Growing cucumbers has become easy
- find out how ...
Growing cucumbers with modern varieties and techniques allows you to produce your own tasty, burp less, long cucumbers outdoors with minimum effort. Learn how to grow cucumbers below, just take care not too grow too many like me! Rotational position: Curcurbit - anywhere there is space that has not grown curcurbits the previous season. Soil preparation: Pick a fairly protected warm site that gets sun. Ensure the soil is well drained and enriched with organic matter. Prepare a planting hole for each plant - enriched with compost. Cover the soil with weed membrane/ black plastic prior to planting, leaving a slot over each planting hole, and weigh down - this warms the soil, retains moisture and stops weeds. Sowing and planting cucumbers: To bring on an early crop sow individually in 7cm pots in late spring. Germination takes 6-9 days indoors/ under glass. Grow on until you have young plants for planting out in early summer after the last frosts. Plant no more than 2-3 plants for a family of 4 otherwise you will be inundated! To encourage branching, pinch out the growing tip after you get 6 leaves. Allow plants to spread over the ground. Maintenance: - Watering: water the roots, not the leaves, to minimise disease and maintain moist soil through the growing season
- When the first cucumbers form feed every 2 weeks with liquid tomato feed to encourage growth
- Disease control: pick off any diseased leaves or fruits and burn. Do NOT water leaves
- Pests: keep slugs/ snails at bay with organic slug pellets while the plants establish
Harvesting: Pick your cucumbers regularly as required. Don't leave them on the plants to mature/ go yellow - if necessary give them away. Cucumbers are best eaten fresh - you will be amazed at the taste compared to the shop bought type. ENJOY!
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