with cucumbers, we will try to disclose the issue of growing them in our apartment as broadly as possible. We will pay special attention to which varieties of cucumbers are the best for growing on the windowsill.
Possibilities of home beds
All the frustrations associated with unsuccessful attempts to grow cucumbers in an apartment can most often be associated with ignorance of the rules for caring for a plant, it can lead to the involuntary destruction of the plant in the early stages of its life. It is not enough to know how to choose the right land mixture, you need to understand which varieties are most suitable for it. There are the best hybrid bands to look out for:
- Natasha F1;
- Masha F1;
- Spring F1;
- Marinda F1.
Especially the F1 Springs fell in love with apartment dachants, it can be safely called the best masterpiece of the selection activity of Moldovan specialists.
It has been bearing fruit steadily for ten years, and its resistance to diseases allows even beginners not to spoil the first harvest.
The problem of growing cucumbers in an apartment
A negative feature of growing vegetables on the windowsill can be called the problem of the area they occupy, because usually plants grow much wider in width than in height, and that is why cucumbers stand out favorably from their competitors, but in addition to the convenience of growing them, there are other advantages over other fruits.
- The cucumber is a shade-tolerant plant, if not shade-loving. They will not suffer from insufficient lighting on the windowsill during the winter season.
- The ratio of the occupied area and the yield issued exceeds any of the vegetables that can be grown in an apartment;
- The rate of fruit ripening from the moment of planting is 4 - 5 weeks, no other vegetables will give such a result.
The process of selecting varieties for the windowsill
Grow varieties cucumbers for the windowsill you can far from any, but in order to understand which varieties are better to choose for a home garden, it is worthwhile to figure out a little what, in general, varieties are and what they are used for.
- Self-pollinating - a variety of cucumbers in which both female and male sexual characteristics are present, in other words, there are pistils and stamens, as the name implies, they are pollinated independently;
- F1 hybrids - the result of crossing two varieties, obtained in special agricultural laboratories. It should be borne in mind that only the first generation of such hybrids can be used, because they do not give seed material;
- Bee-pollinated - the name speaks for itself, for the fruit set, they need insects;
- Parthenocarpic - cucumbers that do not require any pollination, like the F1 group, there are no seeds in their fruits.
But plants are divided not only by the properties of pollination, they can also be divided into groups according to the way they are eaten:
- Salad - the fruit has a thin skin, it can be easily eaten without peeling, such varieties are still characterized by the light color of the thorns;
- Salting - a feature of this subspecies, one can call good properties for pickling, their peel absorbs brine well, but it should be borne in mind that it is better to pickle such cucumbers immediately after picking, because they do not lie long after picking, after they begin to turn yellow and acquire bitterness;
- Universal - these are, perhaps, the best cucumbers for planting on the windowsill, they can be salted or eaten raw, their thorns are usually black.
Useful tips for apartment beds
What are the best varieties to choose for planting on the windowsill? Here are some tips to help you:
- Pay attention to the yield, the higher it is, the naturally more vegetables you will collect;
- An important factor will be the whimsicality of the plant, because in winter you can observe a rather dry climate in apartments, and they love moisture, and a small amount of lighting can also negatively affect some varieties.
- Dimensions - find out if this variety is characterized by strong growth, you can choose those that will not turn your home into a jungle;
- A good solution for the window sill is the choice of one of the hybrids, they are the most unpretentious and bear fruit in apartments, without any problems.
The best varieties for growing on a windowsill
From the huge number of cucumbers suitable for growing on the windowsill, we have selected the best for you. Here are a few of those that can be purchased in our country, when buying, you should pay attention to these:
Faust F1
An early ripe hybrid variety, with a female color, does not need pollination, has smooth fruits of medium size, reaching a length of 18 cm, there is no bitterness, can be used for salads.
Hostess F1
It has the best characteristics among analogues in terms of frost resistance; the disadvantages include excessive branching of the plant.
The size of the ripe fruit is about 15 cm, covered with black thorns, they can be used both in salad and for pickling;
Zozulya
The best in yield, bear fruit already 45 days after planting, cucumbers reach 21 cm in length, are decorated with white thorns.
The variety has a medium branchiness, it is used mainly for salads, although it can also be eaten lightly salted.
Masha F1
it parthenocarpic hybrid cucumbers, ripen, like the best varieties in 45 days, these cucumbers can be classified as universal, since they can be salted and eaten raw.
Ekaterina F
You can harvest for a very long time, no other varieties can compete with Catherine in this. They have a titanic size of up to 24 cm, from one bush, thus, you can collect up to 18 kg of cucumbers.
It manages to ripen almost at the same time as the best varieties, in terms of early maturity - on average, the ripening period is up to 50 days. Little susceptible to any disease and frost. It can be used for preservation, but the best taste appears when eaten raw.
Window-balcony F1
It has a smooth skin and a light green color. He is not afraid of any temperature drops in the apartment, and he tolerates illness well.
A specially bred variety for planting in an apartment, female flowers, you can harvest the first crop already on the 55th day, after planting. Only Ekaterina has the best yield indicators, from one bush of these cucumbers, you can collect up to 15 kg. The fruit reaches a length of 16 cm.
Onega F1
Perhaps the best variety in terms of ripening speed (only 38 days).
His vine is also small-branched, the fruits are very small, up to 80 grams, excellent for salting and pickling, we can say that this variety, if not the best in everything, then certainly has no competitors among pickled cucumbers.
