Author Topic: Cucumber Management (Read 4412 times)

tim · « **on:** June 20, 2006, 06:35:13 »

Wanted something more explicit than the suppliers' blurb that I normally quote.
I think that these extracts may be of interest? Difference here is that we allow one node on each lateral above 2 feet - as mentioned a while back.

On later thought - I think that folk would be better advised to follow the advice in the link, rather than my practice - which I may change my mind about!!

What surprises me is that our temperature is varying between 54F & 90F & yet we're still growing cus. You mean that we could do better??

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v164/photo04/veg/cumanagement.jpg

These, by the way, are the ones that surprised me by being long!! The bottom one is 11" - picking tomorrow.

shirlthegirl43 · « **Reply #1 on:** June 20, 2006, 16:17:51 »

What lovely cucumbers Tim!! congratulations.

Mine are about 4 inches long and I am sooo excited. I only have a 6 x 4 plastic greenhouse and I was surprised to read in my greenhouse expert book that cucumbers are difficult to grow. I bought the plant from the garden centre and put it in a 10 litre bucket. It is growing. I am feeding it when I feed my tomatoes - also supposedly hard to grow according to the book!!

Heat in the plastic greenhouse is controlled by unzipping the door and rolling it up if it is hot - leaving it all zipped up on a day like today where it feels more like April!! Highly technical!!

This is my first year growing things and I am delighted with it all. Just picked my first potatoes ever! Grown in a 3 gallon bucket. Can't wait to enjoy them smothered in butter!

Happy gardening
Shirley

tim · « **Reply #2 on:** June 20, 2006, 17:34:21 »

Don't know, but I would have thought that in Pembs you would only need to close up on very cool nights. Even here I could get away with leaving everything open in this weather.

Damping down & misting is a help for your cu. Are your toms in there too? They might do better outside if you're going to mollycoddle your cu.

I think that overheating & large fluctuation in temp might be worse than a slight chill.

Well done you!

shirlthegirl43 · « **Reply #3 on:** June 20, 2006, 17:51:43 »

It is darned rough here today. Wind would be blowing straight into the 'greenhouse' and I can picture the whole lot taking off!!

It is cool as well compared to what we have been having.

Everything is happy in there for now anyway. Growing stuff is a big experiment this year and delighted with any successes. Failures will be put down to experience.

I have the cucumber plant closest to the door so on days like today I can unzip just a bit to let the thing breathe. As I say, all happy and great fun.

Thanks for your advice. Off to enjoy those spuds now - whole family excited - first ever home-grown food!

Take care
From wet and wild Pembrokeshire

tim · « **Reply #4 on:** June 21, 2006, 06:54:50 »

You've got wind?

Blew everything apart last night!! 52F in the greenhouse. Maybe just forget my advice??

But showed the downside of fleece - as opposed to mesh - the 1mm of rain only moistened the ground where the fleece had blown off.

And, as I intimated, I've done a partial volte face - or should that read farce!!. Stripped all the side-growths from half the plants. All that energy wasted. We'll see!

shirlthegirl43 · « **Reply #5 on:** June 21, 2006, 08:54:31 »

Plastic greenhouse survived the night - not the worst it has endured although I waited until the end of our usual windy season to put it up. Very impressed by its tenacity!!

Was going to post a piccie but cannot work out how to!!

Spuds were not as nice as I had hoped - I think they had gotten too big - so much for leave them at least 12 weeks and wait for the foliage to die off!! They had been 10 weeks tops and the greenery was still lush and green - will try the other buckets earlier!

Did all that foliage get blown off your cucumbers? Hope they will survive OK.

Fingers crossed,

From dull and chilly, still quite breezy Pembrokeshire

moonbells · « **Reply #6 on:** June 21, 2006, 11:51:23 »

Wish my cues would read the manuals sometimes... having had three off (darn good excuse for Pimm's) the pair of plants are now growing some dozen or so cucumbers at once! :o They are currently about 6" long and I'm feeding the silly plants daily with dilute tom food. These are F1 Tiffany, if anyone wants to take note/avoid!

I expect to be drowning in the things in about a week... have only just managed to get through the last three :-\

moonbells

tim · « **Reply #7 on:** June 21, 2006, 12:01:09 »

mb - make some Delia pickle!

Shirley - posting pics? There was lots of advice, but we now seem to have lost our wonderful Search facility.

Potatoes? Oh, dear! They grow faster in buckets?

Foliage? No - hacked it all off this am with my change of regime. Probably fatal!!

moonbells · « **Reply #8 on:** June 21, 2006, 12:10:11 »

Quote from: tim on June 21, 2006, 12:01:09

mb - make some Delia pickle!

Which one please? Delia Online only seems to have got raita, cucumber soup and no pickle if I search for cucumber pickle!
http://www.deliaonline.com/search/?qx=cucumber+pickle

moonbells

tim · « **Reply #9 on:** June 21, 2006, 12:37:00 »

See Recipes. Bells.

valmarg · « **Reply #10 on:** June 22, 2006, 00:04:13 »

The recipe we have is in the Delia 'Summer Collection', and is for Sweet Pickled Cucumber Slices.

I can thoroughly recommend this recipe, having made it for several years.

If you can't find the recipe on deliaonline, I can type it up and post it.

valmarg

tim · « **Reply #11 on:** June 22, 2006, 06:06:34 »

Indeed - that's the one I posted, val.

shirlthegirl43 · « **Reply #12 on:** June 22, 2006, 08:04:46 »

Tim,

Not sure if the spuds grow faster in buckets or if it is just the Pembrokeshire influence - after all we are famed for the earlies!!

Will have a better idea when we sample the next few buckets - kept notes of when they were planted which will help!!

How are the cucumbers doing? Mine are starting to 'fatten up' just wish the weather would warm up again - it is still cool and windy here - everything is getting blown around!

tim · « **Reply #13 on:** June 22, 2006, 08:27:33 »

Our outdoor earlies came in before the tub ones!

Cus - how doing? OK now but can't predict what happens after my change of heart! As said earlier, not Supermarket standard, but I'm not proud!!

tim · « **Reply #14 on:** June 23, 2006, 17:06:43 »

One thing that I'm pleased with is the flesh to seed ratio.

shirlthegirl43 · « **Reply #15 on:** June 23, 2006, 17:13:50 »

OOOHHHH!!!! Does that taste as good as it looks? I can hear the crunching!!!

valmarg · « **Reply #16 on:** June 23, 2006, 19:48:21 »

What variety is the cucumber Tim? Some can be very disappointing - all seed and no flesh.

valmarg

tim · « **Reply #17 on:** June 23, 2006, 20:15:13 »

See the pics??

valmarg · « **Reply #18 on:** June 24, 2006, 22:15:22 »

Oh god have I been a daft old biddy, again?

When you say 'see the pics'. Are you saying that the variety is flamenco, as in the tiny, tiny print at the bottom of the pictures.

I think a visit to the opticians is definately on the cards!!!

valmarg

valmarg · « **Reply #19 on:** June 24, 2006, 22:27:35 »

Oh heck, I think I've got it wrong again. It's flamingo, not flamenco. I think a visit to the opticians is long overdue.

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Author Topic: Cucumber Management (Read 4412 times)