Courgettes

probably not quite ripe

Hi, my cucumbers were bitter this year too, all 5 plants and I would love to know why. Wonder if its the variety, although I did buy good quality, female seed. Let's hope there is someone out there who can help!

Hi,
Did you grow your courgettes in farm yard manure?. Ditto Sawnsaunts cucumbers. Just a thought.

Hi, no we didnt use farm manure, grew them in a good quality compost although I do usually grow them in growbags.

First of all sorry for calling you Sawnsaunt a slip of the finger.
Grow bags are mainly soil free compost, my best results were in John Innes compost, cucumbers are easily tainted mainly due to rapid growth. If I can help any further let me know.

Thanks Doctobob, we steered away from using growbags this year for the tomatoes and the cucumbers as our local nurseryman basically said they are rubbish! Wouldnt it be lovely to have a mountain of John Innes compost to go at! I hope they dont grow too rapidly next year then. You dont think the bitterness was due to the seed then?
PS. Sorry Cruddock for monopolising your question!

Hi Dawnsaunt,
No I don't think the bitterness was due to the seed.
I have a great recipe for making your own JI compost, if you have time.
7 parts loam/soil, 3 parts peat or leafmould and 2 parts sharp sand.
A small level wheelbarrow full would be a good measure.
Add 6ozs. JI base and 2ozs of lime/chalk per wheelbarrow load.
Mix together, turning several times.
Put the mixture on plastic and cover over with plastic in the corner of the garden. Use when required. This is much cheaper than buying bags of JI.
In the greenhouse in the spring buy a bale of straw, start to soak it with water, it will give off heat.
When you have your Toms or cucumbers ready to plant, cut out two holes in the straw, (one each end). 1 ft. square and 1ft. deep. Fill with your compost, plant your plants.
Don't try to grow toms and cu's in the same place.
Doctor Bob.

Wow, this is brilliant, thank you so much. I'll enrol my husband on this one. We used our (clean!) cement mixer last year to mix well rotted manure with spent greenhouse compost for the veg plot and that does a great job of mixing and takes out the hard work. Can I buy loam? My soil here isnt very good. Also, (sorry to be a pain), what is the John Innes base? Brilliant idea about the straw bale, do you get yours from a local farmer? I know you shouldnt grow toms and cu's together as they like completely different conditions, but I am very naughty and I do, sorry, lol. Must fetch that greenhouse from my Mums that she wants to get rid of for the cucumbers, bye for now, Dawn

Hi Dawn, A cement mixer, what a great idea wish i'd thought of that. We used a rotovator to mix.
Yes you can buy loam in big bags from good garden centres or if you have a local allotment association. JI base is made up of two parts hoof and horn or bone meal.
Two parts super phosphate, 1 part sulphate of potash. Only add 1 part lime or chalk when mixing your compost to activate the fertilizers. You can buy base in packets at the garden centre if you don't want to make your own.
Yes you can buy a bale of straw from a local farmer I'm sure.
Growing toms and cu's together eh, naughty girl. GH is a good idea.
Doc Bob.

Hi DocBob! Thanks again for answering my questions, you are very kind and helpful. Looks like we are going to be busy, I do appreciate your advice. Dawn