Agriculturist discusses reasons for cucumbers becoming bitter, providing instructions for hose replacement, and offering strategies for combating flour mold
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In the world of gardening, maintaining a healthy and bountiful crop is crucial. Here are some tips for growing cucumbers and onions, as well as other useful gardening advice.
Growing Cucumbers
Cucumbers can be sensitive to heat and irregular watering, which can lead to bitterness. To prevent this, ensure your cucumbers are well-watered deeply and consistently, especially during hot weather. Watering in the morning is particularly beneficial when temperatures exceed 85°F (29°C), as it helps sustain moisture levels throughout the day.
Mulching around your cucumber plants can also conserve soil moisture and keep roots cool, reducing the risk of bitterness caused by heat stress. Using shade cloth or other protective covers during extreme heat can further minimize high-temperature damage that can make cucumbers bitter.
Improving soil organic matter can help increase water retention, keeping your plant's water supply stable even in heat periods. Avoid fertilizer or pesticide applications during heat above 80°F (27°C) to reduce plant stress. Selecting heat-tolerant cucumber varieties can also help lessen susceptibility to bitterness caused by heat stress.
Growing Onions
Onion maggots can cause damage to onion plants. To prevent them, consider covering the plants with netting, changing the growing location each year, and ensuring good ventilation.
Other Gardening Tips
- If some bitterness still occurs in your cucumbers, peeling them can help reduce the bitter taste.
- Vermicompost can be made without buying worms by piling up kitchen scraps and partially decomposed plant remains, covering with cloth or plastic.
- In August and fall, you can sow spinach, winter lettuce, arugula, leeks, broccoli, a second wave of potatoes, and various beans.
- Greens like lettuce and spinach bolt quickly and suffer in summer heat, so they should be grown in open ground or shaded areas.
- Tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, and melons are suitable for growing in a greenhouse during summer.
- Spinach leaves remain edible even when the plant bolts, unlike lettuce.
- Watering the paths in a greenhouse can create humidity, making it easier for plants.
- Open-pollinated (heirloom) varieties are more reliable and true to type. It's better to use varieties that have been proven over time as they consistently pass on their qualities.
Remember, insects are important for gardens as they pollinate and protect. Insects such as beetles and birds can help control onion maggots, making them beneficial companions in your garden.
To avoid sunburn in a greenhouse in summer, consider opening the doors and windows, hanging netting outside, using special whitewash, or covering the glass with yogurt. If you have a furry friend that loves to nibble on strawberries, put up a temporary barrier to keep them out of your garden.
Lastly, it's not recommended to save seeds from F1 hybrids due to unstable offspring. Stick to open-pollinated varieties for a more consistent garden harvest.
Happy gardening!
A healthy lifestyle that integrates home-and-garden activities can be significantly improved by implementing gardening techniques, such as watering cucumbers consistently and deeply to prevent bitterness, or covering onion plants with netting to protect them from maggots. Moreover, creating vermicompost can be beneficial for one's garden and home-grown produce.
