Everyone Ready For Home Grown Salad?

At this time of year everything is coming up roses ... or should I say ‘veg’ in the allotment ... harvest time is here! Hoorah! So many of us now can be enjoying a whole home grown meal ... and doesn’t it taste better than the ‘wishy washy’ vegetables which we buy from the supermarkets?

At the moment I’m looking forward to tucking into fresh salad, ‘a la allotment’. Over the past few weeks I’ve been enjoying the glorious flavour of freshly boiled beetroot, the courgettes are now large enough to start picking, our spring onions are the perfect size and the cucumber plants are producing a massive crop ready for harvesting ... we’ve already harvested six cucumbers with another seven waiting to be picked ... cucumber sandwiches for lunch ... yummy

So, if you haven’t grown cucumbers before here are a few reasons why you should ... and some hints and tips on growing and getting the best crops.

A Brief History ...It’s widely believed that the cucumber (cucumis sativus) originated in northern India, with evidence showing they have been cultivated for over 3,000 years.
From there, cucumbers spread throughout the world, being cultivated next in Egypt, Greece and Italy and by the 6th century AD cucumbers could be found in China.

The cucumber was probably introduced into European countries by the Romans, where records show then being cultivated in France by the 9th century, in England by the 14th century and by the 16th century evidence shows them being grown in North America.

Cucumbers are now being cultivated throughout the world, including Africa, Central and Southern America, the Caribbean, China, South East Asia, Northern and Southern India ... as well as in our allotment!

Sowing And Planting ...
We’re growing a greenhouse variety of cucumber called ‘Petita’ but you can select from varieties which can be grown in the greenhouse (as well as Petita, you’ll find Aidas, Carman and Danimas for example) or those which you can successfully grow outdoors (including varieties called Bush Champion, Burpless Tasty Green, Jazzer, Marketmore to name just a few ...). Whichever type you choose to grow, they are really easy to raise from seed ...

Sowing Indoors
Greenhouse varieties will get the best start if you use a propagator. We planted our cucumber seeds into individual pots, which we placed within our propagator in May. We were slightly late starting ... you can be planting seeds from late February if they are going to be growing within a heated greenhouse. To keep heating costs down we’re got our propagators at home (plural ... mmm ... we do raise a lot of seeds so we’ve got a couple of Windowsill Propagators, a Two Top Propagator and one of the massive Two Wests Quadruple Propagators ... and still we run out of space at peak sowing time). From there, when the plants are sturdy enough we move from the propagator onto shelving within the spare room and from there off they travel to our polytunnel at the allotment.

Growing In A Greenhouse ... or in our case, a polytunnel ...
Just like tomato plants, you can grow cucumbers up canes in a grow bag. Make sure they get enough compost for their roots by using grow pots in the grow bag ... or as we did, big pots (about 9”) with the bases cut away and ‘planted’ into the bag. This makes them easier to water and feed ... and you’ll get healthy growth from your cucumber plants if you can keep them constantly watered and feed when the first fruits start to appear.
It’s A Case Of Support
Now, usually we’d provide the same supports for our cucumbers as we do our tomatoes ... i.e. strong garden canes, tying the plants in place as they grow taller. But this year we’ve tried something a little bit different, as you can see in the photos ... We’ve got our grow bag on top of wooden slats covered with 6” wide wire mesh within the polytunnel. Rather than training the plants upwards, we’ve let them grow down, through the mesh to cling onto ... in this way we’re getting fruits hanging down as they grow, easy to see and simple to harvest ...

Sowing Outdoors
For the outdoor varieties, you have the choice of starting them off indoors or you can plant them directly into the ground where they are going to grow after the threat of frost has passed. Generally cucumbers are best sown directly where they will remain, but to start off your outdoor varieties indoors you now have the opportunity of avoiding root disturbance by planting them in bio degradable pots – such as Jiffy Pots. You can plant both pots and plants directly into the soil ... no mess, no problem ... no root damage ... and they get well established quickly.
Your cucumber plants will thrive best in a well protected, sunny spot with them spaced about 18” apart. You should dig down between 8-12” into the soil before planting, enriching the soil with loads of organic matter before planting ... and keeping your plants topped up with fertilisers when the fruits start to set.
Or, you can grow your outdoor cucumbers on little ‘hills’ or mounds of soil, compost and organic matter combined. You should plant these mounds with three seeds, removing the two weaker ones when they are still seedlings.
To help outdoor cucumbers germinate successfully cover where you’ve planted with cloches - long cloches if you’re growing in rows or bell cloches for individual plants. These help raise soil temperatures and protect young plants from pests or animals.

