The Final Bed

Well... yesterday was another big development for the Troppo Food Garden. I prepped the third (and final) bed in the morning to plant later that the evening. The plan was for a "Brassica" Bed, and I filled it with Pak Choi, Chinese Cabbage (Wombok) and Chinese Broccoli (Kailan). In the centre, I transplanted an orange marigold from the middle bed, which was being slowly overshadowed by giant zucchini leaves. Hopefully this new spot will prove favourable.

This third bed is the smallest of the three and receives less sun. Which shouldn't be a problem as these brassicas are fine in either part shade or full sun. (According to the packet instructions.) The advantage of the third bed is that it also receives full morning sun and is shaded by the time the sun reaches boiling point in the middle of the day. As there are plenty of leftover pak choi seedlings, I have planted four in individual small pots, three in what spare space exists in the pumpkin patch. Will do a comparison between all the differently situated pak choi to see what aspect and soil they favour.

Not much mention has been made of the cucumber plants, which have silently been doing their own thing. My boyfriend discovered two open female flowers in the middle bed. I had so far thought that none of the cucumber plants were bearing. However, other dead unpollinated cucumber flowers were subsequently discovered, which leads me to think that the cucumber needs hand pollination, just like the pumpkins. I tried just that this morning.

There are a few challenges when it comes to hand pollinating cucumbers. The first is the SIZE of the actual flowers. The largest cucumber (Lebanese) flower which I have come across is roughly the diameter of a 50 cent piece. This makes pollinating them quite fiddly, as the actual organs of the male and female are no more than approximately 4mm in diameter.

The second thing is male and female cucumber flowers look almost identical face up, so you have to look at what's behind the flower to determine its gender. Obviously, the female will have a miniscule cucumber attached to it, whereas the males sit on a plain stem.

Thirdly, cucumber flowers don't seem to produce as much visible pollen as pumpkin flowers do. The fine paintbrush I normally use for the pumpkins was not sufficient for such a dainty task. In the end, I had to sacrifice two male cucumber flowers by peeling back their petals to reveal the stamen, and placing that as a whole INTO the female flower. A rather indelicate process I must admit. If it works, I shall be recommending this technique however!

FEMALE CUCUMBER FLOWER (with stuffing)