Hello ladies and gents this is the Viking telling you that today we are talking about
Cucumbers
Home-grown cucumbers taste fabulous and can be grown in a greenhouse or in a warm sheltered spot outdoors, depending on the variety. Seeds can be sown indoors or outside too, from spring to early summer, or you can buy young plants from garden centres.
Month by month
JANUARY FEBRUARY MARCH APRIL MAY JUNE
Sow Sow Sow Plant out Sow Plant out
JULY AUGUST SEPTEMBER OCTOBER NOVEMBER DECEMBER
Harvest Harvest Harvest Harvest
Sow
Indoors
Sow cucumber seeds on their side, 1–2cm (½–¾in) deep, in small pots. Keep them at 21°C (70°F) in a heated propagator or on a warm sunny indoor windowsill.
Sow from mid-February to mid-March if you’ll be growing them in a heated greenhouse, or in April if you have an unheated greenhouse. If you’re going to plant them outdoors, sow in late April.
Outdoors
- Outdoor varieties can be sown directly in their growing site in late May or early June. Cover the ground with fleece, a cloche or glass jar after sowing. This method can work well in milder southern areas and in warm summers.
- Young plants are also available from garden centres in spring.
Grow
- Make sure your cucumber plants don’t get chilled – they must be kept above 12–15°C (53–59°F).
- Transfer young plants to 25cm (10in) pots of good-quality potting compost in late March (in a heated greenhouse) or late May (in an unheated greenhouse). You can also use growing bags, but plants will need to be carefully watered and looked after. Alternatively, plant into greenhouse borders.
- Keep the compost or soil evenly moist – watering little and often is the best way. Raise the humidity by watering the floor, so it evaporates. Feed every 10–14 days with a balanced liquid fertiliser.
- Train the main stem up a vertical wire or cane. Pinch out the growing point when it reaches the roof. Pinch out the tips of sideshoots two leaves beyond a female flower (which has a tiny fruit behind it). Pinch out the tips of flowerless sideshoots once they reach 60cm (2ft) long.
Growing outdoors
- Plant out young plants or sow seeds outdoors in early June, ideally under fleece or cloches.
- Choose a warm, sheltered, sunny spot with fertile soil. Prepare the ground by digging in up to two bucketfuls of well-rotted organic matter, such as garden compost, then rake in 100g per square metre (3½oz per square yard) of general purpose fertiliser.
- When plants have developed seven leaves, pinch out the growing tip. The developing sideshoots can be left to trail over the ground or trained up stout netting. Pinch out the tips of flowerless sideshoots after seven leaves.
- Don’t remove the male flowers, and keep the soil constantly moist by watering around the plant, not over it.
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