View Category:Cucumbers
History
Although India has given the world a large number of important food and other crop plants, only four vegetables are among them. One of these is the cucumber which has probably been cultivated there for about 3,000 years and about 600 in Europe.
How to Grow
Sow cucumber seeds one or two to a small pot or large module in February or March in a propagator, heated greenhouse or on a window sill. When the seeds have germinated put in a bright place but keep pretty warm. Sow in April in an unheated greenhouse or polytunnel. Cucumbers won’t grow much in the polytunnel until nights warm up in May. I dig small holes about 60cm apart where the plants will finally be planted out and fill them with well rotted FYM, about half a bucket per plant. Then I cover the FYM with soil and ground cover. I plant the plant through the ground cover, when it grows out of its pot, and water well. Protect from slugs. Cucumbers enjoy warm moist soil but can suffer from fungi if humidity is too high. Some varieties may work outside but some protection is advisable.
Cucumbers will be more manageable indoors if trained up a string. Tie a string from the roof of the polytunnel or green house so that it dangles down above the cucumber plant. It helps to place the plants under the hoops. You can run a string along the line of plants connecting the hoops and then tie the dangling strings from the first string, to support the plants between hoops. Some poly tunnels come with ‘crop bars’ for this purpose. As the cucumber plant begins to grow it sends out tendrils that will attach to the string. Gently rotate the plant around the string as it grows. Side shoots and flowers appear in the leaf axils, that is in the angle between the stem and the leaf. Rub off the side shoots but leave the little female flowers which have tiny cucumbers at the base. A cucumber should develop at each leaf axil. If they go yellow and fall off it is because they are unhappy about something. Sporadic watering is one problem and running out of food another.
Seed saving of Cucurbita
Category:Cucumbers