Being new to veggie gardening, I was so excited to see lots of little baby cukes beginning on my plants. These are the small pickling type cukes.
Imagine my disappointment when I went out this morning to discover that they are turning brown. :( I make sure that they get watered twice a day. Once in the early morning and once at around 7 pm, so the soil is not too wet at sunset. They are in full sunlight and have a decent size fence to grow on. It's been in the upper 80s during the day. The plants are healthy and there are tons of flowers now.
I was surprised that I got any little ones, since all of the "male" flowers (with the long thingys in the middle) bloomed and faded before the "girls" (no long thingys in the middle) showed up. Now there are both types blooming.
So, do they try to grow fruit and if the blooms aren't pollinated the fruit dies? Is there anything I'm supposed to be doing that I'm not doing? Will they pollinate without help? Not too many bees around here. Plenty of flies though...arrgh! There are black eyed susans on either side, but since the cukes are in a big pot, I don't imagine the flowers being a problem. I thought the flowers would help attracting the bees.
Don't know why the wilted flower looks purple in the pic. It's really a dull dried up beige color. A pic of the plants to follow.
Thank you in advance.
Lena
