PRUNING CUCUMBERS

It is very natural for everyone of us who are new to gardening, to sow seeds, water them, replant them at the right time and watch them grow until it gives you desired veggies or fruits or flowers. But it might not strike many of us that proper care needs to be taken to grow the veggies and fruits.

I am learning new things about my veggie garden everyday. There is something or the other that draws my attention. This time it is my cucumber plant that needed my attention. I have trained the cucumber plant to a rod and slowly i would train them onto a trellis. Now the plant has started to flower. I was really excited to spot a cute little cucumber right behind the flower which you can see in the picture :-). But then, the plant needed some pruning.

What is pruning: Source Wikipedia

Pruning is a horticultural practice involving the selective removal of parts of a plant, such as branches, buds, or roots. Reasons to prune plants include deadwood removal, shaping (by controlling or directing growth), improving or maintaining health, reducing risk from falling branches, preparing nursery specimens for transplanting, and both harvesting and increasing the yield or quality of flowers and fruits.

How to prune cucumber plant:

I was reading about how to prune a cucumber plant and I accidentally saw a video in you tube that talks about pruning cucumber plant.

Generally, in a cucumber plant, at each node, there is a leaf, a flower, a fruit, a tendril and a growth point. All you have to do is just cut the growth point so that the fruit gets all the nutrients that is required.

Growth points needs to be taken off as soon as you notice them or else, it will grow bigger and would become hard to cut it from the stem. Also it takes a lot of plants energy and the fruit ends up with very little nutrients.

In the pic, I have clearly marked the growth point. You need to cut the growth point either with scissor or just with your finger nails. They are very tender and are very easy to just snap with fingers.

Will see you soon with more garden tips and experiences soon :-)

TRAINING CUCUMBER PLANT

Plant No.1

I had planted these cucumbers about 5 weeks back. They are growing well. In between there were worms that ate up leaves. I was careless initially. Later sprayed organic pesticide on the leaves and now they are growing fine. The plant has started developing tendrils which needed to be trained. So this is how I am gonna train them. I have a huge birch tree which was already dead when we moved into this house. I just let the tree in its place and now its going to be helping my cucumbers.

Plant No. 2

I had steel rods to train the tendrils on the plant. Once they catch up to these iron rods, I will shift them slowly to the tree which is right behind the rod.

Also, when i replanted my second plant, i accidentally cut the roots at the bottom of the cucumber plant, although the main roots remained intact. Usually cucumber plants do not like the roots to be disturbed. I hope they get adjusted and start to catch up with my first plant. 

HARVESTING RADISH

My husband and I were really excited to see our first set of radishes. I just took three of them as I really couldn't wait to see my first ever harvest.

How to Harvest:

You can harvest radish in 25-30 days after sowing. They will be ready in no time.

Sprinkle water aorund it just to loosen the soil.

With a spade slowly dig around the radish and pull the radish gently holding the leaves.

That's it! You can wash them well and they are ready to eat.. So fresh and crispy!!! Our radishes tasted perfect.

Observations:

Do not leave the radish too long after you feel it is harvest time. There are chances that it will mature and turn more hot.

It might also split if you leave it too long after harvest time.

Radishes are the easiest to grow and you can also use the leaves in you salads. I use them in Indian curry as well.

Hope you liked my radish. Have more to be harvested pretty soon. Catch you with more interesting things from my garden.