Cucumber Tanja
Cucumbers take a little effort to get started, but they're a great vegetable for a patio or roof terrace. Each plant will produce about 20 cucumbers, and because they're a climbing plant you can grow other vegetables like lettuces, salad leaves or herbs in the available soil around them.
Time from seed to plate: 12 weeks
Sowing Calendar
Sow
Cucumber seeds need to be at room temperature to germinate. Our propagator kits with 'Jiffy 7' compost pellets are ideal for getting them started. Soak three pellets in water till they expand and sow two seeds in each one so they're just covered with compost. Put them in the propagator, cover, and place on a warm windowsill or in a greenhouse. Keep moist.
Within one or two weeks the seeds should sprout. Remove the propagator lid at this stage. If two seedlings come up in the same jiffy remove the weaker one.
After a month or so, the roots will have filled the jiffy and it's time to either plant out, or if it's still cold outside, transfer the plants to the '3 inch' pots included in the kit to give them more growing room. Remove the jiffy bag encasing the compost, and plant firmly in the 3 inch pot filled with compost. The propagator lid will double up as a convenient watering tray.
Growing method: Seed propagating kit
Grow
Your cucumber seedlings are ready to go outside by the middle of May, when the frosts have finished. A grow bed with frame is the best type of container. Position it in a spot that gets lots of sun, but is sheltered from the wind, and fill with soil and/or compost.
Space your three plants at 30cm intervals and push a bamboo cane in next to each one. Tie the cane to the frame at the top. Lastly, sprinkle with slug pellets to protect those juicy stems.
Cucumbers consume a lot of water, so try to keep the ground moist, particularly when they're fruiting.
Make sure you use the available soil around the base of the plants to for other low growing veg like salad leaves, herbs, spring onions etc.
Harvest
About 12 weeks from sowing, once the fruits are about 8in long, start picking, using a sharp knife. They'll come thick and fast so keep picking regularly - this will encourage new fruit to form.