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Cucumber
Guernsey Donkey2
Posts: 6,713
in Fruit & veg
Is it normal for cucumbers to look like this - the variety is Jogger. I haven't grown them before & they are in a cold GH. How many cucumbers do I allow to grow per plant?
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Yes, the spines are much less pronounced when it grows larger and you can rub them off after picking. There is no limit to the number you can grow per plant but you must remove fruit when they are ready as the plant will stop producing if they start developing seeds inside (the fruit often turn slightly yellow when that happens so pick them when dark green and at any size from 15 to 25cm long.)
Thanks Bob, I will rub those spines off after picking - I did notice today that the first inch or so of the cucumber is smooth and a deeper green - it will be interesting to see just how long each fruit gets - I am not sure if they will be mini cucumber or full size yet. I assume that you have grown cucumbers Bob?
I grew them last year for the first time, just one plant and in the greenhouse. It took over and I still have 2pints of cucumber soup in the freezer. I panicked when they first began to fruit as they looked just like my Cornichons but they go cucumbery at about 6inches I found.
Yup, they look like they should, I didnt rub the spines off. I grew them because OH hates cucumbers so not much point in grow large ones. I caaired on growing and picking them till around Oct.
You have all reassured me that my cucumbers are not oddities but look as they should at this stage - thank you. Did you tie your cucumbers to supports or let the tendrils take the weight - at present I have mostly small (less than an inch) cucumbers with perhaps one or two on each plant the size of the larger one above. Cucumber soup - well that could be quite bland - did you add any herbs or spices to the soup herbaceous? We made lettuce soup one year .... it also spent a long time in the freezer!
I grow Marketmore 76 GD2 (listen to me, its only the second year, who am I kidding!) so picked them at about 10ins and the plant needed staking, tying and careful watching as it tried to make a break for it through the top vent.
I gave one to anyone who would take them as I had way too many over the season and was still left with three to use up, also had too many leeks for my comfort and some spuds that weren't good enough to store so I made Hot Cucumber Soup
Ingredients
800g cucumber
2 tbspns virgin olive oil
4 spring onions
225g potatoes
1 – 1½ pt chicken or vegetable stock
I make my own chicken stock and freeze it so everything was to hand, it is lovely, just to my taste with fresh crispy homemade bread.
Daughters not so impressed.
(sorry about different type, hazard of cutting and pasting.....)
Hey, thanks for that herbaceous - that looks like a recipe that we could make - and the onions give it a bit of a kick. I will print this out for the future (I feel reasonably sure of getting a few cucumbers now with all that advice). My husband will eat most things and especially something grown in OUR garden. I can imagine that my daughters wouldn't be too impressed either - I think you have to be of a certain age to appreciate good home grown food.
This is what mine look like currently, down at the start of April, growing in the conservatory.
Only 2 of the 4 seeds down germinated. The smaller plant got chomped on it's first night out in the greenhouse about a fortnight ago so I brought them straight back inside.
The slug must have taken the growing tip as it just sat there whilst the other one grew taller and taller. I did consider binning it as I thought it was done for, then a few days ago it started growing again.
This is my 2nd time growing cucumbers, lat year I found the bumps rubbed off easily when washing the picked fruits. I use a cane and garden twine tied loosely to support the stem.
Will probably do one more pot-on next week (when I find some bigger pots) then put them out in the greenhouse. I give them a weekly tomato feed when they start to flower.
Not just the onions GD2 as I generally add a few herbs and a touch of paprika to my stock but it does make a balanced taste. Both my daughters are happy to receive largesse from my garden but picky about what they have, youngest (who has the incinerator) is growing her own this year and says she is worried she is turning into me! Her husband favours Mexican food so she couldn't taste anything and the eldest just said "Hmmm, interesting Mum, is it potato soup?"
I make a cheese and bacon bread as a treat sometimes and with the soup it is a really good lunch, I suspect the bread was the only reason they tried the soup. Well I like it!
Sympathy for the slug damage Kitty2 but you never know it's looking good. Absolutely with the feed, they are hungry plants. I make Comfrey tea (gardening on a budget you know) and it is a must to keep them fruiting.