Cucumbers are one of the most popular vegetables in the home garden. Cucumbers are tropical vegetable that thrives when the weather is hot and water is plentiful. This article will detail the growing, harvesting, and storage of cucumbers.
Table of Contents
Quick Guide to Growing Cucumbers
- Plant cucumbers every day when the average temperature reaches mid-70 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Grow space cucumbers 36 to 60 inches apart (12 inches for trellis plants) in a sunny, fertile, well-drained area with a pH of 6.0 to 6.8.
- Improve native soil by mixing in a few inches of aged compost or other rich organic matter.
- Cucumbers grow fast, don’t take much care. Make sure they receive an inch of water every week.
- Get the most out of your food growth by feeding your plant’s water-soluble plant-based foods on a regular basis.
- When the soil is warm, add a layer of straw mulch to keep the fruit clean and to help keep slugs and beetles away.
- Cucumbers can be harvested when they are large enough to eat.
Soil, Planting, and Care
Cucumbers need warm, fertile soil with a pH between 6.0 and 6.8, although they tolerate slightly higher alkaline soils to 7.6. To improve soil and help create the root environment needed for a big harvest, plant a few inches of ground soil rich in Miracle Gro® Performance Organics® all-purpose compost in the top few inches of your existing garden soil. (Compost or compost manure will also work.) Plant seedlings between 36 and 60 inches, depending on the variety (check the label). For vines grown on trellises, space plants 1 foot apart.
In areas where spring is long and cool, you can cover a hill or row with black plastic and heat the soil by 3 to 4 degrees. If you’re not growing black plastic, mulch with pine straw, wheat straw, chopped leaves, or your preferred organic mulch shortly after planting. If the weather is unusually cool, you can wait a while until the ground is heated by the sun. For shrub types and vines that don’t grow on trellises, mulch is especially important to keep the fruit clean. Straw mulch is also considered uncomfortable for slugs and creates an uncomfortable foothold for cucumber beetles, helping to deter them.
If you can, frame your vines. This keeps the fruit clean and saves space. A cage 12 to 18 inches in diameter is made of 4 or 5 feet of welded wire mesh or bow wire and can support 2 to 3 vines. The tendrils of climbing cucumbers easily grab onto the wire as the plant grows.
Cucumbers grow quickly and do not require much care. Just keep the soil consistently moist with an inch of water per week (if temperatures are high and rain is sparse, water more). Insufficient or inconsistent moisture can lead to oddly shaped fruit or bad taste. If possible, water the cucumbers with a soaker hose or drip irrigation to keep the leaves dry. This helps prevent leaf diseases that can destroy plants.
For best results, high-quality plant foods are just as important as starting with fertile soil. PLant foods support your plants and the beneficial microbes in your soil that help them grow. Either way, be sure to follow the label directions.
Where to Plant Cucumbers
Wet, warm climates, loose soil, and full sun are all good for cucumbers. Although they are doing particularly well in the South, they are thriving in most of the country.
Cucumbers do best in healthy soil with good drainage. For example, compost is a great source of organic matter in good soil. Soil conditioners, such as compost, and the use of organic fertilizers, such as manure, can help your cucumbers get off to a good start and provide the plants with nutrients as they expand. Get rid of anything that might get in your way, then add plenty of organic matter and fertilizer to the soil as you go.
If planting in hills or rows, plant cucumbers about 1 inch (2.5 cm) deep and thin as needed. Cucumbers need a lot of ground to grow because they are vine crops. Cucumber vines can learn to climb fences or trellises in small gardens, but they can also be grown in large areas where they can spread in rows. Reduce the area cucumbers take up in your garden by training them to grow on a fence or trellis. In addition to making your yard look better, using this technique will make it more organized. Compact shrub varieties are ideal for growing in small places or even containers due to their compact nature. Wet, warm climates, loose soil, and full sun are all good for cucumbers. Although they are doing particularly well in the South, they are thriving in most of the country.
Cucumbers do best in healthy soil with good drainage. For example, compost is a great source of organic matter in good soil. Soil conditioners, such as compost, and the use of organic fertilizers, such as manure, can help your cucumbers get off to a good start and provide the plants with nutrients as they expand. Get rid of anything that might get in your way, then add plenty of organic matter and fertilizer to the soil as you go.
How Much Space do Cucumbers Need?
So how much space do cucumbers need? Cucumber plants need a space that is 4 feet long and 2 feet wide. Cucumbers need a lot of space because their vines like to grow outwards, and without adequate spacing, cucumber plants become overcrowded and thus susceptible to diseases such as powdery mildew.
Despite their widespread use, cucumbers are often underestimated in terms of growing demand. Cucumbers tend to grow in any direction, so it can be difficult to know exactly how much space each plant needs in your garden.
Overall, cucumbers need a lot of space to grow. However, if space is a concern, there are some ways to minimize the area cucumbers grow in while still maintaining adequate space for each plant to properly grow.
Harvest and Storage Cucumbers
As long as the cucumbers are big enough to use, you can pick them. Check the vines daily as the fruit begins to grow as they grow quickly. The more you harvest, the more fruit the vine will bear. To remove the fruit, use a knife or scissors to cut the stem off the top of the fruit. Pulling on them can damage the vines. Don’t let the cucumbers get too large or they will become bitter and will also prevent the vine from producing more fruit. Yellowing of the bottom (lower end) of the cucumber indicates overripeness; remove the fruit immediately. Harvest the lemon cucumbers before they start to turn yellow. Although they’re called lemon cucumbers because the small oblong or round fruit turns yellow and looks like a lemon, when the fruit turns yellow, it’s probably a little too seedy for most flavors.
You can store harvested cucumbers in the refrigerator for 7 to 10 days but eat them as soon as possible after picking for the best flavor. If you don’t eat a sliced cucumber at a time, wrap the unused portion in plastic wrap to prevent dehydration in the refrigerator. In fact, it’s best to wrap whole cucumbers in plastic or store them in a ziplock bag in the refrigerator to keep them crisp.
Conclusion
For many gardeners, harvesting their home-grown cucumbers is a moment they look forward to all season. In just a few easy steps, you can enjoy the fresh taste and satisfying bounty of crunchy cucumbers – and share it with family and friends.
