Cucumber (Cucumis sativus) belongs to the family Cucurbitaceae. It is a very popular vegetable as a cooking type or salad type crop in Sri Lanka. Cucumber is mostly used as a salad on many occasions rather than used as a curry. Even the raw cucumber with peeling off the peel is a very tasty snack with some salt and ground paper on it- especially in the hot seasons of the island due to it having high water content. So the cucumber can help relieve dehydration and that is why it is so pleasant to eat in hot weather. Cucumbers have a mild and refreshing taste. 

Cucumbers provide various nutrients but are low in calories, fat, cholesterol, and sodium. Cucumber is rich in Vitamin K and it helps with blood clotting, and it may support bone health. Cucumber also contains calcium. Vitamin K helps improve calcium absorption. Together, these nutrients can contribute to good bone health. Cucurbitaceae family of plants, cucumbers contain high levels of bitter-tasting nutrients known as cucurbitacin. It is helping to prevent cancer by stopping cancer cells from reproducing. Cucumber also contains the fiber and fiber may help protect against colorectal cancer.

Starting for the Cultivation

No matter the location you find in your garden, the cucumber farming process remains the same. The only exception would be locations with weather conditions that do not adequately support the successful growth of cucumber.  Pick a good place where you can find plenty of sunlight throughout the day. The morning sunlight is very essential for the growth of plants. By creating very creative pandols you can easily manage your limited space. Also even in the roof top gardening and the people who live in the flats too can cultivate their own cucumber using different kinds of pandols, trellises or arches to hand the cucumber to the plant easily. The supporting structure is a key point when planting the cucumber in your own space. If not you can grow cucumbers on the land if you have an adequate amount of land to be used for the cultivation. It will grow on the ground and will cover a certain amount of the land by cultivation. So find a good place on the soil where the vine can grow easily on the ground. 

The varieties in Sri Lanka

The Department of Agriculture has released some varieties. They are HORDI Green, HORDI White, Kalpitiya white, Champion, Gannoruwa white and LY 58. They also recommended cultivating the local strains where we can easily find in the Chena cultivations. Sadly the local or old cucumber varieties keep going for extinction with the less availability of seeds for the new cultivations among the home gardeners. If you can find some old cucumber varieties it is better to conserve it by cultivating the seeds for the seed extraction after the harvesting. The best quality cultivation is founded by the good quality seed planting therefore you can buy seeds from the recommended varieties from a local shop. Even though you can use the good mature seeds from the cucumber which you bought from the local fair, which is usually a kitchen waste. 

Climatic features that suitable for the Cucumber

Cucumbers can grow to an elevation of 1000 m in the dry, intermediate and wet zones commercially. It can grow in a home garden crop very easily. Cucumber can be cultivated with different soil types having better drainage and organic matter. Soil should be rich in humus with a pH range of 5.5 – 7.5 for a better cultivation.

Bed or Pot Preparation

This is very much similar to the Pumpkin cultivation which we had described in Healthyliving.lk earlier. The majority of edible plants grow best in loamy soils with more organic matter. The good drainage capacity leads to a productive and successful happy cultivation. If your home garden is in a low country wet zone it is highly recommended to prepare raised beds for planting to prevent the accumulation of rainwater into your plot. If you are in a dry zone, sunken beds are recommended to be created as it conserves the soil moisture. 

The pot or container cultivation is applicable to the urban areas where the land is restricted. The recommendation dimensions for the raised bed plot is 90cm of width and length according to the own preference. Raised bed cultivation is very important for the low country wet zone areas where the high rainfall is acquired. The raised bed should be in height of 20-30cm. the bed areas should tilt finely and can add the growing medium as Compost/ leaf mould: sand: cow dung into 2: 1:  ½ . Make planting hills in the spacing of 30m x 30cm x 30cm. Dibble 2 seeds per one planting hole and cover them by using a small layer of growing medium. And irrigate just after the planting. The spacing for the cultivation is 1m x 1m for mono cropping. Sometime this crop can be cultivated as mix crop.

If you are using pots or containers or empty poly sack bags, the above same medium can be filled into 25cm pots and plant two seeds per one pot in 10cm between the seeds. The seeds can be directly planted in the plots and therefore there is no necessity for the nursery preparing for the cucumber. 

Fertilizing

After the seedlings emerge it is better to use a mulch to cover them and harden them from adverse climatic conditions until they are steady enough to survive on their own. We can use the paddy straw or weeded weeds as a mulch and a good nitrogen source for cultivation. As the first top dressing we can use is cow dung application with rich compost in 2 weeks after the planting. Then the second, third and fourth top dressings will be in 4, 5 and 6 weeks after planting. In the second top dressing it should apply some phosphorus rich fertilizer for the growth of roots. We can use fertilizers like poultry litter as a prosperous rich fertilizer with wood ash. Also it is recommended to use more organic foliar applications to improve the crop husbandry in your home garden. We will discuss the foliar applications in a different article in healthyliving.lk in future.

Irrigation

Irrigate daily until germination is complete and every 7 days thereafter. Also need to practice the irrigation until beds come to field capacity, taking care not to submerge vines. Also the irrigation should be done according to the requirement and in control. 

Weeding should be practiced when necessary. Manual weeding is applicable. Also can use a mulch to control the weeds. The cucumber responds like a semi tropical plant. It grows best under conditions of high temperature, humidity, and light intensity and with an uninterrupted supply of water and nutrients. Under favorable and stable environmental and nutritional conditions and when pests are under control, the plants grow rapidly and produce heavily.

Harvesting can be practiced 40-60days after flowering. At the stage of fruit setting it is better to cover the fruits from a natural mulch to reduce the dehydration and major pest attacks. If you can grow your own cucumber in your home garden, the benefits will be more because it is organic and cultivated by you according to your methods which is eco-friendly. The tranquility that you can gain from it is remarkable for your inner peace.  This type of farming is safe to the environment and to the whole family too.