Fothergill's Cucumber Telegraph Improved Seeds

Details:

• Botanical Name: Cucumis sativus 'Telegraph Improved', a time-tested, premium traditional cultivar within the Cucumber genus.
• Plant Class: Half Hardy Annual, establishing with excellent natural vigor in the spring to deliver a long, abundant summer harvest.
• Long, Traditional Fruits: Bears large, straight, and slender dark green fruits that regularly reach 30–35cm (12–14in) in length. Features a smooth, thin skin and a exceptionally crisp, juicy white flesh.
• Excellent Growing Flexibility: Highly adaptable traditional variety that performs spectacularly across a wide range of setups; it crops reliably in both heated or cool greenhouses, large polytunnels, or under the protection of a garden cold frame.
• Vigorous Climbing Framework: Naturally develops a robust, athletic vining habit that loves to scale supports. Training it vertically up strings, a sturdy wooden trellis, or wire netting keeps the hanging cucumbers perfectly straight, clean, and effortless to harvest.
• Traditional Homegrown Flavour: Prized for its mild, sweet, and incredibly clean flavor that puts watery, shop-bought cucumbers to shame. It is easy on the digestion and contains very few seeds when harvested at its prime.
• Kitchen Staple: The ultimate slicing cucumber for a classic British summer; perfect for layering into fresh afternoon tea sandwiches, dicing into cool yoghurt tzatziki, or tossing into a crisp garden salad.

Care Instructions:

• Sowing Position: Start seeds early indoors from March to May by sowing individual seeds on their edges 1.5cm deep in small pots of moist compost to protect tender roots. Maintain a warm, consistent temperature during germination. Position in full sun.
• Training & Support: Plant out into greenhouse borders, large patio tubs, or growing bags once late spring conditions have fully warmed. Provide a strong vertical support frame and loosely secure the main stem. Pinch out the growing tip of the main stem once it reaches the roof to encourage productive side branches.
• Traditional Flower Management: As a traditional heritage variety rather than a modern all-female hybrid, this plant will produce both male and female flowers. To ensure the finest quality, seedless, and completely bitter-free fruits, simply pinch off the male flowers (the ones without a tiny immature cucumber at the base of the bloom) as they appear.
• Moisture & Nutrition: Keep the soil or compost consistently moist by watering deeply and regularly around the base—never allow the roots to dry out completely. Feed with a high-potash liquid tomato fertilizer every two weeks once the first fruits begin to swell.