Tips for growing the most delicious cucumbers

03.09.2024 - 19:03 / theprovince.com / Helen Chesnut

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Q. The first, much anticipated, cucumber from my garden this summer was bitter. What might have caused this?

A. It is not unusual for gardeners to pounce on the first likely looking cucumber, before it has reached optimal ripeness and full, sweet flavour. Seed packets usually note the preferred size at which to harvest a cucumber variety.

Any kind of stress to the plants can cause bitterness in cucumbers. In hot, dry summers, that stress is commonly inadequate or inconsistent supplies of moisture to the plants. Physical damage to plants can contribute to bitterness as well. For clean, nicely shaped and sweet-tasting cucumbers grow them vertically on a support.

Some varieties are more prone than others to bitterness. Try a few different varieties each year until you find ones that grow best and produce the most pleasing flavours in your garden conditions.

Q. Gardening friends and I have been sharing our experiences with cabbage, broccoli and cauliflower sometimes becoming infected by clubroot, while our kale has never been affected by the same disease. They are all closely related plants. Can you explain?

A. I have noticed the same pattern of the disease in my garden. Kale does seem less susceptible to this parasitic micro-organism that attacks the roots, causing distortions and swelling. Plants are weakened and usually become unproductive.

The only explanation I’ve ever heard for its immunity to clubroot is that kale is a more ancient, primitive brassica. The others are more recently developed and more highly bred. Still, given conditions favourable