Cucumbers

[Obelixx]

Now I have my greenhouse sited in a sunnier position, I'm thinking of growing cucumbers for the first time so would appreciate some advice.

Are there any particular varieties best suited to an unheated greenhouse?
Are the small ones better than the long ones?  Either easier or tastier?
Are they best in grow bags, deep pots or soil?

Thanks in advance.

[Obelixx]

[goodlife]

You should get cucumbers in unheated GH no matter what variety you grow as long as you don't don't start too early.
Seed catalogues often mention in their variety descriptions those that should be particularly suitable. Out of commercial 'normal' type cukes Tiffany has produce well for me in cold GH.
But now that I've got taste of 'noncommercial' type cucumbers..I'm not in hurry to grow 'normal' sort again..seed of the commercial varieties are expensive, there is not many in a packet and you cannot save your own.
Last summer I grew Armenian and Yamato 3 feet cukes and they were loooovely. Armenian cucumber I bought from Ebay for couple of pounds for over 50 seeds!..and commercial types you pay £4-£5 for 5 seeds or so!
As for growing..growbags.. :-\...hm..no..not enough compost, pots... :-\..would have to be BIG pots. Best option would be soil in ground. Cucumbers need lot of water..but don't like being wet. So when you water them..give plenty but water away from the stem that can rot if it has soggy soil around it.
Other than that they are easy.. ;D

[kt.]

I used to grow Carmen F1,  and they grew 12-16 inches long. About 30 per plant over a season.   I now grow Socrates F1 from Mr Fothergill.  It grows to about 7-8 inches and still 30-40 per plant.  Reason i chose shorter varieties is my train of thought is as follows:

Long cucumbers take longer to be ready for harvest. Short ones have less waiting time....
You usually eat some and put the rest in the fridge and some may go off.  where as with short ones you  harvest more often but are eating fresh from the plant more often too, less waste.

As we now have 3 guinea pigs and 8 rabbits, I may go back to Carmen as they get at least 1/2 a long cucumber daily as part of their diet.

[manicscousers]

We use burpless as an indoor crop, in the soil . Ray used to suffer from heartburn eating cucs but now he doesn't  ;D

[Alex133]

I've grown Passandra F1 successfully last couple of years in polycarbonate greenhouse - they're meant to be picked quite small (but seem fine even when big), prolific and taste about 10 times better than shop cucs. Grow in 9'"/10" open bottom compost filled pots on well dug earth. Do take up a lot of space.

[Obelixx]

Thank you all for your advice.  It's very helpful.  There are only 3 of us so I'll probably start with a smaller variety this year and see how it goes.

[chriscross1966]

The way to get the commercial all-female F1's a t a less wince-inducing price is to wait for the Wyevales 50p sales in Auvgust/September adn buy them then....

[sunloving]

Hi
You can save space in the GH by growing them as climbers. I plant mine in the four corners and train them onto the ridge. This way you can still be growing a load of tomatoes underneath. I grow an ordinary looking telepathy which crops like crazy and crystal lemon which makes sweet round yellow hairy cucumbers which are fab in salads.

Good luck
Ill be sowing mine around the last week in march/first week in april.

[Obelixx]

As I live in Belgium I don't have the same varieties available in shops but at the supermarket today I found some organic seeds for Marketmore which is a short cucumber.   €2.25 for the packet and there seem to be quite a few seeds in there. 

I'll try sowing those at the end of March or mid April and order the others when I do my next English seed order.

Have to wait a bit as I'm about to have back surgery and will be out of commission for a while.

[Lishka]

Hello! I'm not going to be around until the 14th April to sow anything and I'm pleased to find that my must-have cucumber success cold g/house cuc can be sown within this timeframe and, more importantly, can fruit when I want it 8)

Right! It's CUCINO, an F1 hybrid, from T&M and  comes with only 4 seeds in the pack ::) :(

But everyone is a Winner.

Right! They're mini-fruits (approx 15cm or so per fruit?), don't need peeling, they're crisp, lovely and, errrr...what else can you say about a cucumber? If you can think of any other superlatives, throw them CUCINO's way. They deserve every one.

I grow one plant only in my unheated g/house in growbag soil tipped into a large square tub. I give it supports to encourage it to climb. It is SO prolific and goes like a train. I was doorstepping peeps with the fruits!

From my diary last year - sown 27/03.Seeds through 10/04, potted on into final containers 23/04.

Obv. I'm going to be later sowing them this year but I'm confident that I'll be enjoying them later. Hope you are too :)

[grannyjanny]

Good luck with the back surgery Obellix. Hope all goes well ;D.

[Obelixx]

Thanks Grannyjanny.  I'm having a prosthetic disc inserted to replace a naughty slipped on that's squishing the nerves to my right side and arm.  Damned painful and inconvenient.    Should be able to do light work after 3 weeks and then 2 months of physio and stuff should see me back to normal and fit for a marathon sowing and weeding session.

[sunloving]

Ouch, good luck with the surgery, i bet you will feel so much better with the pains fixed though. Good luck. x sunloving