First Cucumber Harvest

You may recall that we planted four organic cucumber seeds in our first Earthbox on January 29th. 

Today, 65 days after planting the seeds, we harvested the first cucumber.  Measuring 8 1/2 inches, the cucumber certainly looks appetizing, but a taste test will need to wait for tomorrow since we had homemade pizza for supper tonight.  (I've tried lots of different of pizza toppings, but never cucumber.)

We're training the cumcumbers to grow vertically instead of horizontally.  We decided to use an inexpensive tomato cage available at Lowes and Home Depot.  It makes mowing and weedeating around them easier and it keeps the cucumbers off the ground.

A closer inspection of the plants revealed 4 other small cucumbers in early development.  I think we'll be rolling in cucumbers in a week or two barring too much bad luck.

A few of the leaves on the cucumber plants have developed some discoloration. :( :(  There aren't any visible bugs or infestations on the top or underside of the leaves.  It's not on all of the leaves, but it's quite visible some of he older ones.  The newest leaves appear to be untouched by whatever it is - so far. 

After a little research, I think I've identified the leaf problems as anthracnose (a fungus).  It's very common in cucumbers, squash, melons, and other cucurbits. 

The weather in West Central Florida has been pretty wet, humid, and hot.  Apparently those are perfect conditions for anthracnose fungus. Darn the luck.

Growing Cucumbers in a Container

We're growing cucumbers in an Earthbox container.  We have four plants that are getting closer and closer to blooming.  They've really grown a lot in the last two weeks as the weather has warmed up to the mid-70's consistently.


I've never used mulch covers before, but they work very well. They prevent
weeds and over watering in addition to holding in moisture that wicks upwards
 from the water resevoir.





The instructions recommend planting the cucumbers
toward the rear of the container.  This allows the vines
to spread forward over the front of the container. 

These pictures demonstrate the importance of placing your growing container on a level surface.  The peppers in the left hand side of the box are not growing as fast as those in the right side of the box.  When we planted the cucumber seeds the right hand side was lower than the left side, so the two right plants got more moisture and grew faster.  After a couple of weeks I figured this out and leveled the container a little better. Now the smaller plant is making up for lost time.

I don't we'll get enough cucumbers to make pickles, but we'll how it goes. I might need to add another box or two next season if the cucumbers turn out well.