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Episode 391. How we grow Cucumbers

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Manage episode 289238570 series 1785671
Content provided by Richard. All podcast content including episodes, graphics, and podcast descriptions are uploaded and provided directly by Richard or their podcast platform partner. If you believe someone is using your copyrighted work without your permission, you can follow the process outlined here https://player.fm/legal.
Join me in this weeks podcast where I share how I grow Cucumbers. I also share the latest from the allotment and vegetable garden. The diary With a 4 day weekend I planned to get a lot of work done. This begun with setting up 2 new coldframes in order to gain more space for my young plants. We made 2 visits to the allotment, clearing weeds and cutting down a elder tree that just become to big to manage. Mulching has also been a big thing this week. We have also been busy allowing the chickens out in the garden yet again. The end o f the chickens lockdown is very welcome as its great to see them out in the garden yet again. What have you been up to in your allotment or garden? How we grow cucumbers Something I will be sowing this week is cucumbers. Those crunchy slices of cool tasting fruit which can be used in so many recipes in the kitchen its not a surprise that they are very popular to grow. This week I thought I would share how we grow Cucumbers. There are a huge amount of different variety's to choose from and when deciding I think its advisable to first work out where you will be growing thee plants as there are variety suitable for greenhouse and for outdoor varieties. Outdoor variety’s or ridge variety's as they are also known as tend to be able to withstand cooler climates a bit better but also have a few spikes on the cucumber themselves. This is easily dealt with because when cucumbers are ripe these spikes easily rub off. The greenhouse cucumber need a bit more more warmth but tend to have smoother skins. Added to this choice of variety's we can also have our standard size cucumbers or the smaller gherkins. Personally I like to try and grow both of these particularity as we do like to make our own pickled gherkins. Good variety’s to choose from are marketmore which can grow in a greenhouse and outside. Mini munch is a good greenhouse variety which grow small cucuumbers ideal for lunch boxes. A variety I am trying this year is called spacesacer which can be grown in pots and use up little space but there are many other varieties to choose from. Sowing seed is pretty easy, I tend to sow my seeds during aprilI fill my usual seed pots up with compost then slide a seed into the soil on its side about a cm deep and cover over with more compost. This then gets placed in my heated propagator as these seeds need the temperatur to stay above 16c for successful germination and growth. Germination usually takes about a week. Now what I know many other gardeners do is use standard 5cm pots and place 2 seeds per pot. Later on the weekest seedling will get removed. My nethod however does require me needing to prick out and pot on the young plants and these plans can grow pretty quick. Another option is to sow seed where they are to grow but if we are growing these outdoors then we would wait till about late may early June before doing this. When the plants are young and I cant stress this enough water the plants from the bottom of the pot. What I mean is place the pots in a saucer and pour water into that saucer. Cucumbers are very susceptable to stem rot and if water lands on the stem it could cause the stem to rot. As always I tend to prick out my seedlings once the true leaves are growing. They then go into individual root trainers but as they grow quick I keep a close eye on the roots. Once I see roots at the bottom of the root trainers or pots its time to pot them up into bigger pots. When it comes to planting the cucumbers its best to prepare the soil beforehand. Cucumbers like rich soil so add plenty of compost or well rotted manure ahead of planting. WE could also plant cucumbers in pots or growbags full of compost if space is an issue. Give the plants about 60cm of space to get the best from them. Plant out our plants when we get 2 or 3 leaves, if going in a greenhouse this is pretty easy but if going outside then wait till the risk of frost has passed for me mid may is ...
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363 episodes

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Manage episode 289238570 series 1785671
Content provided by Richard. All podcast content including episodes, graphics, and podcast descriptions are uploaded and provided directly by Richard or their podcast platform partner. If you believe someone is using your copyrighted work without your permission, you can follow the process outlined here https://player.fm/legal.
Join me in this weeks podcast where I share how I grow Cucumbers. I also share the latest from the allotment and vegetable garden. The diary With a 4 day weekend I planned to get a lot of work done. This begun with setting up 2 new coldframes in order to gain more space for my young plants. We made 2 visits to the allotment, clearing weeds and cutting down a elder tree that just become to big to manage. Mulching has also been a big thing this week. We have also been busy allowing the chickens out in the garden yet again. The end o f the chickens lockdown is very welcome as its great to see them out in the garden yet again. What have you been up to in your allotment or garden? How we grow cucumbers Something I will be sowing this week is cucumbers. Those crunchy slices of cool tasting fruit which can be used in so many recipes in the kitchen its not a surprise that they are very popular to grow. This week I thought I would share how we grow Cucumbers. There are a huge amount of different variety's to choose from and when deciding I think its advisable to first work out where you will be growing thee plants as there are variety suitable for greenhouse and for outdoor varieties. Outdoor variety’s or ridge variety's as they are also known as tend to be able to withstand cooler climates a bit better but also have a few spikes on the cucumber themselves. This is easily dealt with because when cucumbers are ripe these spikes easily rub off. The greenhouse cucumber need a bit more more warmth but tend to have smoother skins. Added to this choice of variety's we can also have our standard size cucumbers or the smaller gherkins. Personally I like to try and grow both of these particularity as we do like to make our own pickled gherkins. Good variety’s to choose from are marketmore which can grow in a greenhouse and outside. Mini munch is a good greenhouse variety which grow small cucuumbers ideal for lunch boxes. A variety I am trying this year is called spacesacer which can be grown in pots and use up little space but there are many other varieties to choose from. Sowing seed is pretty easy, I tend to sow my seeds during aprilI fill my usual seed pots up with compost then slide a seed into the soil on its side about a cm deep and cover over with more compost. This then gets placed in my heated propagator as these seeds need the temperatur to stay above 16c for successful germination and growth. Germination usually takes about a week. Now what I know many other gardeners do is use standard 5cm pots and place 2 seeds per pot. Later on the weekest seedling will get removed. My nethod however does require me needing to prick out and pot on the young plants and these plans can grow pretty quick. Another option is to sow seed where they are to grow but if we are growing these outdoors then we would wait till about late may early June before doing this. When the plants are young and I cant stress this enough water the plants from the bottom of the pot. What I mean is place the pots in a saucer and pour water into that saucer. Cucumbers are very susceptable to stem rot and if water lands on the stem it could cause the stem to rot. As always I tend to prick out my seedlings once the true leaves are growing. They then go into individual root trainers but as they grow quick I keep a close eye on the roots. Once I see roots at the bottom of the root trainers or pots its time to pot them up into bigger pots. When it comes to planting the cucumbers its best to prepare the soil beforehand. Cucumbers like rich soil so add plenty of compost or well rotted manure ahead of planting. WE could also plant cucumbers in pots or growbags full of compost if space is an issue. Give the plants about 60cm of space to get the best from them. Plant out our plants when we get 2 or 3 leaves, if going in a greenhouse this is pretty easy but if going outside then wait till the risk of frost has passed for me mid may is ...
  continue reading

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