|
My first experience growing cucumbers was a fiasco. I failed to amend the soil properly, feed and water them enough early on, and then they developed a bad case of powdery mildew. My plants yielded only a few small fruits. That was about 20 years ago. Since that unproductive season, I’ve mastered growing these great fast-growing annual vines – and you can, too! The great thing about cukes is once they’re happy, they produce like gangbusters! Before you know it, it’ll be time to break out the tzatziki and pickle recipes and find friends willing to take a few off your hands.
 ‘Fanfare’ slicing cucumber is an award winner that produces lots of deep green cukes on a vigorous, compact, disease-resistant vine. Fruits are ready to harvest around 63 days after planting. Photo Credit: Syngenta  Pickling cucumbers are crunchy, have dense flesh and are perfectly shaped when small. Photo Credit: Jessie Keith  Trellising cucumber vines saves space and makes harvesting much easier. Photo Credit: Jessie Keith  Dosakai-type cucumbers, like the popular cultivar ‘Lemon’, are round and turn bright yellow when mature. Photo Credit: Jessie Keith
Cucumbers (Cucumis sativus) are frost-tender, warm-weather vegetables; which means they grow when days and nights are relatively warm and the sun is at its brightest. They tend to sprawl but can be trained to grow on a support to save space and make harvesting easier.
The vines are lined with large, prickly, green leaves and produce two types of yellow, funnel-shaped flowers, male and female. The pollen-producing male flowers bloom first, followed by the fruit-producing female flowers. Female blooms are easily identified by their elongated, bulbous ovaries at the base, which are destined to become cucumbers. The flowers are pollinated by bees, so smile when these productive insects visit your plants, and refrain from using broad-spectrum, non-organic pesticides that will kill them.
Cucumber size, shape and color depend on the type of plant you grow. No matter what variety you choose, proper site selection and good soil preparation can make or break your cuke-growing success.
Full sun is essential for good growth and fruit production, so choose a planting location that’s open and sunny. Deep, friable, well-drained soil high in organic matter yields the best crops. The best rule of thumb is to dig and work up the soil to a depth of a foot or more, then amend liberally with good compost. The more room your plants’ roots have to develop, the healthier the plants. If your garden is at a low topography, create raised berms to plant your cucumbers. (Generally, I start my seeds outdoors in 4-inch pots and plant them once they’ve reached 3 inches long and the threat of frost has past. Other home gardeners may opt to direct-sow the seeds following packet directions.)
Feeding and watering cucumber vines are simple tasks: Just apply good organic fertilizer (like Garden-tone®) early in the season and make sure established vines get a deep application of water twice a week (by rain or hose). The next consideration is deciding whether or not to trellis your plants.
Trellising has lots of advantages: It saves space, makes harvesting easier and encourages airflow, which discourages foliar diseases. Some standard trellis types are vertical ladder trellises, bentwood or teepee trellises. Trellis-grown cukes will be straighter than ground-grown. If you don’t mind your vines on the ground, be sure to pad the ground with hay or straw. This will keep your cucumbers clean and discourage rot, as well as keep weeds down. If you don’t have a lot of gardening space, you can grow dwarf cucumber varieties in large containers.
There are a few cucumber pests and diseases to be mindful of. Striped and spotted cucumber beetles are the worst of them. Both pests are elongated, around ¼ an inch long and have beaded antennae. Striped cucumber beetles have bands of yellow and black stripes, and the spotted ones are tannish-yellow and are typically marked with 12 black spots. Both chew on the leaves and vector a nasty bacterial wilt disease that can kill vines. The best means of defense is to use botanical insecticidal sprays like pyrethrum and rotenone, always carefully following label directions. Begin to spray when the plants are young, and refrain from spraying when bees are actively pollinating the flowers. Squash bugs are another common pest that can be eradicated using this method. Aside from bacterial wilt, powdery mildew is the second most common disease of cucumber vines. (The organic fungicide, GreenCure®, clears up powdery mildew fast and is safe to use.)
So, whether growing cucumbers for pickling or slicing, feel confident you can cultivate happy cucumbers this year. By fulfilling just a few smart steps, neo gardeners can avoid a first-time cucumber catastrophe and enjoy a cornucopia crop instead!
View Comments
|
| Facts |
- Cultivated cucumbers are believed to originate from Southeast Asian and Indian Cucumis species and have reportedly been around for about 3,000 years. Origin of cultivation dictates a given plant’s tolerance to heat and drought. Persian cucumbers, for example, are better adapted to harsh growing conditions than English types, so keep this in mind when choosing a variety for your garden.
- Americans are most familiar with slicing cucumbers, which tend to be broad and thick-skinned and have tough, prominent seeds. In contrast, thin-skinned Asian cucumbers are long, straight and small-seeded, as are English types.
|
| Tips |
- For quick tzatziki, peel and seed one medium cucumber and cut into small cubes. Mix it with 2 cups full fat Greek yogurt, 1 tablespoon chopped fresh mint, 2 tablespoons chopped fresh dill, 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice, 3 cloves chopped garlic, 1 teaspoon salt, 1/4 cup good olive oil and a twist of fresh cracked pepper. Serve with warm pitas.
- Heavy soil is one of the worst cultural enemies of cucumbers. Be sure to work up the ground beneath them to a high tilth and add lots of good, rich compost before you plant. Soils too high in clay or sand are unsuitable for cucumbers. The ideal N-P-K for cucumbers is 5-10-5, and like most vegetables, they thrive in soil with neutral pH.
|
| Faqs |
- Q: When are cucumbers ready to harvest?
A: Pick cucumbers when they’re a good size but still taut and green. Once they become too large and start to turn yellow they’re no longer good to eat. Pickling cucumbers, which include gherkins, should be picked when immature – when they’re most crisp.
|
| Share |
- Come to The Garden Party and share your vegetables with the rest of the Learn2Grow community! Post pictures of your cucumber plants and harvest, write a blog and join the Gardeners for Better Food Group. Have a question about growing cucumbers in your garden? Post it in the L2G Forums for our gardening experts to answer.
|
|
|