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--- garden:about:plants:cucurbit:cukes:2016 [2016/11/23 19:04] – created davidbac
+++ garden:about:plants:cucurbit:cukes:2016 [2026/08/08 04:29] (current) – external edit 127.0.0.1
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+===== 2016 cucumbers =====
+I intended to get a head start on cucumbers and to grow two varieties, Green Finger and MarketMore, both from High Mowing.
+==== Germination ====
+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?
+==== Radish cover crop ====
+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.
+==== Suppresses the seed bank ====
+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.