How to grow cucumbers

With the hottest days of summer still ahead, cucumber is a great salad vegetable to have in the garden. It is crunchy, cool on the tongue and calorie free.

December is the last month for sowing cucumber and it is a quick crop. Sow now and pick your first cucumber by end January.

Plants can be trained up a trellis because their tendrils easily attach themselves to a support. Besides saving on space, vertically grown cucumbers tend to be healthier, produce evenly coloured fruit and better yields.

Sowing and growing tips

Plant in a sunny spot, in fertile, well-composted soil. Sow three seeds in one hole. No one really knows why, but it just seems to work. The soil should be kept consistently moist during germination.

Pinch off the growing points when the plants are 60cm high to encourage side shoots as most of the fruit develops from this growth.

Water well during hot and dry periods. Cucumbers are not drought tolerant. Flood watering keeps the leaves dry and less susceptible to mildew.

Feed with a liquid fertiliser like Margaret Roberts Organic Supercharger two or three times during the growing season. Fertilise if you see yellow leaves.

Control fungus disease like powdery mildew with a broad-spectrum fungicide.

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Cucumbers in pots

Be vigilant with the watering of pot-grown cucumbers because they don’t like to dry out. Feed weekly with a liquid fertiliser and make a frame to support the plant.

Try something different

Not all cucumbers look like green submarines. Cucumber “Martini” has merits that go beyond its ability to accompany the perfect martini. Referred to as a “blonde” slicing cucumber for its pale skin, it is very sweet, (no trace of bitterness) crunchy and has a tender, “no peel” skin if harvested early, when 13 to 15cm long. It is heat tolerant and resistant to powdery mildew.

Cucumber “Crystal Apple” from RAW seed looks more like a Granny Smith apple, but the taste is pure cucumber with a tang. Sow seed in full sun, space plants 90cm apart as they grow 60 to 70cm, which is compact for a cucumber.

Timely tip: Pick cucumbers as soon as they mature. Leaving them on the plant reduces its vigour. Cucumbers store well in a refrigerator.

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Other summer winners

Swiss chard is an almost year-round vegetable. In summer it does best in partial shade or morning sun with afternoon shade. To have a plentiful supply sow a new batch now that will go into autumn. Plants need fertile, well-composted soil that drains well and regular watering.

“Flamingo” Pink Swiss chard is an heirloom variety with vivid pink stems and dark green leaves. It is slow to bolt in the heat. Baby leaves can be harvested within 30 days, or 60 days for larger leaves.

Green beans are an easy, highly productive crop for the home gardener. Bush beans are short-lived but grow and produce very quickly. Runner beans take longer to mature but are more productive.

Once they start producing, they continue for the whole season. Staked plants take up very little space. Beans need very little attention, aside from regular watering and regular picking when the beans develop.

They do best with plenty of sun and soil that drains well. “Mardi Gras Blend” is an heirloom runner bean from RAW with a mix of yellow and purple beans that turn green in cooking. Plants grow up to 70cm and bear prolifically within 70 to 75 days of sowing.

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Vegetable tasks for December

Water large vegetables at least twice a week. Seedlings and shallow rooted vegetables (Swiss chard, lettuce) need less water more frequently, even daily in hot December temperatures.

Renew mulch if necessary

Manage white fly and other sucking pests by spraying weekly with Ludwig’s Insect Spray or Margaret Roberts Organic Insect Spray. Support fruit-bearing tomato stems to prevent them keep breaking. Fertilise fruiting crops when they start to flower and leafy vegetables after picking.

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