Cucumber

Here are my tips for growing great cucumbers:

Site, soil type:	Cucumbers need moderately fertile soil. Plant cucumbers in full sun. Use well-drained soil.
Planting requirements:	Plant when the soil is at least 65 degrees. Cucumbers like warm summer weather. To get a head start, plant indoors 4 weeks ahead and then transplant. Cucumbers do not like their roots disturbed when transplanting. Cucumbers will not tolerate frost.
Nutrition/Fertilizer needs:	Use ½ -1 cup of a complete organic fertilizer per plant.
Water needs:	Keep the soil moist at all times. Cucumbers may be bitter if they don’t get enough water.
Other tips:	Cucumbers like heat. Use row covers after planting to give them increased warmth if it’s cool. Put olive colored plastic down one week before planting to warm soil. Put holes in the plastic and put plants in the holes. Olive plastic suppresses weeds but allows the sun to warm the soil. The are parthenocarpic varieties of cucumbers. This means that they set fruit without needing pollination. These parthenogarpic varieties are especially useful in greenhouses, hoophouses, and under row covers. My favorite variety of cucumber, Diva, is parthenocarpic. A foliar feed with fish or kelp formula every 14 days makes plants more pest resistant.

Insect Invasion?

Squash bugs? Cucumber beetles? Squash vine borers? Root maggots? Flea beetles? Cabbage worms? This product will help: Summerweight Garden Fabric 6' x 20' It also will help keep the rabbits and deer from munching your goodies.

Learn how to Improve your vegetables’ flavor

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A Great Hose…

I love my expandable garden hose! It's lightweight and easily moves around the garden with me. It doesn't get kinked or tangled. Hoses can be such a pain, even the ones that say they won't kink. And they are heavy and bulky and bothersome to wind up to make the garden neat. Not this one. Recoiling it is a breeze!
Find this hose here at Amazon.com.

Vinegar Kills Weeds!

Many gardeners report success with regular household vinegar. It has 5% acetic acid and 95% water. But for an even more effective weapon, vinegar with 20% acetic acid is sold as a non-toxic herbicide. I recommend experimenting with diluting the 20% vinegar to make it last longer. University studies say that 10-20% vinegar is effective. Vinegar is a quick-acting, non-selective contact herbicide and its residues degrade promptly in the soil. Foliar contact results in rapid dehydration of annual weeds and grasses, and top growth reduction of herbaceous perennial weeds and grasses. 20% vinegar may be applied up to two days before harvest. Find 20% vinegar here. 20% vinegar is non-food grade and is strong. Read application instructions carefully.

Critter Ridder

A motion-activated sprinkler WORKS to keep deer, rabbits, raccoons, squirrels, dogs, and cats out of your garden. These sprinklers give a strong blast of water that lasts for 15 seconds. They have a sensor with night only, day only, and always on activation modes. One user says “My experience is that the sound of the sprinkler, and the sound of the water suddenly hitting plants startles and scares away the animals. It doesn't matter if the spray is aimed to actually hit the animal.” Here is a YouTube video of this action. At Amazon, you can find the Orbit 62100 Yard Enforcer Motion Activated Sprinkler. It works well to detect and surprise encroaching critters.

Row cover for cold protection

Floating row cover is a lightweight blanket for your plants. It’s an easy way to extend your growing season. With row cover, your seeds will germinate faster and the plants will get off to a better start. The highest quality of row cover I’ve found is called Agribon. Agribon is made in several different weights. Agribon 19 offers several degrees of frost protection. I have had 12-15 degrees of protection with this product. Agribon 19 also allows 85% of light transmission. This product is for sale at Amazon.

Grow Great Vegetables

Tips, Tricks and Tools!

Cucumber

Here are my tips for growing great cucumbers:

Site, soil type:

Cucumbers need moderately fertile soil.

Plant cucumbers in full sun.

Use well-drained soil.

Planting requirements:

Plant when the soil is at least 65 degrees. Cucumbers like warm summer weather. To get a head start, plant indoors 4 weeks ahead and then transplant.

Cucumbers do not like their roots disturbed when transplanting.

Cucumbers will not tolerate frost.

Nutrition/Fertilizer needs:

Use ½ -1 cup of a complete organic fertilizer per plant.

Water needs:

Keep the soil moist at all times. Cucumbers may be bitter if they don’t get enough water.

Other tips:

Cucumbers like heat. Use row covers after planting to give them increased warmth if it’s cool. Put olive colored plastic down one week before planting to warm soil. Put holes in the plastic and put plants in the holes. Olive plastic suppresses weeds but allows the sun to warm the soil.

The are parthenocarpic varieties of cucumbers. This means that they set fruit without needing pollination. These parthenogarpic varieties are especially useful in greenhouses, hoophouses, and under row covers. My favorite variety of cucumber, Diva, is parthenocarpic.