Now that Your Hands are Dirty, on to Cucumbers

Your tomato transplants are in the soil and protected from high winds and strong sun by tall tin cans, shingles and newspaper, Kozy Coats or Walls of Water and there’s still room for more veggies in your garden. Now what? Well, cucumbers are another summer time favourite.

Again, the first thing to consider is how much space you have to grow a vine vegetable like cucumbers. They will ramble and cover up quite a patch of soil where you could be growing something else if your space is limited. Also, when you allow cukes to spread out on the ground, the fruit is 1) harder to pick since you have to bend over and 2) one side of it is pale green or yellowish because it doesn’t get any sunlight lying on the ground.

You can take two routes with cucumbers: start or purchase plants to transplant or direct seed into the garden.

When to plant or seed? Transplant or seed cucumbers outdoors after the last risk of frost. If you want a head start, use a Kozy Coat(KC)or Wall of Water and put the transplant or seeds inside it. The sun will warm the water in this apparatus, and the water will warm the soil, and so protect the plant or seeds from the cold. Once the plant is near the top, remove the KC or turn the top of the KC down—some water may spill, but that’s okay. If you choose the second route, use a give the vine something to climb on.

Soil:
If you have a garden, work the soil with a roto-tiller, or hire someone to do it.
If you have a small space, say a raised bed or two that are no more than three feet wide by five feet long, by ten inches deep, grab a fork and start to dig. Remove large stones, of course, and break down large lumps of soil. Hit ‘em with the fork or a hoe until they are smaller or disintegrate.
Why so fussy? Well, initially, cucumbers have fine roots and they don’t transplant that easily, so give them every courtesy you can.

If you have a small patio or balcony, purchase a pot large enough so that a tomato cage, a small trellis, or three five-foot bamboo poles can be made to stand safely upright in it.
For potting soil, purchase a good triple mix: top soil or humus, peat moss, and manure.


Varieties:
For the balcony gardener, you just might get lucky and find a pot variety already growing at a garden centre. If you can afford it, go for it. If you can’t afford it, buy a smaller plant, an inexpensive pot and some soil.
As for variety, try the Burpless Bush Hybrid. It has small plants, and tasty cukes.
Personally, I would buy a pot large enough to hold a tomato cage and use it for supporting the cucumber vine, and then grow a variety called Cool Breeze.
This variety is self-pollinating: it has all female flowers so every bloom is a potential cucumber and you don’t need bees! The cucumbers are ready in approx. 45 days—
pick at 4-6 inches long—and are good for eating fresh or pickling.

For the gardener with more space:
Again, I recommend Cool Breeze for the same reasons. But I also like the English style cucumbers—those long ones you see in supermarkets. Two excellent varieties are Sweet Slice (60 days) and Sweeter Yet (45 days).

Water, fertilizer and shelter:
Water when needed, but underwater rather than over water, especially if you are growing cukes in pots. Remember it is easier to add a water than to get it out!

Fertilizer: I can’t say that I’ve ever need to fertilize my cuke plants, but for those in pots, it may well be necessary. Try a 15-15-15 type of water soluble fertilizer. Be careful not to over-fertilize.

Shelter: Since it is very windy most of the time where I live, I drape fabric row cover over my cucumbers. This does three things: stops the wind from beating the stuffings out of the leaves and whipping the vines into a knot, helps maintain warmth around the plant and, finally, acts as a protection from light frost.


Good luck and happy growing,
Poppy

To Garden or Not to Garden: A Veggie Patch for Beginners

The recession has many people looking to the garden for ways to save money. While this is a good option, remember two things. One, don’t go hog wild and plant everything because you will spend too much money and too much time on your first effort, and, likely, have too much produce. Secondly, plant only what you like to eat and can preserve if that is an option.

If you’re as green as grass when it comes to gardening, North Americans’ favourite vegetable is the tomato. You can grow a decent cherry tomato, like Tiny Tom, or even Sweet 1,000,000 in a container on a sunny patio or balcony.

What will you need?

The pot:
Well, if you start with a small tomato plant, also start with a small pot, say a six inch pot. When the tomato outgrows the pot size (the soil will dry out quickly, and the tomato will likely topple over, pot and all), transplant into a larger pot.
If you end up with a tomato in a large pot, say, fourteen by fourteen, and have a large tomato, get thee to Wal-Mart and buy a tomato cage. This will help support the tomato and stop it from falling over and breaking.

Soil:
Look for a good triple mix blend of soil. It should have peat moss, humus or top soil and some manure. Potting mixes with too much peat moss will dry out quickly and need fertilizing often.

Fertilizer:
While fertilizer is important, be gentle. Many people over fertilize. They read the label and think if 1 teaspoon per gallon is good, 2 must be better, so the fertilizer is too strong and may eventually kill the plant. Follow the instructions. Your plant will love you for it.
Fertilizer has three basic elements. These are nitrogen (N), phosphorous (P) and Potash (K). The safest bet is a fertilizer that has the same number in each category, like 10-10-10. However, for a tomato, since you want fruit, you need it to bloom, so get a fertilizer that has a higher middle number, something like 15- 30-15.
By the way, Miracle Grow really is good. So if you are serious about having blooming plants that bloom, invest in some.

Water:
All too often people over water their plants. Get real and get dirty! Stick your fingers in the soil to test for moisture. If this is utterly repulsive to you, perhaps you shouldn’t be gardening (ha ha ha), buy a water metre. Or, lift the pot. If it weighs more than your five year old son, it’s over watered. If it lifts off the floor very easily, it is too dry.
With watering, less is more. It is easier to add more water when needed than to wring it from the soil.

If you are in a hurry, and want tomatoes FAST, go to a reliable and reputable garden centre and purchase a cherry tomato that is already large, flowering and may even have tomatoes set. Do stay in your price range and do look after it. The point is to save money and have a tasty result in the end, not an empty pocket book and a dead stick that sort of resembles a tomato.

Happy Gardening,

Poppy