Planting Cucumbers

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Last weekend I planted out my first Cucumbers of this year, one each of “Diva” and “Mini Munch”.

These are both small Lebanese or “Cocktail Cucumber” types, which I have grown successfully for the last 3 or 4 years. They seem to do well enough outdoors without the need for a greenhouse. They are however both varieties that I have not grown before. “Mini Munch” comes strongly recommended by some of my blogging friends, especially Jo at The Good Life. The seeds were kindly provided for me by Marshalls.

The Cucumber plants have gone into a big container made from half of an old water-butt, which provides a nice depth of soil / compost for them to explore:

At present I have only planted two plants, mainly because that is as many as will conveniently fit under my biggest cloche:

I’m not convinced that we have had the last frost of the year, and in any case the night-time temperatures are still only in single figures, so protection is definitely necessary.

I can adjust the temperature in the cloche a little by opening or closing the vent:

If the Cucumbers do OK I may add another couple when I feel that they can manage without the cloche. The container is easily big enough to host four of these little plants. I have three spare ones, which are currently living on the bathroom windowsill. Actually it should have been four, because I sowed three seeds of each type, but one of the “Divas” didn’t show up (living up to its name, evidently!).

When the cloche comes off I will provide the plants with some canes to climb up, and pinch them out when they get to about five feet tall. That’s a few weeks away still though.

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