According to the folk calendar - Timofey Gryadochnik

Timofey Gryadochnik is celebrated according to the folk calendar on June 2 (May 20, old style) So the day is named in honor of St Timothy, the Prince of Pskov, whose memory is commemorated by Orthodox believers on this day The story of Timothy began in the 13th century in Lithuania, he was born into a family of pagan princes, and bore the name Dovmont Fleeing persecution, he stopped in Pskov, where he converted to Orthodoxy and changed his name Pskov became his second homeland The prince defended the Pskov lands, helped his subjects, and built churches Timofey was popularly nicknamed the Gardener, since the peasants devoted this day to work in the garden, clearing the beds of weeds, watering and planting seedlings They prayed to Saint Timothy for successful seedlings in the garden beds If they saw withered plants, they said that they were affected by the evil eye, and to protect and restore them, the plants were sprayed with sacred water The second name of the date was Falale borage, so people dedicated the day to cucumbers In the northern regions, their seedlings were planted in the ground However, it was worth doing this at dawn in secret from relatives and neighbors, so that no one would jinx it The women planted the first bed in silence, and if anyone asked, they answered that they were pulling out the weeds They even tried not to tear up the grass around the cucumber beds, so that no one would find out about them In the southern regions, cucumbers were in bloom and were producing their first ovaries To protect against the evil eye, housewives picked the first cucumber and buried it at the end of the garden, reading out the spell In order to determine the future yield of the plant, they counted the cones on the nearest spruce tree - the number of them, the number of cucumbers that would grow To ensure that the cucumbers were sweet, without bitterness, I tried to care for them properly It was believed that the bitterness in cucumbers appears from sharp fluctuations in temperature and drought, so they were watered more often and hidden from the sun's rays However, excess moisture and cold could also cause bitterness The cucumber bed was also sprinkled with last year's manure If it rained on Timofey Gryadochnik, the residents prepared for a hot summer In addition, rain on Timothy announced snowfall exactly six months later The buzz of bees on the mountain ash promised clear days The mooing of a cow at sunset predicted impending bad weather