In the garden of every gardener, there is such a thing as weeds. Which should be removed immediately! But there are times when it is simply a pity to tear out the weed, because it blooms very beautifully, has well-expressed decorative qualities. Sometimes it looks crazy, but sometimes it happens.
One of these weeds is squirting cucumber... So it was called by the people for the interesting shape of the fruits, which are small 5-9 cm round-oval green hedgehogs with soft long spines... After ripening, tremendous pressure is created inside the fruit, and dark brown, almost black seeds, together with the liquid in which they are located, break out, flying off to a distance of 10 meters.
The origin of the name cucumber
According to historians, this vegetable crop appeared in the tropical regions of India 6,000 years ago. The Bible calls it an Egyptian vegetable. Later, this herbaceous annual plant began to be planted in Greece, Rome, and Central Europe.
For your information! The image of a cucumber along with grapes is present in the paintings on the walls of the Dahir el-Bars temple in the USA.
It is now the most common vegetable on earth. The world leader in its cultivation belongs to China, they produce about 60 million tons of cucumbers per year. This accounts for three quarters of all world production. The second place is taken by Russia. Now this greenhouse crop is successfully grown in Sweden, Norway, in the south of Canada.
Cucumber straight from the garden
The cucumber got its name from the word "aguros", which translated from Greek means "immature". This emphasized that it should be consumed unripe. Its name is consonant in other languages. For example:
- anguria - in Byzantium;
- cucumber - in Poland;
- ogirok - in Ukraine;
- gurke - in Germany;
- cleaning - in Hungary (which means "frequent collection").
In Russia, by decree of Peter the Great in the 17th century. in with. Izmailovo, two largest vegetable farms were created, where cabbage, melons and everyone's favorite cucumbers were cultivated. Now in Russia 10-12% of all vegetable crops are allocated for these green, whether berries, or vegetables, and in greenhouses they occupy up to 70% of all areas.
Harvesting cucumbers
Seed collection
Collect the seed pods in September. After a couple of weeks, they will open and you can pick up the seeds. They are dried for 3-4 days and placed in paper bags in which they can be stored.
Fruits are harvested not only for planting new plants, but also so that sprouts do not appear in an unnecessary place. By shooting seeds several meters away, the rabid cucumber can expand its territory, from where it will be difficult to remove them later. Therefore, weeding several times a month does not hurt.
Useful properties and contraindications
Cucumbers practically do not contain proteins and carbohydrates, 95% of their composition belongs to water. However, they are very useful for people suffering from the following diseases:
- gout;
- obesity;
- liver, kidneys;
- cardiovascular.
The fiber they contain improves intestinal motility, potassium and magnesium have a beneficial effect on the work of the heart and kidneys, silicon improves the condition of hair and nails, strengthens joints and bones.
For your information! Organic substances, which the vegetable is rich in, improve metabolism, the body's ability to assimilate other foods, remove harmful cholesterol and toxins from the body, thereby preventing the development of atherosclerosis.
The vitamins contained in cucumbers energize the body, strengthen the immune system, and phenolic compounds help prevent diseases of ovarian, prostate, breast and uterine cancers, have a great impact on the health of the body.
Important! Not everyone can eat this amazing vegetable.
It is contraindicated in people with:
- increased acidity of gastric juice;
- gastritis;
- stomach ulcer.
The reason lies in its ability to increase acidity.
Medicine in the garden
The wanderings of the prickly fruit: how a mad cucumber got to Eurasia
Echinocystis is a Native American. The homeland of this liana is the territory of North America. The peoples inhabiting this continent have long used the mad cucumber as a cure for many diseases. Despite the fact, by the way, that the vine is considered poisonous. It is noteworthy that the prickly fruit came to the territory of Eurasia at the beginning of the 19th century. Although, perhaps even earlier, no evidence of an earlier entry to our continent has survived.
It is believed that the prickly fruit was brought directly from Canada to Siberia, from where its journey to the east began. During the Second World War, the plant spread to Western Europe. By the way, the liana came to our country from somewhere from there. Perhaps from Germany. Perhaps from Austria. It is not known for certain.
By the end of World War II, the Americans brought Echinocystis to the territory of the former Soviet Union again. And it was from that moment that the popularization of the mad cucumber began. The plant has become so in demand that until the end of the 90s of the last century it could be found in any summer cottage. Then they forgot about him, but this did not affect the viability of the prickly fruit. It turned out that the mad cucumber can exist freely without human intervention. True, in this case, he runs wild rather quickly.
A little more time passed - and Echinocystis moved closer to the water: to the banks of rivers, lakes and other natural and artificial reservoirs. Therefore, today a mad cucumber can easily be found in coastal zones - where, relatively speaking, a gardener and a gardener have never set foot.
Crazy Cucumber is an aggressor plant. It confidently fights with trees and shrubs for territory and is able to easily survive them from the place that the prickly plant has chosen.
Cucumber is a berry or vegetable
There is still a debate about what a cucumber is. The cucumber belongs to the Pumpkin family and can easily be called a berry. However, the encyclopedia classifies it as a vegetable.
For your information! In India, cucumber was considered a fruit, in Pakistan - a berry.
