My cucumber is not limp anymore!

Well, as you might have read in an earlier post, I have a problem with a 'limp' cucumber plant!

I suspected a slight root problem, so built up a mound of earth around the base of the plant, and cooled it down quite a few times a day with a hose. Luckily, we had a cooler week a few days after it started limping, and as you can see it is now back to normal, despite being over 30 degrees in the shade of the shed where the thermometer is situated.

I harvested a few more cucmbers this week, the plant that I am growing them on the shoots has produced 17 already so on the way to its target of 50. The cucmber in the picture is 15" long and it would have grown longer  but I wanted to clear the plant of fruit to help it keep producing

I also have a tip for getting your cucumbers to grow longer. All you have to do is hang a jar of water a few centimeters from the growing tip, and them keep lowering the jar every few days. I thought this year I would try it with Guinness this year, to add a little more flavour!

Also, my pair of melons are looking good, well not the actual pair that I first posted, because I just knew a air would not grow on the same shoot and eventually one turned yellow and had to be removed.

There are plenty on the plants this year, maybe that is because I am growing Charentais. We have also had a very hot summer, which is perfect for them.

With a reasonable Bordeaux at only one and a half Euros a bottle, I hardly need to make my own wine, but a few fresh grapes with the cheese course does go down very well. My grapes are in their second year and to be honest, I don't really know what I am doing with them. But I have trained some wires across to grow them on. I know you are only supposed to crop them in the third year and I am not sure what growth to cut off at the end of the summer. So far, I have just cut off the end of the shoot where I want it to grow to. 

I didn't have the courage to cut off these bunches, as I am sure that I will have a few tasty grapes to go with my cheese at the end of the summer. 

Any advice is really welcome.