Organic Cucumber Seeds - Marketmore

Organic Marketmore Cucumbers are our favourite ridge type. Well suited to the Uk’s climate, this variety produces reliable crops of 20cm long fruits with a taste comparable to the greenhouse varieties, even in poorer summers. They are heirloom and open-pollinated, so save your seed for next season! Marketmore Cucumber plants were a deserving RHS AGM winner.

• Pack size: 20 seeds
• Type: Ridge type- outdoor
• Time to germination: 7-10 days
• When to sow inside: March – April
• When to sow outside: May - June
• Spacing: 90cm +
• Soil preference: Fertile moist rich
• Light preference: Full sun
• When to harvest: June – October

How to grow Organic Cucumber Marketmore from seed

Cucumbers are a delicious and easy plant to grow in your garden and come in two types. Should you choose a ridge type of cucumber such as Marketmore, a greenhouse is not a necessity as they have been bred for, and thrive in cooler conditions.

When sowing your Organic Cucumber Marketmore seeds (on their sides) at a depth of 1cm, consider the temperature they will be exposed to. 18-20 degrees is ideal; however, cucumber seeds can tolerate somewhat lower temperatures once germinated. After germination, place on a sunny windowsill. or, as we recommend, under LED lights to grow on and develop. Cucumbers are susceptible to root disturbance, and therefore, we recommend planting seeds in 8cm thin-wall pots. Plant out, pot and all, once your greenhouse or garden can sustain a temperature of 15 degrees.

Cucumber plants are heavy feeders and enjoy warm, rich, moist soil, loaded with plenty of organic matter. Add a few handfuls of fish, blood and bone meal with some volcanic rock dust and kelp powder to give them a rich, balanced and diverse diet for strong organic growth and cropping over the season. Keep cucumbers well-watered, and this diet will help the plants to form strong, well-developed immunity.

Before planting, prepare the hole/soil with the above organics and apply a side dressing of phosphorus-rich bone meal or wood ash just prior to fruiting, to ensure that you are feeding the whole soil ecosystem, which in turn feeds your cucumber plants a much broader diet. Off the shelf bought chemical fertilisers are limited in their scope and kill life in the soil web, trapping the gardener into spending time and money repeatedly fertilising. 

Organic Cucumber Marketmore has good immunity to pests and disease and is resistant to scab, downy and powdery mildew, leaf spot and anthracnose. Tall vining plants, we recommend training cucumbers up garden twine. It’s a commercial technique, far superior in terms of time/labour, effort and effectiveness to staking and tying in. Simply secure a length of twine above and let it hang down to your seedling. As your cucumber plant grows, wind the main stem around the twine. If you must stake, drive the stakes in at an angle, well clear of the root zone. Organic Cucumber Marketmore, being a ridge variety, will also be very happy sprawling over the ground if you have space. There is no need to pick the male flowers; however, to avoid bitterness, keep the ground moist.

When ordering Organic Cucumber Marketmore Seeds from Grow Sow Greener, we reccomend sowing nasturtium seeds. A beautiful plant that add interest and beauty in its own right and is a great companion for cucumbers.  Growing nasturtiums a distance away from your veg will help lure aphids away, whilst giving you delicious red flowers and peppery young leaves for adding to salads.