Cucumbers - is it time yet??

I have done Loo Rolls too. For the things that I "plant whole" I figure I need a taller pot, than the width of a loo roll, hence why I use newspaper. Could use kitchen roll inner-tubes and the like, but I'm not sure I would have enough (I do 50 x Parsnips, 100 x Sweetpeas and probably 100 x Sweetcorn ... its quite a lot of Rolls )

 

Anyone tried old pizza boxes? thought I'd trial a few Sweet Peas in them...

 

Eeerrmmm,
this is a cucumber thread Loli... did you mean to plant Cucumbers instead.
I've told you before - no swigging it straight from the bottle in the GH.....
Jenny

 

Blooming eck' Kristen, it sounds as if you are farming half of Suffolk I can collect more than enough during the winter for my modest plot.

Love the pizza box idea, just shows how resourceful we gardeners can be

 

Maybe if I grew Parsnips that were big enough that we didn't need 3 for a Sunday Roast ... and Sweetcorn that had 2 or 3 cobs per plant ... instead of just one ??

 

I've been neglecting to read this thread (intensive seed sowing)

I don't believe it's essential to buy new F1 seeds every year for some varieties of plants, as some F2s will be so close there's hardly any difference, and with some (such as Sweet Million tomatoes, there's supposed to be no difference whatever.

To demonstrate that, I've sown F1 Sungold, Red Alert & Sweet Million tomatoes, together with saved/F2 seeds for those varieties to carry out a side by side trial this year.

I use this type of (breeder/breeding) pot for plants that don't like root disturbance as they're flexible and easier to remove than rigid plastic plots. You can also squish them into semi square shapes to get more pots into heated propagators/under grow lights. I've got loads of them ranging from 60 to 90mm diameter:



P.S. I've included my roll of polypropylene string as those industrial size rolls work out very cheap per/metre, but it depends on just how much of the stuff you use.


And getting back to cucumbers ....

That's my standard outdoor (+ in poly tunnel) variety. If there's a bumper crop our hens will eat the excess, they need skinning, but again our hens love just eating the skins, and if they go to seed, yes our hens just love seedy cucumbers.

 

I've heard that too.

Be very interested to hear how that goes.

There must be a temptation for Breeders to put F1 on the packet, and jack up the price. They may well be F1 but as you so rightly infer that doesn't mean that F2 is not going to be the same / same-enough. However ... the objective would be to get people to think that and NOT save seed?

Cynical view perhaps?

 

I have only one (mini cue) plant left out of three which is annoying because I purchased them and the idea is not to waste money. My fault , its too early and I don't have a greenhouse. One died outside in a raised 'polytunnel' (a table one) , the others are in the warm in our porch but one is not too good. Much too early,I know, but when these litt'uns do get going I know they are productive.

 

W sowed 4 cucumber seeds early on and one came and its healthy - the other 3 came to nothing - I did 3 more in the propagator - 2 came (the cat ate one) so the remaining one we potted up and its just wilted and died

We had the problem year before last (grew nothing last year )we only had one cucumber come andwhen we potted it up all the leaves fell off and it died

What we doing wrong ?

 

Bought mine from B&Q last week just came in from the lorry so hopefully no chilling but looks great Grafted plant "Shakira" originally grown from "SuttonSeeds "

 

Something ate my cucumbers, or they died from wilt - I planted them in the same spot for three years. So I have broken down and bought a pack of four plants growing from 1 peat pot - lemon cucumbers. Has anyone tried them? I have a couple straight eights still living but the leaves look sickly, too white with veins showing.

 

They are a nightmare. The saying goes "Cucumbers wake up each morning thinking of a new way to die". Once they are a decent size they seem to be OK (until they start getting Mildew, later on in the season ... they its pretty much all downhill, again, from there).

If you are growing greenhouse ones (e.g. the female-flower-only ones) I would suggest you buy plants in the garden centre rather than growing your own. The seed of the variety I grow is over £1 per seed, and the plants cost no more than that - and they are big enough to be past most of the difficult times.

I only grow them from seed when I manage to get a packet of seed in the 50p-a-packet sale, on the grounds that even if 75% of them die I am still ahead (just!)

Only tip I have is not to water from above (stand the pot in a bowl of water for 5 minutes)

 

I wish we could get to the bottom of this problem with Cues I don't have much trouble with them ,germination and potting on is always fine,it's the planting out where things tend to go wrong for me.....I can guarantee I'll lose at least one...