Hi All,

This is my first year growing regular cucumbers.
Prior years I grew lemon cucumbers, but they were
a complete loss


1) How do I know when they are ready to pick?

2) they are planted in a row of ground pots.
I move their vines perpendicular to the
row of pots but they keep move back towards
each other. Is this by design? Cross
pollination needs? Should I just let them
do their thing?

Many thanks,
-T

T wrote:

This is my first year growing regular cucumbers.
Prior years I grew lemon cucumbers, but they were
a complete loss


1) How do I know when they are ready to pick?

when they reach a size you like to eat. i'm
not sure what variety you are growing. we have
been using a pickling cucumber which doesn't
get much more than a foot long even at full size.
but they are usually much better eating at a
smaller size about 8 inches long and 1-2 inches
across.


2) they are planted in a row of ground pots.
I move their vines perpendicular to the
row of pots but they keep move back towards
each other. Is this by design? Cross
pollination needs? Should I just let them
do their thing?

i don't care what they do and right now ours
are starting to grow through the fence and up
the fence and into the neighboring tomatoes.

pick every 4-5 days or check for ones you
want to pick about that often.

keep them watered well.

we have four plants and they produce 1-2
five gallon buckets of cucumbers per week.

last year we had 15 or more plants. we sure
didn't need that many...

almost all we're growing are for my brother
and nephew and to give away. i've eaten maybe
one or two small cucumbers so far this season.
i should be eating more of them since they have
so few calories and can be used to fill up on
and to lose a few more lbs.

i am not making any pickles this year. we
have enough.

for pollination purposes the things that help
the most are the native bee species you have
around. if you have been able to get squash and
melons to grow ok you probably have the bees
around you need.


songbird

On 2020-07-31 17:48, songbird wrote:
T wrote:

This is my first year growing regular cucumbers.
Prior years I grew lemon cucumbers, but they were
a complete loss


1) How do I know when they are ready to pick?

when they reach a size you like to eat.

That is easy. I will wait until they stop growing,
then see if they are too though

i'm
not sure what variety you are growing.

https://www.burpee.com/vegetables/cu...id-51102A.html

we have
been using a pickling cucumber which doesn't
get much more than a foot long even at full size.
but they are usually much better eating at a
smaller size about 8 inches long and 1-2 inches
across.


2) they are planted in a row of ground pots.
I move their vines perpendicular to the
row of pots but they keep move back towards
each other. Is this by design? Cross
pollination needs? Should I just let them
do their thing?

i don't care what they do and right now ours
are starting to grow through the fence and up
the fence and into the neighboring tomatoes.

pick every 4-5 days or check for ones you
want to pick about that often.

keep them watered well.

we have four plants and they produce 1-2
five gallon buckets of cucumbers per week.

Yikes With my black thumb, maybe 1/10 that much

last year we had 15 or more plants. we sure
didn't need that many...

almost all we're growing are for my brother
and nephew and to give away. i've eaten maybe
one or two small cucumbers so far this season.
i should be eating more of them since they have
so few calories and can be used to fill up on
and to lose a few more lbs.

They are also ketogenic and perfect for my
diabetes. I adore this in salads and straight
with my Blue Cheese salad dressing. Sometimes
just straight with salt.

i am not making any pickles this year. we
have enough.

for pollination purposes the things that help
the most are the native bee species you have
around. if you have been able to get squash and
melons to grow ok you probably have the bees
around you need.


I have planed holly hocks in the garden's unused ground
pots this year in hopes of attracting more bees


songbird

On Friday, July 31, 2020 at 8:30:54 PM UTC-4, T wrote:
Hi All,

This is my first year growing regular cucumbers.
Prior years I grew lemon cucumbers, but they were
a complete loss


1) How do I know when they are ready to pick?

2) they are planted in a row of ground pots.
I move their vines perpendicular to the
row of pots but they keep move back towards
each other. Is this by design? Cross
pollination needs? Should I just let them
do their thing?

Many thanks,
-T

Pick them when they get to the size you see at the grocery store. Don't let them go too long as they will turn yellow as they ripen. I planted some years ago and didn't know how productive they were; we ate all we can and pickled some. There were so many that even my daughter's pony got tired of them and refused to eat any more.

My wife currently grows them in cages, like tomato cages. The plants seem to like it and it keeps them from spreading all over the garden.

After a very dry month, we finally got a good soaking rain here. It rained all day today. More is expected as that hurricane is supposed to track up the east coast this week.

Paul

On 2020-07-31 18:59, Pavel314 wrote:
On Friday, July 31, 2020 at 8:30:54 PM UTC-4, T wrote:
Hi All,

This is my first year growing regular cucumbers.
Prior years I grew lemon cucumbers, but they were
a complete loss


1) How do I know when they are ready to pick?

2) they are planted in a row of ground pots.
I move their vines perpendicular to the
row of pots but they keep move back towards
each other. Is this by design? Cross
pollination needs? Should I just let them
do their thing?

Many thanks,
-T

Pick them when they get to the size you see at the grocery store. Don't let them go too long as they will turn yellow as they ripen. I planted some years ago and didn't know how productive they were; we ate all we can and pickled some. There were so many that even my daughter's pony got tired of them and refused to eat any more.

My wife currently grows them in cages, like tomato cages. The plants seem to like it and it keeps them from spreading all over the garden.

After a very dry month, we finally got a good soaking rain here. It rained all day today. More is expected as that hurricane is supposed to track up the east coast this week.

Paul


I picked a bunch of them of various sizes, about what you
said and the pickle section of the grocery store.

Unfortunatly today is my fast day (I am ketogenic) and
I can not taste them till tomorrow. Dang! I will have
to take my wife word for it when she get here. Hope
she leaves me some. She gets away with anything because
she is sweet/pretty/cute.

On 2020-07-31 21:41, T wrote:
UnfortunatlyÂ*todayÂ*isÂ*myÂ*fastÂ*dayÂ*(IÂ*amÂ*ke togenic)Â*and
IÂ*canÂ*notÂ*tasteÂ*themÂ*tillÂ*tomorrow.Â*Â*Dang! Â*Â*IÂ*willÂ*have
toÂ*takeÂ*myÂ*wifeÂ*wordÂ*forÂ*itÂ*whenÂ*sheÂ*get *here.Â*Â*Hope
sheÂ*leavesÂ*meÂ*some.Â*Â*SheÂ*getsÂ*awayÂ*withÂ*a nythingÂ*because
sheÂ*isÂ*sweet/pretty/cute.


She left me a bunch. She love to share things, so I
got lucky. Her eyes sparkled when she tried her first
one.

And oh my goodness: crunchy and yummy!