Uploaded August 2026 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago
Tall cucumber plants are great when they grow nicely, but we should take nothing for granted. They can die on you very easily and I'm happy if 2/3 of them survive through the summer.
This is my advice for keeping them productive right through the summer, and until early October, in this climate. Over the years, I've had many die on me unexpectedly for different reasons, and I share how to reduce that.
I'm growing organically with no feeds of fertiliser, and this slightly reduces output. On the other hand it increases the health of plants, and gives cucumbers of great flavour.
I use biological predators against red spider mite, phytoseiulus from Gardening Naturally gardening-naturally.com/products/phytoseiulus?_pos=1&_psq=red+spider&_psid=9ad4aa480&_ss=e
More on growing cucumbers in my book No Dig: charlesdowding.co.uk/products/no-dig-nurture-your-soil-to-grow-better-veg-with-less-effort?variant=49029405442371
In this video, How to Grow Cucumbers: youtu.be/vp3PgXlSEN0
And this digital growing guide: charlesdowding.co.uk/products/cucumber-cordon-ridge-growing-guide?variant=49139109560643
Filmed 14th August 2026 by Carly Dutton-Edwards
You can join this channel by paying a monthly fee, to support our work with helping gardeners grow better, and to receive monthly videos made only for members:
youtube.com/channel/UCB1J6siDdmhwah7q0O2WJBg/join
00:00 Introduction - options for growing
00:20 Timing of planting, and temperature challenges
01:53 Harvesting cordon cucumbers - options
02:50 Deformed cucumber
03:14 Removing lower leaves, and mosaic virus
04:39 Pruning
05:30 Compost addition
06:08 Watering, and reducing stem length
07:23 Harvesting - productivity and removing weak fruits
08:53 No need for fertiliser with no dig, more on compost
09:29 Outro - ridge cucumber option
#cucumberplant #cucumber #nodig #vegetablegardening #polytunnel
Tall cucumber plants are great when they grow nicely, but we should take nothing for granted. They can die on you very easily and I'm happy if 2/3 of them survive through the summer.
This is my advice for keeping them productive right through the summer, and until early October, in this climate. Over the years, I've had many die on me unexpectedly for different reasons, and I share how to reduce that.
I'm growing organically with no feeds of fertiliser, and this slightly reduces output. On the other hand it increases the health of plants, and gives cucumbers of great flavour.
I use biological predators against red spider mite, phytoseiulus from Gardening Naturally gardening-naturally.com/products/phytoseiulus?_pos=1&_psq=red+spider&_psid=9ad4aa480&_ss=e
More on growing cucumbers in my book No Dig: charlesdowding.co.uk/products/no-dig-nurture-your-soil-to-grow-better-veg-with-less-effort?variant=49029405442371
In this video, How to Grow Cucumbers: youtu.be/vp3PgXlSEN0
And this digital growing guide: charlesdowding.co.uk/products/cucumber-cordon-ridge-growing-guide?variant=49139109560643
Filmed 14th August 2026 by Carly Dutton-Edwards
You can join this channel by paying a monthly fee, to support our work with helping gardeners grow better, and to receive monthly videos made only for members:
youtube.com/channel/UCB1J6siDdmhwah7q0O2WJBg/join
00:00 Introduction - options for growing
00:20 Timing of planting, and temperature challenges
01:53 Harvesting cordon cucumbers - options
02:50 Deformed cucumber
03:14 Removing lower leaves, and mosaic virus
04:39 Pruning
05:30 Compost addition
06:08 Watering, and reducing stem length
07:23 Harvesting - productivity and removing weak fruits
08:53 No need for fertiliser with no dig, more on compost
09:29 Outro - ridge cucumber option
#cucumberplant #cucumber #nodig #vegetablegardening #polytunnel
