Growing, Cultivating and Propagating Cucumbers

Long a popular vegetable

Cucumbers originally come from the warm, humid, mountainous areas of Southeast Asia. Archaeologists have found cucumber remains at the ancient battle sites of the Romans and the Egyptians. It was apparently quite common to grow vegetables for the armies on long campaigns and the cucumber was one of the staples, in fact, it was the Romans who were responsible for spreading the plant throughout Europe.

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Many Types

Growing, Cultivating and Propagating Cucumbers

The major types of cucumbers are the long, smooth green slicing varieties; the small, numerous pickling gherkins; and the round, yellowish, mild-flavored lemon cucumbers. Unusual types include elongated, slender Oriental varieties, and the English greenhouse cucumber. Properly grown, these latter varieties are the mildest-flavored of all. So-called Armenian varieties are actually long, green-ribbed melons with a cucumber look and taste.

Annual Climbers

Cucumbers are all hot-season annual climbing vines. The plants grow very vigorously in the summer, and vines of up to 10 feet are not uncommon. The leaves are large and covered with stiff hairs. Climbing tendrils grow directly from the stems, as do the attractive yellow flowers.

There are both male and female flowers. The female flowers grow singly, the males in clusters of 2 to 4 blooms. The plant flowers continuously all through the summer and produces fruit until the temperature drops below freezing. The cucumbers are borne without previous pollination but occasionally a fertilized cucumber may be found which is absolutely full of seeds. For this reason, many gardeners prefer to grow only female plants, thereby avoiding seedy cucumbers.
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How to grow cucumbers

Cucumber seeds can be sown indoors in pots in a window in March, or seedlings can be purchased from a nursery. Put 2 to 3 seeds in each pot. Remove the two weakest seedlings after germination to make room for the strongest. The temperature should be in the mid-sixties in the day and a little lower at night. Give the plants plenty of daylight but not direct sunlight. Once 3 to 4 leaves are fully developed move the plants out to a sunny, organically enriched garden spot. The best way to grow cucumbers is on a 1-foot high mound of soil that measures about 5 feet on a side. This gives plants good drainage and room to spread. Or, train plants on vertical wires or a trellis. Remove male flowers as soon as they appear.

Be sure to plant cucumbers outdoors only after all danger of frost has passed because these plants hate cold weather. The mound system of growing works well; because plants spread in all directions, they're not really suited to growing in rows like other vegetables.
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Plant Doctor

Cucumbers are prey to a number of ills, both insects and diseases. Here are a few of them.

Cucumbers grown outdoors can suddenly just wither away after a period of heavy rainfall. This is because the roots go into shock and all growth stops.

--Neck rot is a common disease in young plants set out too early. The temperature may be low and the humidity too high. Growing plants on mounds in full sun usually prevents this problem.

--Bitter cucumbers from your garden or greenhouse result from changeable growing conditions. Make sure they are watered regularly and be careful with feeding.

--Mildew is a common ailment on the cucumber. It is most common in slicing cucumbers grown in the greenhouse. The leaves become quite white and floury-looking. Prevent attacks from happening by lowering humidity, if possible. Combat mildew with sulphur powders.

--Aphids are frequent visitors. Squirt them from plants with a jet of water from the hose, or use a spray of soapy water.

--Greenhouse spider mites cause golden-brown discoloration of leaves and shoots. Attacks can be kept down by using suitable biological methods, such as predatory insects.

NOTE: Pesticides not used according to label directions can be harmful to man, animals and plants. Use only pesticides that have labels with directions for home and garden use. Always read and follow label directions.
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Buying Tips

Seed for garden cucumber varieties is widely available, but salad cucumber seedlings may also be found at a plant store. Check that they are growing well and free of insects or disease. Make sure the root neck is entirely green.

Lifespan: All cucumbers are annuals.

Season: Throughout the summer and early fall.

Difficulty quotient: As long as the plants grow in favorable conditions, there is no real difficulty.
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In Brief

Size and growth rate
All cucumbers grow vigorously, 7-10 feet in one year.

Flowering and fragrance
Flowers appear throughout the season. The flowers are single-sexed and clear yellow, but have no scent.

Light and temperature
Cucumbers need lots of light, but dislike direct sunlight indoors. Outdoor cucumbers will live with normal summer temperatures while greenhouse or hothouse cucumbers prefer the mid-seventies.

Watering and feeding
Plenty of water all through the growing season. If the plants dry out they can be weakened and fall prey to disease. Feed every second watering.

Soil and transplanting
The soil should always be well-fertilized with plenty of humus and compost. No repotting is necessary indoors or out, once seedlings have been placed where they are to grow.

Grooming
Not really necessary, but plants growing in a greenhouse may need to be cut back.

Propagating
Always with seeds.

Environment
Cucumbers belong in every summer garden or greenhouse. The vines are handsome, easy to grow, and produce an abundance of delicious fruits with very little effort.

