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