Graceful cucumber: description and characteristics, reviews

Characteristics and description of the variety

The Graceful cucumber was bred by breeder O.V. Yurina in the 60s of the last century. In 1971, the variety was included in the State Register. It is grown in all regions of the country (from the central regions to the Far East).

Russian gardeners prefer to grow this particular variety. Despite the abundance of new crops, the Graceful cucumber has not lost its significance, and this says a lot.

Distinctive features

Graceful - early ripening variety . The first fruits appear 45 days after the seeds sprout.

Belongs to bee pollination . The cucumber produces male flowers, thanks to which the bushes act as a pollinator for other varieties. The plant tolerates frost well, which makes it suitable for planting in open ground at the earliest possible date.

However, the culture is not without its shortcomings. These include: average yield, the presence of white barrels on the fruit, hardening of the skin when overripe.

Composition, properties, benefits, calorie content

Cucumber is a low-calorie product: 100 g contains 14 kcal . Many believe that these fruits help fight excess weight. The substances included in the composition improve digestion and the functioning of the gastrointestinal tract for the digestion of difficult-to-digest foods. For 100 g of cucumber there is:

• water – 95 g;
• dietary fiber – 1 g;
• organic acids – 0.1 g;
• mono- and disaccharides – 2.4 g;
• minerals – potassium (141 mg), calcium (23 mg), magnesium (14 mg), sodium (8 mg), phosphorus (42 mg), iron (0.6 mg);
• vitamins A, B1, B2, B5, B6, B9, C, E, H, PP, beta-carotene, choline;

Thanks to this composition , human skin color improves, kidney function is normalized, and the liver is cleansed.

Attention! People suffering from gastritis and gastric ulcers are not advised to consume cucumbers in large quantities. When pickled, fruits can cause significant harm to the body.

Characteristics

Graceful has the following varietal characteristics :

• The bush is medium-climbing, forms 5-7 side shoots in the form of vines 2-3 m long. Ovaries are formed only when pollinated by bees.
• The fruits are elongated, with thin skin, finely tuberous, juicy green in color. Do not turn yellow during storage. Weight – 90-140 g, length – 8-12 cm.
• The taste is high. The flesh is crispy, juicy and without bitterness.
• Marketable yield – 5-7 kg per 1 sq. m.

About other varieties and hybrids of cucumbers:

Unpretentious, productive and tasty cucumber “Crispina”

Juicy Adam cucumbers with a delicate sweetish taste

Hybrid with a bountiful harvest - “Emerald Earrings” cucumbers

Fresh cucumbers perfectly reveal their taste in summer salads and dishes. Excellent for pickling and marinating.

Cucumber Graceful F1. Gavrish

Preparing the bed for planting

Preparing the site and soil for planting Graceful cucumbers does not differ in original requirements, however, in order to get a decent harvest, it is recommended to follow a number of rules for soil preparation, and do not forget about proper crop rotation .

1. Like other varieties, Graceful is light-loving and demanding of soil and air humidity . The beds must be formed in unshaded areas not blown by the wind. For more efficient plant development, avoid places with low relief: cold accumulates in the lowlands, which depresses them.
2. The most favorable soil for planting is loam and sandy loam, well-fertilized soil with neutral or slightly increased acidity.
3. Like many other varieties, Graceful responds well to the addition of organic matter , so the use of organic fertilizers will have a beneficial effect on productivity.
4. In accordance with the rules of crop rotation, cucumbers will feel great in places where onions, cabbage, tomatoes, and potatoes previously bore fruit. It is extremely undesirable to plant cucumbers after crops belonging to the pumpkin family: watermelons, melons, zucchini and squash.
5. It is better to apply manure to cucumber beds in the fall. Turning into humus, it becomes an easily accessible nutrient for this crop, which has a root system located in the upper layers of the earth.
6. Before sowing, in the spring, it is advisable to fertilize each square meter of bed with 4 kg of humus or compost. At the same time, it is advisable to use ash as a complete substitute for potassium group fertilizers at the rate of 200 grams per square meter of area. If necessary, ammonium nitrate and superphosphate are added to the soil in early spring at 15 and 40 grams per square meter, respectively.
7. To reduce the acidity of the soil, it should be limed . At the same time, we must not forget that liming should not be accompanied by the application of manure, since the reaction between these compounds leads to a decrease in the content of nitrogen components. If anti-acid measures are carried out in the fall, then fertilizers are applied in the spring.

How to grow this variety yourself

There is nothing difficult about planting and caring for the Graceful cucumber. Use our recommendations and advice.

Planting by seeds and seedlings

Option number 1: planting by seed . Sowing in greenhouses occurs in the middle or end of May. Before planting, carry out measures to prepare planting material:

1. Dip the seeds in a 3% solution of table salt. Discard any floating seeds. Reject small ones.
2. Warm the seeds at a temperature of 50-60°C for 2-3 hours.
3. Place them for a day in a humid environment. When the seeds hatch, it’s time to start sowing.

The sequence of actions when planting in the ground is as follows::

1. Add two buckets of humus or rotted manure and 0.5 kg of wood ash (per 1 sq. m) into the soil. Add 10-15 g of ammonium nitrate, 20-25 g of potassium nitrate, 25-30 g of superphosphate in granules.
2. Dig up the soil thoroughly and form a ridge 20-30 cm high above the ground.
3. Pour over warm water.
4. Make holes 1.5 cm deep, following the pattern: the distance between rows is 70 cm, between plants – 30 cm. The result is three seeds per 1 m of bed.
5. Immerse the seeds and sprinkle a little soil.
6. Mulch the soil with humus (half a bucket per 1 sq. m).

