Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
should grow only one type for seed at a time. Cross-pollination occurs so easily
that commercial growers allow five miles between species.
Plant early in the spring and pull out any plants that bolt early. After the plant
sets seed, allow as much of the foliage as possible to go brown, then pull and
hang the plant upside down. Mice adore ripening spinach seed and might eat the
whole lot before they're ready to harvest. If there are mice in your plot, you may
need to protect the flower stalks with fleece while the seed develops. Once the
whole plant is dry, rub the seeds off by hand.
V: Difficult
Cucurbits: cucumber, melon and courgette
Cucurbits are 'monoecious', meaning that they produce male and female flowers
on the same plants. Female flowers have a short stalk with a baby fruit just
behind the flower, whereas male flowers have a long stalk and no baby fruit.
Once you have seen examples of both, the difference is impossible to miss, and
most plants bear male flowers for quite a while before the females appear.
All cucurbits are insect-pollinated, but if there is a possibility of crossing it is best
to isolate the female flowers by enclosing the whole section of stem in a loose
envelope of light fleece. You can then hand-pollinate them by transferring pollen
from the male to the female flowers with a paintbrush, putting the fleece back
afterwards to prevent further pollination, or follow the instructions given in
Chapter 8 (see page 113).
Cucumber
Cucumbers cross readily with other varieties of cucumber but not with anything
else, so no isolation is necessary unless you are growing more than one variety.
Insects will usually do the fertilisation for you. Cucumbers should be left on the
vine far beyond the stage at which they would normally be harvested, until they
turn yellow or orange, to give the seeds plenty of time to form completely. They
can then be cut open and the seeds stripped out with a spoon, after which they
need to be treated as for tomatoes (see page 154) to remove the seed coating.
Melon
As with cucumbers, melons can cross only with other melons, and so isolation is
not necessary unless you are growing more than one variety. They should be
picked when very ripe, and then allowed to sit for another few days before you
harvest the seeds.
There is no need to remove the seed coating, so the seeds simply
need to be washed, dried and stored.
