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I intended to get a head start on cucumbers and to grow two varieties, Green Finger and MarketMore, both from High Mowing.

I began sowing two seeds in each of 18 hills. I waited. No sprouts. Six weeks after the first sowing I sowed more seeds. I put row cover over these and waited. Eventually I counted about 14 plants. What was going on?

In the farm garden I direct seeded only cucumbers (poor results transplanting), pole beans and corn. All showed poor germination. After noting this I was reading about the tillage radish as a cover crop and I learned that as the radish leaves wilt and decompose they leave something in the ground that effectively inhibits germination for some months.

It was about six months after the radish decomposed that I saw good germination of any of these seeds. A lesson learned. A benefit of growing the tillage radish is that this affected seeds in the seed bank also. I have a lot fewer weeds where the radish had been strongest. Good to know.