Grow your own potted cukes
Last month I talked about going organic and growing your own tomatoes on the balcony. Today, we focus on cucumbers.
You won’t be planting your cukes outdoors until a couple of weeks after the last frost, but here are some tips to help you plan.
Half-barrels make excellent containers for growing cucumbers. I prefer to use the small size, about 60 centimetres in diameter. You can find these in most garden centres; some are even made from cast resin as opposed to the traditional wood. The resin is much lighter. You can, of course, use any container you choose, but larger ones work best for cucumbers. Make sure that whatever container you choose, it has adequate drainage holes — about three to five — in the bottom. Cucumbers will not tolerate sitting in wet soil, so this is a must. Before adding the soil to the container, place a piece of broken clay pot or a window screening over each hole to keep the soil from plugging the hole. Paper coffee filters work very well as well.
Regular potting soil is a good choice for the base, but it needs to be amended with good quality compost in equal parts. Place the soil and compost together into the container, pressing it in well but leaving about a fivecentimetre space from the top of the container to allow for watering. Wet the soil down well prior to planting.
Choosing the variety of cucumber seeds can be a bit of a challenge because there are so many choices. Plant breeders continue to develop varieties particularly well suited for growing in containers. If growing from seed, some good varieties to try are: Fanfare: All America Selections winner. Great quality, high yields and compact plants well suited for container growth. Twenty- to 25-cm cukes. Early maturity at 63 days. Salad Bush: Very high yields in small spaces. Twenty- to 25-cm cucumbers on bushtype plants. Matures in 57 days.
If you are choosing instead to buy bedding-out plants at the greenhouse and transplant them, ask the staff which varieties they carry that are compact and would be good for a container.
When planting either seeds or bedding plants, pay close attention to the spacing requirements.
Don’t try to jam too many plants into a single container. Cucumbers like to have their space, and for some varieties this may even mean only having one plant per container.
Cucumbers are very heavy feeders and will need to be fertilized regularly. The easiest way to do this is to use slow-release fertilizer pellets that are designed for use in containers. One application can be enough to last two to three months. If seeding, apply after the plants have emerged and have their second set of leaves. If transplanting, apply the fertilizer at the time of planting.
Place the container in full sun. Cucumbers will not grow in shade. Water the plants regularly and do not allow the soil to completely dry out. Cucumbers will not tolerate dry conditions.
Pollinating the cucumbers may be a concern if your location is one that is not frequented by bees. Highrise balconies usually find they have few bee visitors, for example. You can opt for self-pollinating varieties such as Sweet Success and Diva, or use a small artists’ brush to transfer the pollen from the male to female flowers. There are far more female flowers on a vine than there are male, so you will have to look carefully for the male flowers. (Male flowers have a single stamen and appear first.) Swirl the brush around the male flower and then carefully “paint” it on the female flower.