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Quick facts
- Cucumbers grow best in warm weather.
- Start seeds indoors in late April for transplants.
- Sow seed directly in the garden after soil has warmed, usually in May.
- Plastic mulch and row covers allow earlier planting.
Grow cucumbers
Cucumbers are common garden vegetables. You can eat them pickled, or raw in salads. Like other vine crops such as squash, melons and pumpkins, cucumbers grow best in warm weather. Some varieties form long vines that may need a trellis. Others are bush-types that fit better in a small garden.
Soil
- Have your soil tested.
- For best yield and quality, the soil pH should be between 6.0 and 6.5, which is slightly acidic.
- The soil should be moisture retentive yet well drained.
- Forming raised beds will ensure good drainage, which these crops need.
- Improve your soil by adding well-rotted manure or compost in spring or fall. Do not use fresh manure as it may contain harmful bacteria and may increase weed problems.
- Do not use “Weed and Feed” type fertilizers on vegetables. They contain weed killers that will kill vegetable plants.
Types
- Cucumber plants have separate male and female flowers on the same plant. Male flowers usually appear first, each attached to the plant by a slender pedicel, or stem. Female flowers grow close to the main vine. Between the flower and the vine is a small round ovary, the unfertilized fruit.
- An insect must move the pollen from the male flowers to the female flowers. Bees are common cucumber pollinators. Some newer varieties of cucumber will set fruit that develops normally, even if there is no pollination of the female flowers. These fruits will be seedless or nearly so.
- Other varieties have only female flowers, each of which can produce a fruit. These varieties can have high yields. You must grow the all-female varieties with another cucumber variety having traditional flowering habit to provide pollen.
Starting Seeds
The best way to start cucumbers is direct seeding. Sow seeds in late May, once the soil is at least 70° F at the one-inch depth. Earlier planting is possible with the use of black plastic mulch, which raises soil temperature. Cut holes in the mulch, and plant the seeds.
Sow seeds about 1/2 inch deep. For vining types that will spread out in the garden, sow seeds 2 inches apart. Allow about 2 or 3 feet of space on either side of the row for the vines to spread.
A “hill” of 3 to 4 seeds sown close together is another way to plant cucumbers in the garden. Allow 5 to 6 feet between hills. You can plant bush types, with very short vines, in closely spaced rows or hills, with only 2 to 3 feet in between. After growth, thin seedlings to stand 8 to 12 inches apart.
Transplanting
- Cucumber seeds will not germinate in cold soil. Plants started indoors and set out into cold soil will also not grow very well.
- Start seeds indoors no earlier than four weeks before the last frost date.
- Start the seeds in peat pots that you can plant directly into the soil.
- Before the plant begins to outgrow its container, transplant it carefully. Do not damage the cucumber’s taproot.
Watering
- Long taproots and branching surface roots help cucumber plants reach soil moisture even in dry weather.
- Vine crops are heavy water feeders, so you should constantly check soil moisture.
- Cucumbers need about one inch of water from rainfall or irrigation each week during the growing season.
- Always soak the soil thoroughly when watering.
- Water sandy soils more often, but with lower amounts applied at one time.
Controlling weeds
- Frequent, shallow cultivation with a hoe or hand tool will kill weeds before they become a problem.
- Continue cultivating as long as you can do so without injuring the plants, usually when the vines begin to spread between the rows.
- When cultivation is no longer possible, pull large weeds by hand.
Harvest
- Pick cucumbers when they reach the size you prefer.
- Harvest slicers or salad cucumbers at any size before they are over-large with seeds and yellowish skins.
- If you leave very large cucumbers on the vine, plant yield will decline.
- Harvest often, but be careful not to disturb the vine, as they often send out new roots from joints in the vine. Disturbing the vine can break these roots.
- Do not pick fruit when the vines are wet, because of the danger of spreading diseases.
Source: https://extension.umn.edu/vegetables/growing-cucumbers#harvest-and-storage-210515
