Mini Cucumbers

One of our children's favourite things to eat is cucumbers. They eat them like apples when allowed. So it's always something we try to grow loads of. 

The mini cucumbers are even better, they all seem to like to take them to school in their lunch boxes. Saves a sandwich going soggy apparently! 

 It's a shame these are F1s though, so no saving the seed. We tried a "heirloom" mini cuc last year and it was bitter and didn't grow so well, so for now we'll have to buy our seed each year for these! 

What's your favourite cucumber to grow?

Dar Cucumber - Don't Bother

This year we tried a new (to us) variety of cucumber. I wanted a mini type that would be good for lunch boxes. This one was said to be great for small cucumbers, and would grow on a small plant. 

Not them in their best light - this is the end of the season and these would have been for seed saving had I thought they were worth saving.

They grew pretty well, making very compact plants. However the cucumbers didn't go down very well with the children, this was because they had bitter skins. 

I know I could have isolated the male flowers, but the plants were such a short tight compact mess that it was impossible. The children did eat them when peeled, but that hardly made them good for lunch boxes. 

Not one we'll be growing again. 

Super Early Cucumber!

 I love trying to get a super early crop of some of the veggies we grow and love. This year I thought I'd try and go for early cucumbers. The children are in love with the mini cucs you can buy from the supermarket. I'll get them as treats sometimes and they love them for their afternoon snack or to put in their lunchboxes. 

So I built a planter for... our bedroom! My wife is very understanding! If you read this blog much you've probably already worked that out to be fair!

Saving Cucumber Seeds (Fermenting!)

 So it's the time of year where my mind really turns to making sure I have enough seed of everything. This year should have hot home to so many people that buying seeds from a shop isn't always guaranteed or possible, I was pleased that my seed saving obsession meant I had jars of tried and tested seed ready to go.

  

The video above shows how I save the seeds from my cucumbers. I got sent these seed from America via a twitter friend, so it would be really great to keep this strain going. We have grown lots of different cucumbers over the years, and this one seems to hit the sweet spot for us. It's prolific, perfect for eating fresh, perfect for pickling and crops over a long time.

So who else ferments their cucumber (and tomato) seeds for storage? 

What's your favourite type of cucumber to grow?

Inside My Greenhouses

I've never done so well for things grown under glass as I have this year. 

Chilli peppers lining the long shelf in the greenhouse

 Everything is growing like mad and I think it's down to a combination of things (obviously the second greenhouse helps as well) -
A glorious summer - the sunshine has been great for everything in the garden and it's helped all the pollinating insects as well.

The potting mix seems to be working really well, I did plant a few tomatoes in just compost and they seem to dry out much faster than the others. A mix of soil, compost, blood fish and bone, wood ash and chicken mature pellets seems to be the way forward. In fact it's cheaper than just compost!

The size of my pots - the buckets seem to be a great way of growing things, they hold so much more water, I only water once a day and they never really dry out, hopefully they should last a good few years and stack together for easy storage over winter.

My tomato food - I've been alternating between nettle tea and comfrey tea. Feeding them much more often than I would of if I was buying it, everything seems to be growing like crazy. I plan to plant a large area of comfrey soon - I've got about 20 plants ready to be planted out. Free, organic plant food is the way forward, everyone should try it!

A wall of tomatoes - 18 plants in all

Different shapes and sizes - all taste amazing!

Cucumbers, melons, and cucucmelons in the smaller greenhouse

Sweet peppers in the small greenhouse

My first ever melon - should I support it? 

I'd like to change my smaller 8ft x 6ft greenhouse for a bigger one as well next year but I've probably got jobs that are more important to take care of!

How is everyone else's greenhouses doing?