CUCUMBERS
Sow: March to June
Plant: May to July
Harvest: May to October
January: Buy seed.
February: Be patient and don’t sow until next month.
March: Sow seed singly, 1cm/½in deep, in 8cm/3in pots. Cover with a polythene bag. Keep at 20˚C/68˚F. Don’t exclude light. Germination takes 5–7 days.
April: Pot on into 12cm/5in pots. Water very carefully and keep plants above 15˚C/59˚F but below 30˚C/86˚F. Make a second sowing of seed.
May: Plant out 45cm/18in apart in a hotbed, or on a mound of soil, once temperatures settle and frost is passed. Slit the bottom of growbags before putting two cucumber plants in each of these. Watch out for root rot if large plants are still in pots. Watch out for red spider mite and powdery mildew from now on. Pick the first fruit from early plants.
June: Plant out April sowings. Remove male flowers if the variety demands it. Train stems up strings. Harvest fruit before it becomes too large. Water carefully and spray overhead in dry weather. Pile fresh compost around the lower part of the stem.
July: Add more compost round the base of the stem. Train plants up to the roof and tie them in. Keep spraying overhead in hot weather. Harvest all ripe fruit even if there is a glut.
August: Nip the tops off plants, or turn them round and grow them back down to the ground again. Use a liquid feed every ten days and add more compost round the stem. Water carefully and spray twice a day if hot.
September: Remove any discoloured leaves and failing fruit. Keep applying liquid feed. Remove any plants that stop producing, or that start to die back.
October: Harvest any remaining fruit and remove plants.
CUCUMBER TROUBLES
Slugs: March to June
Red spider mite: May to September
Whitefly: April to September
Aphids: March to October
Powdery mildew: May to October
Gummosis: May to October
Grey mould: March to October
Root rot: April to July