Cucumber (salad)

1. 1

   Choose your type

   Indoor / greenhouse types (Carmen F1, Telegraph, Femspot, Petita): all-female F1 hybrids — no male flowers means no pollination, no bitter fruit, no seeds. Long smooth fruits. Need 18°C+ consistently. Outdoor / ridge types (Marketmore, Burpless Tasty Green, Crystal Apple): hardier, tolerant of cooler conditions, shorter spiny fruits, need a sunny sheltered spot. Don't mix the two — outdoor types need bee pollination; indoor types are bred to avoid it.

2. 2

   Sow seed indoors

   Mid-April. Set seeds on edge in 9 cm pots of multi-purpose compost, 2 cm deep, 1 seed per pot. 18–22°C in a propagator or warm windowsill. Germination in 5–7 days.

3. 3

   Pot on once or twice

   Move to 1-litre pots when roots fill the smaller; then to final position. Don't let cucumber seedlings get pot-bound — they check growth and never fully recover.

4. 4

   Plant in final position

   Greenhouse / polytunnel: late April to mid-May into border soil or 7.5-litre containers. Train up vertical strings or canes. Outdoor: after last frost (mid-May south, early June north) into sheltered south-facing position. Plant on a slight mound for drainage.

5. 5

   Train indoor types vertically

   Indoor cucumbers crop on vertical strings. Tie the main stem to a string from floor to greenhouse roof; pinch out side-shoots above the second leaf; remove tendrils and male flowers (if any appear on supposedly all-female F1s).

6. 6

   Feed and water

   Weekly high-potash feed from first flowers. Water consistently — irregular watering is the single biggest cause of bitter cucumbers. Water deeply 2–3 times a week; never let the soil dry out; mulch heavily.

7. 7

   Watch for powdery mildew

   White dusty patches on leaves from late summer onwards. Worse in dry-after-wet conditions. Remove affected leaves; improve airflow; spray weekly with diluted milk (1 part to 9 parts water) on a calm dry day. Cultivars like Marketmore have some natural resistance.

8. 8

   Pick young and often

   Pick when fruit is 15–20 cm for ridge types, 25–30 cm for greenhouse types. Pick every 2–3 days during the peak — leaving fruit on the plant shuts down further flowering. A single greenhouse plant can give 30–40 cucumbers across a season; outdoor 15–20.

Red spider mite, whitefly, and powdery mildew under glass; slugs outdoors.