Friday 31 May 2013

Planting Cucumbers

Well, the cucumbers are in, for better or for worse. I (and no doubt they) would prefer the temperature to be about 10 degrees warmer, but... I really want the cucumbers to be well established before we go away on holiday. We are going to be away for 12 days, and I don't think the cucumber plants would have been happy to sit in their little pots until the the end of June.

My plan is to have two sets of three cucumber plants - one each of "Iznik" and "Melen" - growing up teepees in the big Woodblocx raised bed. I planted three cucumbers a few days ago, putting them under my biggest bell cloches, but since I only have three of those, the plants that have gone in today will have to manage without. No more of this namby-pamby "I'm spending the night indoors" malarky!


Those plastic bell cloches have been extremely useful, especially this Spring with the conditions being so cold. I have had them for a couple of years now, and I remember that they only cost me £9.99 for the set of 3, which I think is good value. I have kept an eye open for more of them, but I haven't seen any. Stewarts make some that are a similar size, but they are made of much thicker material and they cost a lot - £12.99 each I believe, and I'm not prepared to spend that sort of money.


The raised bed is beginning to fill up now. You can see that the "Maskotka" tomato plants are putting on weight. Although I had not originally intended to do so I decided in the end to stake them, because they got blown about very badly in the gale-force winds we had the other day.


In a few days I will put in the poles for the cucumbers to climb. I may see if I can muster enough natural wood poles, which look much more attractive than plain old bamboo - and the cucumbers will be able to grip them better too.

At some stage I'm going to have to remove the netting over this bed, but not until those plants have got a bit bigger and are able to survive the nightly snufflings of the local badgers and foxes.


11 comments:

  1. We need cloches!! We planted out a cucumber last week but it didn't do very well. Ill send The Viking out to buy a cloche

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  2. Your right the cucumbers wouldn't like to sit in pots when you are away. We find ours hate to be too dry. Some people reckon that you shouldn't grow tomatoes and cucumbers in the same greenhouse as they like such opposite conditions but that means having one greenhouse for each crop - hardly practical.

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  3. I never plant tomatoes next to cucumbers, because according to plant allelopathy ethylene from tomatoes will cause the cucumbers to turn yellow. I've never tested whether it's true or not because I was afraid to risk.

    Have you ever planted cucumbers next to tomatoes before? If yes, did they turn yellow?

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  4. Maybe not so attractive as ready made cloches but when in need you can use big plastic bottles, like 5 liters or so, cut one end and cover the plants wit them.

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  5. I haven't even planted my cucumber seed yet. I'm going on vacation for two weeks in the middle of July. I'm trying to time my plantings for for everything to start fruiting when I get home.

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  6. Maybe I'll plant some cucumbers after all, sigh. Yours look very nice!

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  7. I need some cloches - more to keep the slugs away from little plants than anything else though. They do look useful for keep the warmth around the plants too though.

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  8. Are the cucumbers too close to the tomatoes? Mine are usually all sprawly, even with a support to climb.

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    1. David, you may well be right - only time will tell. However, the cucumbers are the small "cocktail" type, and the tomatoes are "Maskotka" (a smallish bush variety) so I'm hoping they will be OK. Actually my vision is of a tangled mass of foliage smothered with fruit, so maybe I'll get just that! :)

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  9. I had, in Canada, a very similar experience with these cloches. A well-known mail order company was selling them for $10 a piece but I found some in a discount store at $1.25 for two! They are a bit thinner than the expensive ones but they work quite well.
    Have you ever tried the heirloom variety of cucumber called `lemon`? The skin is a bit thick but they are by very far the most productive variety I have ever grown. The fruit is round like a lemon (but twice the size of a lemon).

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    Replies
    1. No, I've not tried the Lemon cucumber. Call me old-fashioned if you like, but for me a cucumber should be long, thin and green! :-)

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