'How does your garden grow?'

[loppylugs 8,429]

Thanks Jonab.  I wonder if it's just the hot climate.  All the seed packets show nice long green Cucumbers, but they are not growing that way.

[NewBasfordlad 3,599]

^^^^^^^What variety are they?

[loppylugs 8,429]

I'll have to get back to you on that NBL.   Can't remember and the seed packet is in the shed.

 

Good news though.  After I'd posted I went out to do some watering and found three that had grown quite nicely.  In fact I'm about to have some on a bun with some cream cheese.   I tend to be cheap and use some of the seed I didn't use last year.  This was new seed.  I'm wondering if something goes strange with older seed'

[jonab 1,644]

As far as I remember, all cucurbits (cucumbers, marrows & melons) are monoecious that is, has both male and female sexual organs on the same plant. The flowers can be identified as male or female by examining the flower. Female flowers have a tiny undeveloped fruit behind the flower, male flowers just have the stem.

Cucumbers are best unfertilised (fruit develops but not the seed) so it is wise to remove any male flowers as they appear.

Melons and marrows, conversely, need to be fertilised in order to develop. This can be done by hand with a tiny paintbrush if the male flowers are in short supply.

Fleurs de courgette can be bought on the markets in Southern France for making beignets de fleurs de courgette - which I served for dinner the other night to my Rochdale acquaintances.

[NewBasfordlad 3,599]

The other reason to prevent the males pollinating the females is the fruit will be very bitter, uneatable unless you have a strange taste.

 

Jonab not quite right some cumbers have both male and female some do not, I grow all female varieties so have no problem with pollination just let them get on with it.

 

Glad to hear your news Loppy, if it has been as hot there as it is here it could have been water stress, keep the ground around them moist/not wet all the time, another sign of this is little fruit turning yellow and dying on the plant.

[NewBasfordlad 3,599]

Ian, I am a bit sad, the lady does flowers etc,  me I do fruit and veg just love being able to go to the back and pick fresh produce. She knows if she doesn't keep the flowery bit full I will come along with a planter and they will be veg there too, so she keeps very much on her toes.

 

I do recommend some flowers and bushes to her but there is method in my madness everything I recommend is to attract pollinators.

[loppylugs 8,429]

2 hours ago, NewBasfordlad said:

 

 

Glad to hear your news Loppy, if it has been as hot there as it is here it could have been water stress, keep the ground around them moist/not wet all the time, another sign of this is little fruit turning yellow and dying on the plant.

 

Yes, it's been brutally hot here and will probably continue that way for the foreseeable future.  I bought a little hose that makes a very fine mist.  That seems to help and doesn't even use a lot of water.  Seems like Cukes really are a cool weather plant.  We didn't have much spring here this year.  It went from cool to really hot almost overnight.

[jonab 1,644]

10 hours ago, NewBasfordlad said:

Jonab not quite right some cumbers have both male and female some do not, I grow all female varieties so have no problem with pollination just let them get on with it.

1

All-female cucumbers are the result of man's interference with nature and are usually F1 hybrids which do not breed true.

[loppylugs 8,429]

I did not know that Jonab.  I try and avoid all GMO foods of any kind.  I'm probably planting them in my own back yard.  

[NewBasfordlad 3,599]

Loppy, F1s are not repeat not GM plants or seed, the strain is developed using old fashioned breeding techniques, been around for years.

 

As Jonab points out they will not always come true if you save the seed due to the selective breeding used to produce them. Where as 'heritage' varieties will come true.

 

Back to cumbers, that fierce heat will be the problem, cumbers are a vine originally from India and man has cultivated them for at least 3000 years.

 

As a vine they like warm humid conditions but not direct sunlight, known for their propensity to turn up their toes they are not the easiest of plants to grow. As a for instance I need 2 plants to grow on so I always set 4 seed, expecting one not to germinate and one to die when a plantlet usually through root rot. Occasionally as this year all have survived to adulthood and I am giving away cumbers as fast as I can. But I know if I chance my arm and only set 2/3 seed I will be short of cumbers come the time.

 

Over the years I have found not to over water them when they are small as this can prevent the roots from growing well or indeed cause root rot but when they start bearing fruit, then its plenty of tomorite as a feed and well watered ever day after all at harvest they are 95% water.

 

As an aside I too would not use GM seed.

