Gherkins

[JohnVisual]

Hello all, im planning on growing gherkins this year and was wondering if anyone had any advice? They are going to be grown outside and im not sure how much support they will need, i was thinking of using netting up to about 3 foot, will this be strong/big enough or should i make a wooden tralis up to about 6 foot?

Im using T&M Diamant F1 hybrid Gherkin seeds, has anyone sown these before and how many gherkins should i expect?

Thanks for reading! John

[Two_Sheds]

I grew gherkins, but didn't watch them and they all turned into cucumbers (big and fat).

They happily scrambled up chickenwire, or just along the ground

[Snadger]

I too am trying gherkins this year. Just sowed some today after an earlier sowing got too leggy. I'm going to grow a few in the greenhouse and some outdoors. The greenhouse ones will be grown on a cane framework and the outdoor ones will be left to there own devices ........like a ridge cucumber.

[JohnVisual]

so dose the plant get quite heavy or will it be light enough for chicken wire and a few cane? thanks for the replys!

[Two_Sheds]

They happily scrambled up chickenwire

so dose the plant get quite heavy or will it be light enough for chicken wire and a few cane?

I might have posted before he read my reply

[Thelma Sanders]

so dose the plant get quite heavy or will it be light enough for chicken wire and a few cane? thanks for the replys!

DOES the plant get quite heavy

[DarkCrow]

Crop em every day once they start to fruit!! otherwise you'll get "Wallys" and lots of em LOL! Did them last year, i planted 16 plants in a 6mx3m plot, they fruited like mad!! i ended up chucking 3/4 of my labours and still got 12 jars (i sliced and pickled) if your gonna pickle look at some of the recipies on the vine

[JohnVisual]

the only reason i ask is just becuase something is happy to scamble up chicken wire doesn't mean it wont get too heavy for it in the end, i have a shed full of busted canes already :-) . How tall do they normally grow to?

[Creemteez]

I grew my "Hocus" gherkins in tub (24" across the top) last year. I stuck six four foot canes in around the edge and tied them all together wigwam style. After planting a gherkin plant at the base of each cane, I tied ordinary garden twine to one of the canes, then wound it up and around the rest - sort of weaving till there was a cross string every three or four inches up the wigwam. (Is this making sense?) The plants were fed with tomato food and produced a fine crop of fruits - but as with growing green beans up a wigwam, you have to check carefully on the inside or risk ending up with "wallys" - of which I had a few! - They all pickled well, though - should see me through till this years crop is ready!

[binley100]

I grow mine up a wigwam with peaand bean netting tied round it ........they do tend to latch onto the nearest object tho' and they are very prolific. You need to check them nearly every day . Ten plants are too many .....

[Two_Sheds]

just becuase something is happy to scamble up chicken wire doesn't mean it wont get too heavy for it in the end

Ah, I see what you're asking - I thought you'd just missed my post about the chickenwire. I felt ignored, dismissed, passed over (I often am, being a small blonde: I never get served in bars either).

Friend, if it hadn't worked, I wouldn't have posted it as a method of support

I grow my peas up chickenwire, with canes threaded through vertically about every 3ft. The gherkins were planted against it too, and they happily scrambled up.
Some I planted on my compost hills, and they were happy too: they don't need to be climbing, it just gives you more growing space if you use verticals.

[donnakebab]

I'm growing gherkins for the first time this year so this thread has been very useful. I'm going to use chicken wire with canes in a zig zag (hopefully for more stability), with a plant in each V like a love seat.

I have a daughter that will happily sit down with a jar of gherkins and a fork and eat half a dozen. Now she's moved up north I thought it would be a nice little prezy when I go visit.

My other daughter not so keen but will eat them sliced up in a salad. She came into the conservatory yesterday and saw all my cucurbit plants (planted my squash and courgettes on the lottie yesterday) and said 'OMG what the hell are these?' She was most intrigued by the tendrils and the two gherkins that were embracing eachother in a strangle type fashion. She got her iphone out to take pictures.

Anyway I digress. Do you think my zig zag method will be ok as long as the plants are not too close together, and is there anything that grows well along side them?