I’m pleased to introduce you to Rimani Chatama from Zimbabwe.  Mr. Chatama has 25 years of experience in agriculture, with a wide variety of products. He has been a farm manager both for commercial crops and animals, goats, sheep, and poultry, but mostly cattle. After Mr. Chatama retired from farm management, he started working on his own projects.  First, he had a small plot of land where he cultivated cauliflower, but he did not find the land suitable, too small to sustain a productive farm, so he acquired 5 hectares of land in a different location.  Mr. Chatama’s intention was to grow [...]

As mentioned, Mr. Chatama decided on English cucumbers because they are easy to market.  Also, by harvesting three times per year, he can maximize the yield. Mr. Chatama’s greenhouse is 320 m2, and he has planted 500 cucumber plants there.   English cucumbers are sweet, slender, and straight, and have fewer, less noticeable seeds than many other cucumbers. You’ll also see them called greenhouse cucumbers, hot house cucumbers, European cucumbers, and seedless cucumbers. English cucumbers are about 14 inches long and about 1-1/2 to 2 inches in diameter. They’re grown off the ground, hanging or on a trellis, to get their characteristic shape. [...]

Even if you are a professional and know what you are doing in the garden, you will find challenges.  Mr. Chatama had to prepare for several challenges when he started his English cucumber project.  There are several pests constantly seeking to make their life on or in your plants and vegetables.  In the case of the cucumber, there are four types of insects that are especially dangerous. These are the Fruit Fly, the White Fly, the Cucumber Beetle, and Red Spider Mites.  All these insects attack the plant by laying eggs in it like the Fruit Fly, sucking the plant sap, [...]

In the previous posts on Mr. Chatama‘s English cucumber project, we showed you his beginning, the preparation of the greenhouse, and the young plants, and some fundamental information about the cucumbers.  Last we showed you some of the most common pests and diseases that Mr. Chatama must be on his guard against.  Now we will talk about the care for the English cucumbers.    Cucumbers grow best in well-drained, light-textured soils high in organic matter, and have a pH of 6 – 6.8.  When the pH is too low, you may add ground calcitic limestone to the soil to bring up the pH [...]