CUCUMBERS OUT OF DOORS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22398, 20 October 1934, Page 21

CUCUMBERS OUT OF DOORS

THE RIDGE/VARIETIES Although the ridge or outdoor cucumbers cannot compare in size or appearance with the greenhouse varieties, they are, nevertheless, a useful crop for the amateur who cannot spare the considerable amount of greenhouse or frame space required for the latter kinds. For early fruiting, plants raised under glass may be purchased and planted out during the first week in November. Otherwise seed may be sown in the open during the next week or so. Some care must be exercised in sowing the seed. If it is simply laid on the surface and covered with soil, the chances are against its growing satisfactorily. The best plan for indoor sowing is to fill a small pot with soil, and press < two seeds vertically into the surface, an inch apart. If both germinate, the weakest can be removed as soon as the other has formed two good leaves. From the outset the foliage should be a clear green, with no yellowish tinges. This always indicates too wet a soil, or too low a temperature, or, in some cases, a combination of both. Any vacant spots, which receive plenty of sun, can be utilised to make up mounds of prepared compost, or trenches filled with rich soil. Where room is limited, a heap or mound has its advantage, for, providing it is of sufficient size to allow the growths to ramble freely down each side, a much larger space is covered than when the plants are cramped between other crops on the level ground. One important point, the hills or mounds must have a sufficiently large top surface to facilitate watering. , , , , ~ The hole taken out for each plant should be two feet square and two feet deep, and be filled in with fresh horse manure, or, as substitutes, a plentiful amount of fresh lawn mowings, fresh garden rubbish, or any other fermenting material which will retain heat. The manure must be firmly trodden and covered with a sixinch layer of good compost, mixed with a little well-rotted manure. The excavated soil can he piled up on the north side to act as a wind-break, and afford the plant a certain amount of protection in its early stages. _ If outdoor sowing is to be adopted, two or three seeds can be sown on each mound, and thinned out to a single plant as soon as they are large enough to handle. It is always _ advisable to afford them some protection with inverted flower pots, handlights. or bottomless boxes, covered with glass, during the early stages of growth. The plants can be allowed to develop at will until they have made four or five leaves, when the growing point of the main stem is pinched out to induce the laterals springing from the leaf axils to break. These, when long enough, should be pegged down as widely apart as possible. Each side shoot is in turn stopped at the first joint beyond the young cucumber. One fruit on each shoot is an ample crop, and the setting of more than this number must be avoided at all costs. The best plan is to remove the male blossoms from day to day, as they develop. Cucumber plants suffer severely from drought, and plentiful waterings will be required during hot, dry spells. Surface mulching is also necessary to induce the rapid formation of white, fleshy surface roots. These are more valuable to the crop than the lower, brown ones, and, if they receive plenty of sun. growth will be rapid._ Stockwood Ridge, King of the Ridge, Perfection Ridge, and Excelsior Ridge are all strong-growing, heavy-cropping varieties, which can be commended to growers with every confidence. — (S. B. W., in Amateur Gardening.!