[barbarella]

I have some purple sprouting broccoli and cavolo nero which are itching to be planted out but they will have to wait a few days longer until I have made room for them on the allotment.  They look healthy but are getting a little leggy and I was wondering if I could plant them deeper in the ground than they are in the pots, like I do with tomatoes?

[DD.]

No harm at all. Makes a lot of sense. I generally plant up to the first true leaves.

[barbarella]

Thanks for that DD.  Can I take that as a general rule for most things then, or is there anything which would seriously object to this treatment?

[DD.]

Cucumbers!

Must keep the stem dry.

[barbarella]

I'll remember that when I get my greenhouse next year

[JWK]

I've had problems with cucmber stems rotting just above the base in the past, and put it down to being too wet, so used to mound them up before planting.

Well this year my cucmber seedlings went a bit leggy, so I tried one of them planted deep (half expecting it to keel over straight away) and it has done OK. I've done the same trick on one courgette plant as slugs had nibbled its base and it looked a bit weak, I planted it deep and assume it must have grown new roots further up the stem.

[Rowan]

as long as the soil isn't too wet cucumbers are ok planted deep, the stems will form roots after a while, but if too wet they will rot and do so quickly, i have one seedling go down after two day, because of the foot or so of rain we had here on Tuesday