It's fun to grow crops you have never grown before. This year for the first time ever I have grown cucumbers in the greenhouse, not because we eat them very often, but just for the challenge of cultivating something new. Until this summer cucumbers rarely found their way into our kitchen. Our summer consumption was limited to a handful of cling-film wrapped, supermarket fruits. Two plants grown in the greenhouse have produced a plentiful supply of gigantic fruits and although our consumption of cucumbers has increased many-fold it's impossible to keep pace with these prolific plants.
Growing Tomatoes and Cucumbers in the Same Greenhouse
My cucumbers have grown quite happily adjacent to tomatoes and both produced heavy crops thereby dispelling the old myth that these two fruits shouldn't be grown together.
The Reason Why Cucumbers Taste Bitter
Way back in time cucumbers more often than not tasted bitter so it was recommended to remove the skin before eating. This un-palatability is down to the plant producing male and female flowers and its ability to produce fruit from un-pollinated as well as pollinated flowers. Fruit from pollinated flowers is bitter and only un-pollinated fruit is worth eating.
How to Get Un-pollinated Fruit
You can get un-pollinated fruit in two ways. One is tedious and involves removing all male flowers before they open. Fortunately for many years now there have been plenty of varieties that bear no male flowers - only female. I chose 'Aurelia' an all female F1 variety which produces dark green uniform fruits. The seed company's claim that it responds to cooler temperatures has been borne out by my success.
How, Where and When to Sow Cucumber Seeds
- Sow seed edgeways 1cm deep in individual pots of multi-purpose compost about the middle of April.
- Put the pots in an electric propagator with the temperature set at 21 degrees C.
- Germination occurs within 3-4 days
- Keep the plants in the propagator and gradually open the vents on the cover over the next two weeks.
- In early May the quickly developing cucumber plants can come out of the electric propagator and be potted up into 13cm pots.
- Keep the plants in a greenhouse.
Planting Cucumbers in the Greenhouse
Plant cucumber plants into the greenhouse at the beginning of June when the border soil is nice and warm. Alternatively they can be grown in grow bags. Heavier yields will be harvested if deeper than standard grow bags are used.
Supporting Cucumber Plants
Attach one end of a length of polypropylene string to an overhead wire and bury the other end of the string under the root ball of the cucumber at planting time. As it grows twist the plant around the string.
Training Cucumber Plants
Remove all the sideshoots and flowers from the bottom 20cm of the main stem to prevent fruits resting on the soil and being spoiled. Pinch all sideshoots out two leaves beyond every baby fruit.
Feeding Cucumber Plants
Apply liquid feed twice a week as soon as the first fruits start to swell.
Harvesting Cucumber Fruits
Cucumbers are ready to harvest when the bottom of the fruit becomes rounded. Yield is reduced if harvesting is delayed. In mid-August mound some soil up around the stem at soil level. This will give the plants a new lease of life and prolong cropping.
David Haigh - David Haigh is a 'Master of Horticulture', a qualification awarded by the Royal Horticultural Society. He spent almost 40 years as a ...
Join the Conversation