growing cucumbers – No Dig Vegetable Gardening Blog

Cucumbers are (allegedly) one of the easiest vegetables to grow in your garden plot, and so caring for cucumbers should also be relatively easy and it is! The cucumber plant needs very little care in order to give you a good crop of theses delicious vegetables, however like every growing thing it too needs the conditions to be right before it will 'produce the goods' so to speak. This article in gardeningpatch.com lays out very well the procedure needed, not only to ensure a good harvest of cucumbers, but also how to care for the plants throughout the growing season in order to get the best out of them. Cucumbers need a good amount of organic fertilizer in the soil, which must be a light and loamy material in order to give the best drainage possible. They need a lot of water in order to grow properly, and if the soil does not drain well then you will have trouble with the cucumbers rotting where they lay - not a good thing! Caring For Cucumbers You can harvest the cucumbers when they are a suitable size, this is normally around 50-60 days after planting. The skin should be dark green in colour, do now wait until the cucumbers have turned yellow as this indicates that they are over ripe and their quality of flavour will decline. It is important not to leave the ripe cucumbers on the vine after they are ready to harvest, as this will be detrimental to overall production and the health of the vine. Also it is worth noting here that these times will vary if you are growing in a hothouse for instance, as you may have to do in the United Kingdom where the climate is too cool to grow cucumbers outside. I would add that instead of twisting the stem of the cucumber to release it from the vine when ready; you actually cut it with a sharp knife about 1 inch from the vegetable itself. This will prevent damage to the vine and will also produce the right length of stem on the cucumber, to stop any rot travelling from the stem into the cucumber itself during storage. Cucumbers love nitrogen-rich soil, so lots of good compost and a steady feed of comfry tea will ensure a great harvest. Read the full article in the gardeningpatch.com here