Healthy Cucumber Crops Made Easy ...
There are basically just two rules to follow when looking after cucumber plants to ensure a healthy crop ...

DON’T let the plants run dry ... yes, I’m shouting rule one as it’s very important that you keep your cucumber plants well watered … under watering will cause you problems just as bad as those caused by under watering tomato plants. However, this doesn’t mean you can drowned your plants once a week and leave your plants standing in water and think you’ve down a good job! What you need to do is ensure the soil your plants are growing in remains moist at all times – don’t water the plants rather water the soil or compost surrounding the plants – this will encourage the shallow roots to grow strongly.
Keep the plants well fed ... we’ve been feeding our plants every time we’ve watered them ... but as long as you feed them at least every two weeks you should be OK. Use a high potash or organic feed. Whilst if you’re growing your plants outdoors ensure you keep you’re plants topped up with organic matter.

The quickest and easiest way to keep your plants in a moist compost and supply them with sufficient feed would be to use grow pots. These let you provide your plants with water – you water into the outer trough so you’re not disturbing the compost the plants are growing in. The inner trough of the grow pot is where you’re plant is growing – and this is where you’d supply the feed. Although grow pots cost more than a standard plant pot of the same size they’re made from really strong plastic which lets you use them year after year. And because they make it easier for you to keep you’re plants constantly supplied with water, they will save you time ... and we all know how precious time is when the greenhouse, polytunnel or allotment is cramped full of plants ... all wanting water every day to ensure you’ll get strong, healthy crops through the summer months.

What’s Good About Cucumbers?
I’ve always classed cucumbers as being mainly water ... but by doing a bit of research I’ve found some real health benefits to eating cucumber ...

very low in calories ... always a bonus when we’re all watching our waist lines, you’ll only find about 15 calories in 4oz of cucumber

amounts of minerals ... not packed full of minerals, but cucumber does contain small amounts of calcium, copper, manganese, magnesium, potassium and phosphorous

various vitamins ... including small amounts of vitamins C, K, A, B6

And finally ... I knew it all along, cucumber does have a high water content. This makes it really refreshing to eat in the hot summer weather.

However, much of the goodness of cucumbers can be found in the skin ... so always slice cucumber with the skin in place. By doing so you’ll be making a big difference to the vitamin contents ... vitamin A is virtually all in the skin, vitamin C will almost double if you leave the skin in place and folate will increase four fold. Eating fresh cucumber is the best way of benefiting from all these nutrients ... cooking cucumber results in virtually all the vitamins and minerals being lost, whilst pickling cucumbers also results in reducing the nutrients considerably, especially vitamin C.

It’s Not All Cucumber Sandwiches ...We all eat cucumber in our summer salads ... and if you’re posh like me, you’ll also have cucumber sandwiches (no crusts ... of course!). But did you also know you can cook cucumber (surprised me too!) ... here are just a few ideas for using up your cache of fresh cucumbers:

cool finger food - scoop out the seeds, cut into batons and fill with your favourite filling ...

added crunch – add a bit of extra texture to your couscous by adding cucumber cubes ...

classic salads – can’t be beaten, a gorgeous Greek salad with chunks of crunchy cucumber, fresh tomatoes (I love using either tiny cherry tomatoes or slices of massive beefsteak toms ...), black olives and squares of feta cheese ... yummy

healthy juice – with loads of us juicing to get our glass of vitamins and minerals, try adding cucumber to your vegetables as you fill up your juicer ...

cooked cucumber – OK, I have my reservations with this one ... but apparently you can cook them in the same way you would a marrow ... steam, boil or cook in the oven ... I’ll leave cooking cucumber for you to try ...

A Natural Aid To Beauty ...
We’ve all seen the pictures of people with slices of cucumber placed over their eyes ... so as a beauty treatment cucumber is very well known.
Using cucumber on your skin is a recommended way of keeping it white and soft ... regular use will help reduce blackheads, pimples and wrinkles! Simply grate the cucumber and apply it to your skin, leaving in place for about 20 minutes.
As a medical treatment, ‘cool’ cucumber is said to help reduce the pain of sunburn and is also a reliable natural laxative food.

As Cool As A Cucumber ...
Are you calm in a crisis? Are you relaxed when others are getting stressed? Do you remain composed in even the most stressful situations? Then you could be described as being as ‘cool as a cucumber’.
Although this phrase (well, slightly different ‘cool as a cow-cumber’) was first recorded in 1732 to describe someone lacking in romance, by the 1930’s to be as ‘cool as a cucumber’ had become a more ‘cool’ phrase ... describing a relaxed individual who isn’t worried about anything ... totally unflappable ... serene ... composed ... not me then!