Medwyn Williams advises on growing cucumbers and smooth carrot skin
Jo Walton, Dover
Medwyn says: To grow cucumbers well you need to give them the right conditions to thrive in, and that means a warm, humid greenhouse or polytunnel. If you can’t give them these conditions, don’t try and sow the seed too early as they hate wet, cold conditions around the root and the stem, and are prone to collapse. It’s so easy to germinate the seed in a nice warm and cosy environment inside a propagator, but when you take them out on to the bench, unless conditions are warm, they'll suffer. Cucumbers are originally from India, so that gives you an idea of the climate they like.
Cucumbers prefer rich, fertile soil, so dig in plenty of well-rotted organic matter such as compost before planting. If you're growing your cucumbers upwards using supports such as canes, leave the plant to grow upwards to about 90cm (3ft) before allowing the fruit to set. Attach a cane along the side or roof of the greenhouse and tie the leading shoot to it removing all sideshoots. This will allow the fruit to hang down and be comparatively free from any damage to the skin finish. You can carefully straighten the fruit when they're growing, preferably when the sun is on them.
If you're not growing them in the border soil, I've grown very successful plants in growing bags. Use a ring culture pot or make your own using a 23cm (9in) pot and remove the bottom, sit it on top of the bag and remove a circle off the top of the bag to insert the pot into. Two pots per bag is sufficient, don’t forget that 'more can often be less’ in show-standard vegetables. The best and most consistent winning variety is 'Carmen' F1 or the newer variety 'Kouper' F1.