Greenhouse growing advice please.

Yes they do pack in after a while, I had trouble replacing mine as there are a few different types.

 

According to "The Vegetable and Herb Expert" Dr Hessayon "Cucumbers ideally need higher humidity than that provided by tomatoes , but many people grow the two vegetables together under glass quite successfully"

I think it just goes to show how forgiving most plants are even if you can't provide the ideal conditions.

 

In smaller greenhouses, such as yours, it rarely makes much difference where you plant the tomatoes and cucumbers but in larger ones it's usually recommended that the cues go towards the closed end and toms towards the open end.

This time of year it would be normal to leave the door open all the time. It's impossible to keep the temperature the way it should be so it's better to err on the side of not too hot and humid.

With the amount of sunshine we have been getting lately the temperature in ours has been reaching well into the upper 30's during the day and dropping below 20 at night. I haven't heard the plants complaining.

What you do need to avoid, on sunny days, is the possibility of burn. Try not to get any water on the leaves during the day as the strong sunlight on the water droplets can burn the plants (acts like a magnifying glass). If you think any of the plants may need some water on the leaves then do it in the evening.

We don't follow this advice because of time restraints. Our greenhouse is 20ft x 10ft and we have to water with the garden hose (the greenhouse, pots, baskets and everything under cover takes at least an hour each time).

Protecting plants in the greenhouse from the strong sunlight is a good idea using blinds or greenhouse shading (whitewash type products). Damping down the floor may be necessary to keep a level of humidity but as you've got a soil bed in there it may be sufficient.

We have a fair amount of opening vents (used to have a thermostatically controlled extractor fan but it packed up last year and a replacement was going to cost over £600 ) and the floor tends to get damped down to a certain extent when using the hose.

We don't bother with shading any more as the dirt and algae on the glass provides some of it . It's too difficult and the greenhouse is no longer sturdy enough to be able to take us cleaning the glass. Even with all this ignoring of the recommended ways the plants seem to get on OK.

https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profile?PID=732

 

I agree totally with what Billybell says, just add that for me only a few plants have ripe fruit so far, and it's mainly been Sungold and Floridity. I'm still waiting for other varieties to ripen. Now we have some proper sunshine/heat at last I'm hopeful of a better supply. You just need a bit more patience Rusty

 

We remove the lower leaves of toms as they start to get tatty (and getting big enough to be in the way). Otherwise we leave them. Lots of ripe toms on ours but it has been very hot and sunny here.

If you have those pots on top of the canes as eye protectors you can use empty snail shells instead - good recycling

 

It's simply that they prefer higher humidity than tomatoes do.

Ridge cucumbers are a variety that are quite happy to grow outdoors, with a thicker skin that retains the moisture better.

Salad cucumbers grow much better under cover and in higher humidity.

They have now bred more varieties that will grow outside but they are based on the ridge type.

https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/grow-your-own/vegetables/cucumbers