[mrsbean]

Hi all, what way is best to grow outdoor cucumbers, upright or trailing i have gown Marketmore and Bedfordshire. I have tried both ways in the past without much luck. 

[juvenal]

I always grow Marketmore outside on allotment plot. Start plants from seed in kitchen in individual 3" pots; move to cold conservatory when four leaves present - harden off in May, then into the open ground this year about now. No special treatment. Keen growers put some compost or manure underneath them.

Let growing plant ramble, keep watered and when eight set of leaves present pinch out the main growing tip. Keep watered.

I also grow Marketmore in large 18" patio pots at home. Soil/compost mix. They are against a netted wall and climb up it, with some help from me.

You shouldn't have a problem with Marketmore - very reliable.

[JayG]

I grow Marketmore in much the same way as Juvenal does at home - large patio pots, MP compost with extra nutrients added, trained up plastic trellis netting attached to canes pushed into the pot (mine don't get to more than about a metre high so it doesn't get top-heavy and fall over.)

Although they do need a bit of encouragement to climb it does mean the cukes aren't trailing around in the dirt, and puts them a bit further out of reach of slugs.

Marketmore do seem quite reliable (by cuke standards  ) but as you might expect they don't do as well as you would like them to in poor summers like last year.

[Auntiemogs]

I grow my outdoor cues up trellising and bean netting against the fence and they've always done well.  Apart from the fact that I don't have much space, I thought that they would be less prone to mildew and slug attack. 

[sunshineband]

To add to what others have said... I sometimes grow them training on the ground but plant them through a hole in black membrane, which keep them clean and they seem to enjoy the extra warmth.

This year I have Marketmore growing up with climbing borlotti beans, tying it in as it grows

[mrsbean]

Thanks for replies. I have never put my upright ones in pots always in ground, will try the Bedfordshire Prize in pots and Marketmore to ramble. Never pinched the tip out either. Thats were i must be going wrong. Hopefully i may get a nice crop this year.

[jaydig]

I didn't know about pinching out the growing tip, either.  Do you have to do the same with greenhouse cucumbers?

[Growster...]

I didn't know about pinching out the growing tip, either.  Do you have to do the same with greenhouse cucumbers?

I've never done that either, Jay, but after doing this, the four plants we have in the greenhouse seem pretty happy so far, and they have lovely side-shoots, so we'll wait and see..;0)

[Middlesexbloke]

Thanks for replies. I have never put my upright ones in pots always in ground, will try the Bedfordshire Prize in pots and Marketmore to ramble. Never pinched the tip out either. Thats were i must be going wrong. Hopefully i may get a nice crop this year.

Marketmore is a great cuke for either outdoors or in a greenhouse/polytunnel. Normally I grow mine letting it ramble on the ground but am trying a trellis thing I made from chicken wire this year. Didn't know you had to pinch out the growing tip, will try that. Have noticed outdoor cukes need as much heat as possible, they hate any extended cold, so might be a bit more of a challenge in north Wales.

[mrsbean]

Will let them grow on a bit more before planting out. Lovely here this week apart from the wind at times and a bit chilly. My plot is level with the Menai Straits, Puffin Island side.

[Growster...]

Will let them grow on a bit more before planting out. Lovely here this week apart from the wind at times and a bit chilly. My plot is level with the Menai Straits, Puffin Island side.

You're certainly too young to remember a sprog Growster, marching to cadet camp on Ynys Gaint, back in the sixties...

That bridge is pretty long, isn't it!

What a lovely area! (and great for cuces, to stay on topic)!

[mrsbean]

Growster, i remember scouts coming to camp up on terrace walk in our village in the 60,s. Forgot the island is called Ynys Gait. Means Kent Island. Yes cuc,s going down this week