[NewBasfordlad 3,599]

To explain further Loppy about F1s I also grow a runner bean called Firestorm, this is a runner crossed with a French bean and again is self pollinating due to that cross. From taste and sight you wouldn't know it was anything else but a runner but even if there is a lack of pollinators you will still get a good crop.

[jonab 1,644]

Sorry if I misled. F1 hybrids are produced by selective breeding - that is a human decides which plants will be the parents and then the fertilization takes place naturally (perhaps with the help of a brush or tickling stick). There is no messing about with the plant genes per se.

Most of the living things around us are the result of selective breeding - including ourselves.

[loppylugs 8,429]

Thanks guys.  I think I'm a bit paranoid about GMOs.  Makes me suspicious of everything.  I think you put your finger on it NBL when you mentioned direct sunshine.  Mine get a lot of that.  I'm going to have to find a corner somewhere where there is a bit more shade.  We have a lot of trees around the yard so I put the garden fairly well away from them as they sap the nutrients.

 

Runner Beans sometimes get a bit Wilty in the hot afternoons but they seem to be ok otherwise.

 

It is presently unusually hot for the time of the year.  Even old timers here are saying so.

 

I guess we're all mongrels Jonab.  

 

edited for spelling.

[catfan 14,793]

Did he say "GUYS"  ? 

[NewBasfordlad 3,599]

More silly advice then Loppy keep them beans moist too it helps with bean set.

 

My cumbers are in the green house which is not ideal as so are the toms and they love sunshine. I put the cumbers in a corner and shade with garden fleece seems to work for me.

[loppylugs 8,429]

Yep!  I said like, guys.  Well I'm talking to some guys.  You know what I mean?  

 

Not only that I'm a ten dollar Yank, so I'm supposed to say, Guys.  Lol.

[Jill Sparrow 10,307]

8 hours ago, loppylugs said:

Not only that I'm a ten dollar Yank, so I'm supposed to say, Guys.  Lol.

What on earth is a ten dollar Yank?  I've heard of a ten dollar pretzel...Tony Curtis describing Jack Lemmon's female persona in the 1959 film Some Like it Hot..."He was done up like a ten dollar pretzel!"  Ten dollar Yank I've not heard before.

[trogg 2,016]

Quote

 

 

1 hour ago, Jill Sparrow said:

What on earth is a ten dollar Yank?  I've heard of a ten dollar pretzel...Tony Curtis describing Jack Lemmon's female persona in the 1959 film Some Like it Hot..."He was done up like a ten dollar pretzel!"  Ten dollar Yank I've not heard before.

I never heard that expression but the nearest one I can think of is a "ten bob millionaire" meaning they only have ten bob in their pocket but act like a millionaire. So is a ten dollar yank an American saying meaning the same.

[NewBasfordlad 3,599]

First runners of the year some salt butter and a baked spud lovely jubbly

 

[loppylugs 8,429]

I came up with ten dollar yank as far as I know.  . I think I unconsciously pinched it from the old saying the Aussies used to use about the ten pound assisted passage Brits.

 

Believe me, there's no ten dollar Yanks.  If you come here legally they sock it to you for all the govt. paperwork to get a green card.  The medical system will help you get rid of any dollars you might have left.

[NewBasfordlad 3,599]

Something else to hopefully make you jealous.

 

With the raspberry glut well under way and the statutory jam made the lady came up with another idea, raspberry cordial frozen into ice cubes. She had not told me anything and just today gave me a cool glass of lemonade with a couple of said cubes in, just leave them to melt and you have a lovely tangy cold drink, ideal on a hot day.

[catfan 14,793]

All this talk of gardens, Mrs C just gave the gazebo a coat of varnish, cost me £13, ouch !

[jonab 1,644]

I have several types of mint growing in my garden (apple mint, orange mint, peppermint and several others).

Anyway, looking around this morning I noticed that some of the plants had changed to a shiny black colour with green/blue iridescent spots here and there.

Looking closer (and disturbing the plants in doing so) the blackness disappeared in a great swarm of flies (or fly-like insects).

It wasn't a fly here and there on the plants, they were completely covered. Oddly, it wasn't all the mint plants just certain types, particularly apple mint (my favourite for making mint sauce).

Anyone seen anything like this? The flies look like ordinary houseflies.

[NewBasfordlad 3,599]

That's strange mint is often use as a deterrent for fly's

[jonab 1,644]

That's what I thought. I did note that not all the plants were attractants but I didn't make a note of which ones had that property. I'll let things settle down and make a check tomorrow.