Cucumbers

Cucumbers are climbers that naturally grow in subtropical climates. Over time, varieties of cucumbers for greenhouses and for open ground appeared. As climbing plants they can be grown on vertical supports. This means that they take up very little space on the ground, which is useful in greenhouses.

 
Some years ago greenhouses became very popular and many gardeners got growing cucumbers. It's believed that the best cucumber should be dense and crispy, and also tasty when pickled.
I started growing cucumbers 10 years ago. It seemed to me that growing them is much easier than tomatoes or zucchini. To do this, I ordered a greenhouse, it was assembled in the garden. It was a small greenhouse, which was later converted into another, larger one.

Cucumbers have tendrils with which they cling to a rope. I made supports during landing: ropes, their antennae can wrap around a rope. They cannot cling to flat surfaces. The stems must be tied up and twisted around the rope too, especially when they are loaded with fruit.

 

But this is not enough, because the plants and cucumbers are heavy and need to be wrapped with rope as they grow. To find out which way to turn, you need to look at the tendrils: they twist clockwise around the rope. So I twist the climber clockwise around the rope.

 

The first cucumbers in the greenhouse appear on the lower branches of the plant. The greenhouse varieties are all-female producing almost exclusively flowers with a tiny fruit behind them. They are non-pollinated plants and grow quickly in a greenhouse. After 7-8 days, such a fruit can be cut and eaten.

With greenhouse cucumbers, I always pinch out the growing point when it reaches the greenhouse roof.

 

Outdoor cucumber plants produce both male and female flowers. The female flowers need to be pollinated in order to produce fruit, so I don’t remove the male flowers.

I usually plant different varieties of cucumber - pollinated and non-pollinated. Pollinated varieties produce fruit later, but there are more cucumbers on these plants and they produce fruit longer, until autumn.

Here is  the first  harvest:

 

Do you grow cucumbers? Do you love them fresh or salty? Do you use them in salads or in hot dishes?

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