The FastDay Forum

I have a baby cucumber growing! This may not seem a lot to those seasoned gardeners amongst you, but for me and my "brown kill everything that grows" fingers (and a dog that eats everything I don't kill) it is somewhat of a miracle. I am very proud of myself and wanted to share

[carieoates]

Hey @Minsmum me too....me too. I've got some cues for the first time this year, but have advantage of a new greenhouse. My first couple died when I transplanted them having grown them from seed I was well gutted. Now I have a coupe donated from Bro in law and they're looking great,
Question I asked but hasn't been answered.....do we get a cue from every flower.

Yay for us @Carieoates I think we do. Aren't they like tomatoes?? Flower = food!
Actually I'm just watering them and hoping for the best. If I touch , it will die!

[wildmissus]

@carieoates, @Minsmum. I'm trying to grow cucumbers for the first time this year and I'm doing it outside......mmmm! I have three plants one has passed away after a very windy day, the other two have flowers and wee cucumbers behind the flowers but don't look like they are up to much.

Anyway, here is the advice I was given. There are two types of cucumber plants - ones that only have female flowers and ones that have both female and male flowers. They female only plants don't need any attention. The male and female varieties need the male flowers pinched out otherwise you'll end up with bitter yukky cucumbers. The female flowers are the ones with the mini cucumbers behind them, the male flowers just have a little stub behind them (how appropriate)! Use tomato feed.

Good luck with them. I think I know what I did wrong - I put them in too big a pot and the water just runs through it too quickly, they like a lot of water.

On a brighter note, I'm also doing tomatoes for the first time. Again outside, patio, cherry tomatoes and the look fabulous.

The cucumbers I have grown all have male and female flowers - like zucchini. The male flowers do not grow cucumbers. You can see the baby cucumbers behind the female flowers. Don't pinch out the male flowers because you need them to fertilise the female flowers or the cucumbers won't develop. Just make sure your cucumbers get enough water and possibly water them from time to time with liquid seaweed or something. Keep picking them to encourage more to grow. Try not to wet the leaves, but water from below or they might get a mouldy.

I saw some $1.38 tomato plants with tomatoes on them at the garden center close out sale and bought 2. I put them in 12 inch pots with the soil that held last summer's petunias, sprinkled in some fertilizer, and stuck them along the edge of the lawn that gets more sun than the deck. Perhaps a miracle will occur and they will survive the forces that destroyed all their predecessors.

We grew lovely tomatoes on the deck of our previous house, but it was south facing and inaccessible from the lawn, foiling the raccoons.

[carieoates]

Thanks everyone for the sharing of cucumber knowledge. So I will water, feed and leave them to it.

[wildmissus]

Oh dear, I'm not sure what I should be doing with my cucumbers now! This is what Thompson and Morgan say -

http://www.thompson-morgan.com/how-to-grow-cucumbers

I guess it depends what variety you have and where you are growing them. If don't succeed this year I'll definitely try them again next year as it has been quite exciting seeing them flower and have tiny beginnings of baby cucumbers. That and it is one of the few veg that my youngest daughter will eat .

I have lots of chilli's and tomatoes growing this year Forgot to do cucumbers though. Hybrid cucumbers a the way to go so you dont have to mess around with the flower side of it. Just let em grow. Problem I found is they all seem to be ready around the same time so you end up with a fridge full

[janeg]

good luck with cuecumber and toms outside @wildmissusI couldn't do them in the central belt, but I think it's warmer now!
I have had the extreme pleasure of scrabbling about on my hands and knees, weeding the allotment. Oh, it was such good fun. I walked down and only got a wee bit lost. When I got there, I though, dash, should have brought the ipod, but was glad I hadn't. accompanied by a blackbird and the church bells, no music required. Amazing how I managed to lose about an hour and a quarter, marked by the church bells. Idyllic.
Allotment has strawbs, rasps, tatties, carrots, parsnips,french beans, peas - not doing too well- broccoli, cabbage, sprouts,m onions, garilc, cues and toms.
I was in weeding duty, Beloved appeared and did harvesting of strawbs and rasps.
I have eaten my body weight in soft fruit and it is so good.
And I'm now in Reading and off to dead head my sister's pansies.
*contented sighs*

@janeg Lucky you! That sounds idyllic.

[This herbaceous border is looking particularly pleasing at the moment

2014-07-14 12.53.00 (Custom) (2).jpg (118.77 KiB) Viewed 473 times

The latest picture of the revamped garden.

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k255/ ... 685c15.jpg

@Julieathome if you ever fancy a holiday in Hertfordshire you are more than welcome to stay at mine and work your magic on my brown, dog ravaged, child stomped piece of earth! Your garden is lush and I am very jealous!!
Currently looking out onto my garden and watching the dog run round in circles, churning the grass up as she goes

On a plus point my cucumbers, tomatoes and salad leaves are doing well, mind they are well out of dogs way. Even my herbs are doing well

@JulieathomeI can't believe how quickly you have got it looking so good!