Allotments 4 All

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I bought some Cucumber seed - Merlin variety and have a healthy plant growing in the greenhouse. However it is only about 2 foot high and doesn't seem to want to continue up the netting I have set up for it although it does produce cucumbers at the nodes.
Have I bought a variety that is smaller than usual?
The seed companies that sell it don't give any information about the height or suggest it is anything other than a standard climbing variety.

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After 10 years of raspberries I’ve decided to remove the canes as the fruits are increasingly bland, and it is a bit of a bugger to keep them weed free as they weren't planted in neat rows. I want to replace them with blackberries which I much prefer and would like to know if I should be doing anything particular to the soil and when the best time to plant them would be. Many thanks for all the comments

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A friend of mine had her niece come to stay with her.  She opted to help with the watering and my friend told her not to use the red watering can as it had weedkiller (Sodium Chlorate) in it.  You can guess what happened.....   My friends tomato plants and cucumbers which she grew in the soil in her greenhouse, have all died. 

Does anyone know how long it would be before my friend can grow things in the soil that has been contaminated please?  If she sprayed the area with a hose for several weeks, would this make the ground safe for her plants next Spring? 

My friend is so upset as her tomato plants were over 6ft tall and had lots of large tomatoes on them.   I only have a few weedy ones left as I have planted up the best of them.  I can give her some fruit for her own use when mine ripen but she wanted to put her surplus on the table in our village where donations left go to Cancer Research.   

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For those of us that still struggle on getting compost right, there was a good answer on GQT this week.  First of all, they said sowing compost should be low in fertility (too much sucks the nutrition out of the seed).  Essentially, sowing compost can be “sand with something to hold the moisture – e.g leaf mould”.  I had to listen to that twice to make sure I heard it right.  Potting compost is where the seedling needs nutrition and the recommendation was one big bucket of compost mixed with no more than a teacup of fish bone meal and some wood ash.   My mistake has been in thinking that seed compost was the most nutritious – to get seeds off to a good start – and to use this for potting on.  Always learning…but I’m starting from a very low base.  Good to hear any useful tips on seed/potting compost from growers especially the ratios of the components.  Thanks for all the comments.