Cucumber - Wautoma

Cucumis sativus 

This seed was kindly donated to us by Maggie from The Incredible Seed Library - A medium cucumber -  Best grown in a greenhouse or polytunnel but can be grown in a warm spot outdoors. Seed saved by Maggie.

When to sow: Sow indoors between March and April - at 21 – 24 degrees C

Requirements: Cucumbers require good, steady warmth to germinate, plants will die off in frosty greenhouses so bring inside if temperatures fall below 8 degrees. Plants prefer to be grown in a greenhouse of polytunnel but can survive outside from Mid May. 

Harvest: June - Oct

Saving seed: Cucumbers cross readily with other cucumbers so either need to be isolated (Eg: grown in a polytunnel or greenhouse far away from other varieties). Or the flowers need to be hand pollinated so that they do not cross pollinate (Video coming soon). Once hand pollinated, allow the pollinated fruits to grow way beyond eating size, they will change colour (depending on variety). Once the vines begin to die back, bring the hand pollinated fruits inside and store them in a cool, dry place for two weeks (this helps the seeds fully mature). Cut the fruits open, scoop out the seeds (watch our video on this), wash and dry fully. Package, label and date. Save as many seeds as you can to share with friends, family and of course seen networks. 

Sending seed back: Please label all seed with variety, type, date and your contact, if you didn't get a chance to fill out our online data collection form, you can also send us a few lines about how it grew for you/flavour etc. A guideline amount of seed to send back to The Seed Saving Network is 1 tablespoon or more (about one cucumber fruit's worth). Send to: Omved Gardens, 1 Townsend Yard, N6 5JF.Image courtesy of the Incredible Seed Library.