courgettes and cucumbers???

Bobby · Posted: Thu May 14, 2009 5:42 pm Post subject: courgettes and cucumbers???

Hi everybody, I'm Bobby and I just joined this site. I have a smallish garden (25 x 45 feet) and grow a lot of my own fruit and veg. I've been growing courgettes every year, sowing them outdoors where they were to grow and they all came up fine, except for this year Sad

I tried them indoors and outside. Ditto cucumbers. Since seeds are relatively expensive I use them from packets I bought last year or the year before. Again, there wasn't any problem till now....
Does anybody have any information about seed viability and germination time for cucumbers and courgettes?

Belfast · Posted: Thu May 14, 2009 6:43 pm Post subject:

http://faculty.matcmadison.edu/mchristoffel/plants/seeds/viability.htm
cucumber 5 years

http://stanford.wellsphere.com/gardening-article/seed-viability/572226
Courgette 5 years

michael brenock · Posted: Thu May 14, 2009 9:05 pm Post subject:

courgette and cucumber seed have a lifespan of about 5 years provided they are stored in a sealed jar dry and stored in a cool place.
michael brenock horticultural advisor (retired)

Bobby · Posted: Fri May 15, 2009 11:02 am Post subject:

Dear 'Belfast' and Michael Brenock,
Thank you both very much for this information, especially the website from Belfast that lists viabilities for a whole lot of veg I grow regularly. This is really useful. And it leaves me puzzled as to what happened. I've been growing tomatoes, cucumbers and peppers in an unheated glasshouse for years, and courgettes outdoors and never had any problems till just recently.
Last year tomato seeds all failed to germinate, including those from 2 brand new packets. I ended up growing selfsown seedlings from the compost heap (which turned out to be reasonably OK). Courgettes grew, but very weakly. This year peppers, cucumbers and courgettes failed to come up. Some tomatoes germinated, but very few of them.
I keep all my open packets of seeds in a Kilner jar, with a little bag of silica gel to keep them dry.

Garlicbreath · Posted: Fri May 15, 2009 5:41 pm Post subject:

Cheers to all for this thread and for the links. I now realise why none of my beans have germinated! Ho hum... off to the garden centre tomorrow for some emergency supplies!!

Maire O'Leary · Posted: Tue Aug 04, 2009 11:13 pm Post subject:

Hi Bobby,
re cucumbers and courgettes sometimes I think it depends how the seeds are stored - I have been guilty of not keeping them in a cool dry place - this could be the reason they didn't germinate.

A variety of courgette I've had great success with is DUNDOO and similarly with a cucumber variety called CARMEN.

michael brenock · Posted: Sun Aug 09, 2009 10:23 pm Post subject:

I was asked to look at a site where courgette seed was sown as to why it did not germinate and I now know that it did. The seed shell was on the the top of the ground and my conclusion was the slugs had eaten the plants as they emerged. If the seed had not germinated it would still be in the ground where planted.
Michael brenock horticultural advisor (retired)

wireworm · Posted: Wed Aug 19, 2009 10:49 am Post subject: mystery solved

so it seems. I had terrible problems with black and green fly this year and the only courgette plant I got to plant was destroyed. by them

Garlicbreath · Posted: Wed Aug 19, 2009 12:24 pm Post subject:

I've had a terrible year for growing from seed but I suspect is was down to seedlings being devoured as soon as they appeared rather than the seeds not germinating. I lost ALL my french beans this way in spite of regular anti-slug forays. There have been a lot of pigeons around this year. Could this be the culprit?