The debate about whether a cucumber is a fruit or a vegetable continues. But no matter what category it belongs to, it will always remain the most widespread and favorite food product for the population.
Botanical description of the prickly fruit
The prickly carp is one of the brightest and most charismatic representatives of the Pumpkin family. Even without knowing this, it is easy to guess about the relationship between pumpkin and mad cucumber. Echinocystis's stems are as tenacious and creeping as those of congeners. If you plant a mad cucumber near any vertical support (absolutely any), then he will master it extremely quickly and crawl up.
Both male and female flowers are present on the echinocystis bush. The first are smaller, collected in loose inflorescences. The latter, on the contrary, are much larger. The fruit of echinocystis is pumpkin, which, as it ripens, is cleared of bluish bloom and becomes full-fledged green. The length of the pumpkin usually does not exceed 6 cm.
The fruit is quite soft at first.Under the peel is a slimy flesh and two seeds that can be used to propagate vines. After fully ripening, the pumpkins burst, multiplying independently by sending ripe seeds directly into the ground.
Rabid cucumber is a quite logical popular nickname for the prickly fruit. If it rains for several days, then the fruit of this vine is saturated with moisture and eventually bursts loudly due to internal pressure, due to which its seeds fly away at rather large distances from the mother bush.
Sizes of cucumbers
The size of the cucumber depends on the variety of this crop. There is a generally accepted state standard, where the sizes of various varieties and hybrids of cucumbers are prescribed in accordance with their purposes. The fruits are subdivided into the following sizes:
- short-fruited group I - no more than 11 cm;
- short-fruited group II - no more than 14 cm;
- medium-fruited and long-fruited - no more than 25 cm.
For pickles, small cucumbers are used with sizes:
- pickles - 3-5 cm;
- group I gherkins - 5.1-7 cm;
- group II gherkins - 7.1-9 cm;
- Zelentsy - no more than 11 cm.
Note! Overgrown fruits are not used for conservation. They go to salads, completely yellowed - to feed livestock and poultry.
When salting, housewives often wonder how much a medium-sized cucumber weighs, since recipes often contain not weight, but quantity. It is believed that the average weight of this vegetable is 70-90 g.
Preservation in banks
Features of growing crops
The description of the cucumber states that it is an annual herb that loves loose, well-fertilized soil that is high in oxygen and organic matter. The best part of the garden for them is the one where cabbage grew last year.
Fertilize the ground in the fall when digging. Fresh manure can cause mottling and the fruit will taste bitter. Lime is added to acidic soil in autumn. The trellis are set to the width of the passage, a wire or twine is pulled between them. When the first leaves appear from the seeds, the plants must be thinned out, leaving 2-3 seedlings in the hole.
For your information! If thinning is not done in time, the seedlings will quickly stretch upward, exposing themselves to diseases.
This kind of culture feels best on a trellis. This makes it easier to care for him, picking fruits, airing. Being a heat-loving plant, the culture does not like drafts; its cultivation requires a fairly high humidity of the air (up to 80%) and soil (up to 90%), in greenhouses the humidity should reach 100%.
Late-ripening varieties require pinching over 4-5 leaves. Modern hybrids do not need pollination, pinching, this is the so-called female type. If the top is removed from the main stem of the hybrid, the plant will not grow for a long time.
You can plant cucumbers with dry, germinated seeds or seedlings. Seedlings are transplanted into open ground, after three true leaves appear on the stem. This will promote early ripening and faster harvesting.
The soil near the roots is loosened and covered with grass or straw from drying out. Flowers that appear at the base of the lashes must be removed. After planting, the plant requires daily watering. When the third leaf appears, watering is reduced to 2-3 times a week.
Note! Water preferably with warm water in the evenings.
Often summer residents wonder why their favorite cucumbers disappear. The reason may be low temperature and high humidity. Under such conditions, the root system dies off.
Cucumbers on a trellis
Echinocystis in landscape design
The easiest option is to fire up the vine with a wall. To do this, we tie a strong thread to the stem of a newly emerged plant and tie it to a crossbar hung over a strip of young plants. As it grows, the plant will cling to adjacent strings with antennae, thereby creating a wall.It will help shelter from the sun's rays in hot weather. At the same time, he echinocystis is not afraid of the sun.
Echinocystis along the fence.
Another option is to put plants on the pillars of the gazebo. To do this, we also tie a thread to the stem of a young plant and stretch it along the wall of the arbor. When the prickly plant grows, it will completely cover the wall of the gazebo.
Echinocystis growing on the pillars of the arbor.
The most creative idea - with the help of echinocystis, you can build a small hut both for children and just for the sake of beauty. This is not at all difficult to do.
A hut for children.
We will drive a stake into the ground. Its height should correspond to the height of the future ceiling of the hut. At the top of the stake, drive in a certain number of small carnations. This is the number of ropes that will come from the plants. The more plants participate in the formation of the hut, the denser its walls will be. So, at a certain radius in a circle at an equal distance from each other, we plant plants. From them we let the ropes go to the end of the post. Don't forget about the entrance... To do it, you just need to skip a few plants in a convenient place. In a month, when the echinocystis grows, a beautiful green hut will appear on your site!