Growing, Cultivating and Propagating Cucumbers

For information on organic vegetable gardening, organic fertilizers, compost, pest control, watering, soil and more, please read my blog.

Wedding Marketing - Bridal Segmentation Strategies - Are You Marketing To The Right Bride?

How are you currently marketing to brides? Do all brides get the same email? The same marketing newsletter? If so, read on. Not every bride is created equal. Some brides have wedding budgets of only ,000 whereas, you'll find brides that have budgets of 0,000 on up! Quite a difference there and the way you win their business will be different as well.

Bridal segmentation strategies is a way to market into discrete bridal groups that share similar characteristics. Bridal segmentation can be a potent way to identify unmet client needs. Wedding vendors that identify and understand underserved brides can typically outperform their competition by creating new ways of servicing this industry that has a turnover rate of 15 months.

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Bridal segmentation garners the most results when wedding vendors creates customized offerings to brides that will bring them the most dollars for time invested. For example: A bride that lives in Beverly Hills should be sent emails and marketing material for honeymoons in Tahiti or the Maldives by a travel agent instead of the Caribbean or Mexico. If you are going to send out marketing materials via mail or email, why not get target with honeymoons that will make you the most money? For a wedding caterer, it could be as simple as sending the bride an email with lobster served with organic vegetable confit instead of roast chicken breast with rice pilaf. To the high end bride, she would be much more inclined to read the email and contact the caterer. It doesn't take much more time or effort, but it will in the long run, make you much more money.

Wedding Marketing - Bridal Segmentation Strategies - Are You Marketing To The Right Bride?

This prioritization can help wedding vendors develop wedding marketing campaigns and pricing strategies to elicit maximum value from both high end and low end brides.

To implement a bridal segmentation strategy, you must first understand the market that you are in. Are you dealing with high end brides or low end brides? Are you in an affluent area or not? Do you have what it takes to market to the couture bride? Do you understand what the high end bride wants in your area? Brides in different areas of the country have different ideals as to what is high end or low end.

First, divide up the wedding market into assessable segments according to the bride's needs. This is based on results of your previous encounters with brides. Second, figure out the potential profit of each product/service that you offer. You will have to analyze the revenue and the cost impacts of servicing each bridal segment. Third, determine your potential profit and your ability to service the bride's needs. Don't forget that working with higher end brides means more time spent with them as they are known to be a more demanding group. Lastly, you will have to invest resources to create new marketing materials and ways to reach your target bridal group. Some will decide that they would rather service the lower end bride and do volume but less hand holding and others will want to service just a few brides but have a much larger ROI.

Wedding Marketing - Bridal Segmentation Strategies - Are You Marketing To The Right Bride?

Phyllis Cheung, founder of Privileged Insights is an e-marketing expert for the wedding industry. Privileged Insights provides e-marketing consulting to the wedding & honeymoon industry. For a FREE market research report, or visit: http://www.PrivilegedInsights.com

How To Kill Weeds Naturally With Cheap or Free Household Products

If you are looking for ways to control the growth of unsightly weeds in and around your garden, you can choose to purchase off the shelf chemicals to treat the problem or if you would prefer an environmentally friendly option, you can try out one of the many natural solutions.

Here are some natural remedies that you can try in order to eliminate this problem. These all involve the use of common household products.

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Salt

How To Kill Weeds Naturally With Cheap or Free Household Products

Using normal table salt is a very effective way to kill weeds. You only need a small amount, less than teaspoon, which you simply sprinkle at the base of each weed. The salt will draw out all the moisture from the plant, which will starve it of its nutrients and the weeds will then die.

The disadvantage with using salt is that is will attack any type of vegetation and once it is in the soil, it makes it very difficult for other plants to prosper. The best place to use a salt solution is in areas where you are not growing other plants, such as in the gaps between your patio paving slabs or on your gravelled yard area.

Boiling Water

Boiling water helps to get rid of your weed problem by burning the offending growths. The heat from the water will eventually turn the plants brown and they will shrivel up and die. Boil up some water and pour it directly on the weed.

Using boiling water is not a long-term solution. It is a good option for very small areas that are affected but it does have its disadvantages. The water can also remove the good stuff, the micro-organisms from the soil that is needed to help your plants to flourish. Again the best places to use this method are in areas where you are not planning to plant flowers or vegetables.

White Wine Vinegar

The reason that vinegar is a really good method that will kill off weeds is due to the active ingredient called Acetic acid. Spraying this solution on weeds will starve them of moisture and turn these plants brown. It will take a few days for the effects to be seen but once the weeds have shrivelled up and died, you can easily pull them out of the ground and dispose of them.

These are all cheap and effective ways to get rid of weeds in and around your garden. As these solutions can affect the soil and the plants that you are actually trying to cultivate, the best places to adopt these methods are areas where you do not anticipate growing other vegetation.

How To Kill Weeds Naturally With Cheap or Free Household Products

You can get many more organic gardening tips at the Organic Gardening Academy site. Go to www.EasyOrganicGardening.net for more information