Cucumbers – Cucumus sativus
Outdoor/ridge cucmbers
These cucumbers are much less demanding than greenhouse cucumbers and have been bred for their suitability to grow outdoors without too much fuss. They can be smoothed skinned or rough/prickly skinned they taste very similar and some say that the less attractive rough skinned cucumbers have the better flavour than their greenhouse relatives. The plants are naturally trailing and they can be allowed to run over the surface of the soil.
Sow
Cucumbers are raised from seed. Sow the seed during April/ May in small pots filled with fresh seed compost. Push the seed pointed end first into the compost, tap on the bench to cover the seed, water to settle the compost and cover with a sheet of newspaper until the seed has germinated. The seed can be sown in the open ground but the success rate is hit and miss it is safer to sow in the unheated greenhouse or garden frame. The April sowing will provide a plant that has four true leaves and will be large enough to plant out in the open ground by the end of May. Although ridge cucumbers are tough enough to survive outdoors always wait until the threat of the last frost has gone before planting them out in the open soil. You can help to reduce the shock of transplanting by pre -warming the planting area with a cloche or sheet of plastic weighed down with stones. Cucumbers require perfect drainage in order to grow well otherwise there is always the danger of the stem rotting. One way of ensuring good drainage is to make a 6ins/15cm high flat topped ridge and plant the cucumber at the centre of the ridge leaving 1 yd. /1mt between plants. This is where ridge cucumbers get their name from.
Aftercare
Water regularly and spray overhead to prevent an attack from red spider mite. There is no need to remove any flowers don’t worry about pollination because bees will do this job. Start to feed once a week with tomato fertiliser when the first fruits have set. After seven leaves have formed pinch out the main growing tip to encourage side shoots to develop it will only be necessary to pinch out the side shoots when they run out of room to grow. As the cucumber fruits swell place a tile or piece of wood underneath them to keep them off the soil.
Harvest the cucumbers when they are about 9ins/20cms long and keep cutting them to keep them in production. Towards the end of summer as the weather cools the plants will begin to slow down it is then time to harvest all of the fruits before the first frosts arrive.
White fly and aphids are the two main problems. Spray the plants regularly with an insecticidal soap to control them. Red spider mite can become a pest if the plants are allowed to dry out at the roots water overhead as well to provide some humidity.
Cucumber mosaic virus is transmitted by aphids once a plant is infected it will have to be destroyed. The seed companies are developing virus resistant strains to help overcome this problem.