Important! When the first leaves appear, the plant will begin to stretch. Add humus and sand under each bush. This way the plant will form correctly and produce new roots.

Planting an Elegant cucumber in a warm bed

Option number 2: seedling method . Sowing of seeds occurs in early May. The timing is calculated so that 25-30 days pass before the plants are planted in open ground.

First of all, prepare the soil and choose containers :

1. The mixture for soil can be taken ready-made or made independently. For the second method, mix 6 parts of rotted manure, 3 parts of earth, 1 part of sand. Additionally, 6 g of urea, 10 g of superphosphate, 6 g of potassium sulfate and 2 g of magnesium sulfate are added per 10 kg of soil.
2. Peat or plastic cups with holes for water drainage are perfect for containers.

Attention! Self-prepared substrate requires disinfection. It is enough to heat it in the oven or scald it with boiling water. Then pour in a 1% solution of potassium permanganate.

The process of planting seeds for seedlings is as follows:

1. Plant one sprouted seed in each container. Planting depth – 2 cm. Spray lightly with water.
2. Cover the plantings with polyethylene and place in a warm place until sunrise. Room temperature – from 23°C to 28°C.
3. When the stems appear, remove the film and spray a little with a spray bottle. Reduce temperature to +20°C.
4. Water the seedlings only with warm water, otherwise they will die.
5. After the first true leaf appears, feed the plant with 7 g of ammonium nitrate, 8 g of potassium sulfate, 15 g of superphosphate. Mix the ingredients in 10 liters of water and add small parts to cups. Repeat the procedure in a week.

The seedlings are planted in open ground when they are one month old and there are four true leaves on the stem. The principles of planting are similar to the seed method.

Important! Sprouts need to be hardened before being sent to a permanent place of growth. It is enough to take them out into the open air for 5-7 days, but protect them from direct sunlight.

Growing in stages and care

The growing process will not cause any difficulties. It is important to monitor the growth of plants and care for them in a timely manner. When the seedlings grow, tie them to a trellis. The variety does not require pinching: the plantings do not form dense bushes.

Plants are watered only with warm water 1-2 times a week , and during flowering and fruiting - 4-5 times a week. Do not wet the leaves, otherwise diseases will develop. Also, do not water cucumbers with cold water: the root system will become sick and the ovaries will die.

Cucumber care

Being a very unpretentious variety, the Graceful cucumber does not require any special cultivation techniques, but it is still necessary to follow the basic rules of care. Since cucumbers are 90% water, the most basic thing you need to successfully grow cucumbers is regular and timely watering. In hot sunny weather, it will be necessary to water the cucumber bushes every day.

Comment! Cucumbers should be watered exclusively with warm water.

For good and abundant fruiting, cucumbers of the Elegant variety also require regular feeding every 10-12 days. It is best to alternate fertilizing with complex mineral fertilizers containing microelements with organic fertilizers.

For cucumber plants of the Graceful variety grown in a greenhouse, it is necessary to ensure free access for bees and other insects for good pollination. Although the Graceful cucumber variety is partially self-pollinating, that is, it has flowers that have both a pistil and stamens. Thus, there will still be a harvest even without insects, but to increase it, it is advisable to attract bees and bumblebees by spraying the bushes with honey or sugar syrup.

Advice! To prepare sweet syrup, dissolve 200 g of sugar or 100 g of honey in half a liter of water.

If there are still few insects, for example, when cucumbers are grown early in greenhouses, then in these cases they often resort to artificial pollination. There is nothing complicated about it. To do this, the male flowers (with stamens) are freed from the petals and the anthers are manually passed along the pistil in the female flowers several times, as in the photo below.

The main technique for obtaining the maximum possible yield, as well as for the prevention of various diseases, is the formation and pruning of Elegant cucumber bushes. After all, cucumber plants have a rather weak root system, and often cannot cope with providing nutrients and water to all the formed ovaries. Some of them may therefore dry out and wither. To prevent this process, it is necessary to remove excess parts from the bush in advance. Since the Izyaschny variety is medium-sized, minimal pruning and shaping is required compared to other more vigorous varieties.

Starting from 4-6 leaves from the bottom, the main stem is pinched, and the growing side shoots are directed to supports, pinned to the ground and partially sprinkled with soil to obtain additional roots. A cucumber bush of the Graceful variety usually forms 5-6 vines, and this technique is often enough to fully ensure the maximum yield of this variety of cucumbers.

Cucumbers should be collected every day if possible to stimulate the formation of new ovaries. With good care, cucumbers can be harvested throughout the summer.

Reviews

Elegant is a variety that is not loved by the first generation of gardeners . Most reviews about it online are positive.

Sergey, St. Petersburg : “Last year I took a nondescript package of Graceful cucumber seeds from the Kolchuga brand. Before planting, I soaked the seeds, and surprisingly they all opened. I didn't take much care of the bushes, but got good results. The fruits are not hollow, their flesh is crispy and tasty - reminiscent of a fresh gherkin. I recommend to all".

Valentina, Omsk : “For a long time I have been looking for varieties that would grow well in our climate. I read reviews about the Graceful cucumber and decided to try it. The result impressed me: the fruits were juicy, crispy, neat and beautiful. All summer we ate fresh salads, and also pickled and salted them.”