More garden centre purchases- Cucumbers and peppers

Again I did not manage to photograph these the moment I got them home so here they are a few weeks later.  One cucumber is already requiring a little support in life, although Im not sure this old fuchsia stem is really substantial enough.

I presume nobody actually expected me to come away with just tomato plants when I had a little shop-up at the old garden centre, because that would have been silly.  Two cucumbers and a sly pepper may also have been snuck into the basket.  This does not mean that I have given up in my attempts to grow them, but rather I have recognised that there is a significant likelihood of failure in my attempts but I would still like to have cucumbers and peppers.  

I was going to buy more than two cucumber plants, because lets face it that is not going to produce much of a cucumber feast, but the mother convinced me not to.  She decided it would be much better not to spend another £1.30 on a single cucumber plant and instead blow a full £5 on a packet of cucumber seeds.  Like a fool I listened, and what a debacle that turned out to be, as you will soon discover.  I went for two different varieties La Diva F1 and Delta Star F1.  For some reason I have bought one indoor cucumber and one outdoor one, despite the fact both will be most definitely grown outdoors.  Hopefully the indoor one will not notice!  According to the Gardeners Kitchen website one person got 158 cucumbers off one Delta Star plant in one season, somehow I can’t imagine producing quite that much quantity.  If it gives me one I will be ridiculously thrilled.

I have sown so much pepper seed this year and I have absolutely nothing to show for my efforts.  I had a lovely tray full that had managed to survive being started indoors and then taken outside, which I have finally come to the conclusion doesn’t work.  But all I have succeeded in doing is making sure that the slugs in my garden eat a balanced and nutritious diet, so all the peppers are gone.  I have sown some more In the hope that I might be able to defend at least one from the slugs but like I said before, I bought one pepper plant; a Ariane F1 which should, hopefully, with a following wind produce orange peppers.  

This is the point I got to last year when I was all excited for cucumbers and then my little plants literally just keeled over and died.  I have no idea why this was, so Im hoping we don’t have a repeat again this year, I can’t wait for the day I get to hold a ripe cucumber in my hands!