gherkin help please

[bretty666]

hi all, i would like some gherkin advice please, mine have come up nice outside, flowers have formed and i can see what look like baby gherkins appearing, do i need to do anything to them? do they pollinate ok on their own?if not how do i do this and which is male and female (and i ask the same for my butternut squash which seems to be thriving) how do i pick one off without damaging the plant when one is ready and how do i preserve them like the german style gherkins, the big sweet ones, not like the small acidy french ones? thanks

[spanish_gardener]

I am growing gherkins for first time too and I´d appreciate any tips about watering, when to harvest, etc. I have only a couple of plants growing in a polytunnel. Some of the gherkins turned yellow, but most of them seems fine (finger cross).

[binley100]

They'll soon grow into hooge gherkins the minute you turn your back

[spanish_gardener]

They'll soon grow into hooge gherkins the minute you turn your back

I took two today, they are about 8cm long and they were hiding very well. I have a few books from the RHS and there are lots of info about cucumber, but no about gherkins, and I can not find too much info about growing gherkins in the UK in the internet either. Finger cross!

[binley100]

One year I had eight plants , was a tad too many ......they have a habit of hiding under leaves . Pretty much the same as growing an outside cuc just that if you let them get too big they get bitter.....

[bretty666]

in the end i just left them to their own buisness, weeded around them, not too much water, the water i gave them was half as much as i think what they should need (hope that makes sense?) i used zscissors to cut them off jut above the gherkin, they pollinated on their own, vigorous plants they are! then i gathered a bundle of big'uns, 10-12cm long and boiled some vinegar with sugar and coriander and garlic and ,mustard seeds, just a random selection of stuff i had handy lol

[spanish_gardener]

One year I had eight plants , was a tad too many ......they have a habit of hiding under leaves . Pretty much the same as growing an outside cuc just that if you let them get too big they get bitter.....

Agree, found a few hide under the leaves which were 12/15 cms. I ate them raw, in salad and they were okish, but they were not particularly tasty. I'll pick up smaller ones, 8/10cm, to see if they taste better and I'll try Brety666 recipe too.

[bretty666]

Agree, found a few hide under the leaves which were 12/15 cms. I ate them raw, in salad and they were okish, but they were not particularly tasty. I'll pick up smaller ones, 8/10cm, to see if they taste better and I'll try Brety666 recipe too.

i know you are "supposed" to wait 6 weeks or so, but being the impatient man i am i decided to open them just over a week old, the went in 2 days, absolutely beautiful, i will put 1 garlic clove less in though the next time, but i have made oodles and oodles out of about 7 plants, i seem to pick around eight each time , just enough to fill a pot, a tip i found useful is pack your gherkins in your jar then fill with vinegar, then empty the vinegar into a pan to heat up with whatever you are adding for flavour, just so that i dont boil/waste too much vinegar, yeh, it isnt expensive but i dont like waste, i have made all sorts of batches mixed with small red onions, garlic, white onions sliced into chunks with red and gold beetroots, its all part of the experiance for me, and im enjoying it, just waiting another week for me sweetcorn now, mmmmmmmm

[Soylent Green]

This is the first year that I have grown Gherkins and so far so good. I have grown them outdoors in individual wire cages. As the fruits become big enough to crop I just wash them off and add them into a jar of pickling vinegar. The little devils are cropping well but not all at once.

[snakeshack]

gotta add dill, gherkins are nothing without dill I put whole flower heads in the bottom of the jars,a peeled garlic clove and white mustard seeds,even a small chilli sometimes just to add interest.

[bretty666]

they just keep on coming! they are a great plant as far as space/yield is concerned, i will try elevating them though next time, be even more space efficient and clean!