How to Grow Cucumber Plants: Easy Guide to Planting & Harvesting

Grow crisp, refreshing cucumbers with this easy guide

Select a site that gets full sun (at least 6-8 hours of direct sunlight per day). Cucumbers like warmth and lots of light!

Cucumbers require fertile soil. Before planting, add about 2 inches of organic matter (aged manure and/or compost) and a complete fertilizer to the area. The soil should be moist but well-draining (not soggy) and have a pH of around 6.5 to 7.0.

When to Plant Cucumbers

• For an early crop, sow cucumber seeds indoors for about 3 weeks before transplanting them outside. Provide bottom heat of about 70oF (21oC) with a heating pad or place the seed flats on top of a refrigerator or water heater. Sow two seeds an inch deep in each pot, then water well. Once the seedlings emerge, remove the weakest to leave one per pot.
• Outdoors, sow or transplant when soil is about 70oF (21oC), and no earlier than 2 weeks after the last frost date. Cucumbers are extremely susceptible to frost and cold damage. (In cooler climates, warm the soil by covering it with black plastic before planting.)
• Make successive plantings (every 2 weeks) for continued harvests through the season. In warm soil, cucumbers will grow quickly and ripen in about 6 weeks.

[画像:Spacing for Cucumbers]

How to Plant Cucumbers

• Sow 4 to 6 seeds directly in the garden about 1 inch deep, 12 to 18 inches apart, in rows 4 feet apart.
• Cucumbers can also be planted in mounds (or "hills") that are spaced 1 to 2 feet apart, with 2 to 3 seeds planted in each mound. Once plants reach 4 inches in height, thin them to one plant per mound.
• After planting, mulch around the area with straw, chopped leaves, or another organic mulch to keep pests at bay, and bush types should be kept off the ground to avoid disease.
• A trellis is a good idea if you want the vine to climb or if you have limited space. Trellising also protects the fruit from damage from lying on the moist ground. See how to build a trellis and support for vining vegetables.
• If you’ve had pests, cover freshly planted cucumber seeds with row covers, netting, or a berry basket; this will keep them from digging out the seeds.

You can also grow cucumbers in containers!

• When seedlings emerge, begin watering frequently. Cucumbers need at least one inch of water per week (or more if temperatures are particularly high). Inconsistent watering leads to bitter-tasting fruit.
• When you water, irrigate deeply. Avoid getting the leaves wet, as that may encourage leaf diseases that can ruin the plant. If possible, water your cucumbers with a soaker hose or drip irrigation to keep the foliage dry.
• Mulch around plants to retain soil moisture and reduce weeding; however, do not apply mulches until soils have warmed to 75°F. Harvest cucumbers when fruits are young and tender.
• Cover young plants with row covers or berry baskets if pests appear. Continually check for pests or disease.
• When seedlings reach 4 inches tall, thin the plants to two plants per location
• After the vines develop runners, side dress with additional nitrogen fertilizer.

Making a Cucumber Frame

A cucumber frame is a great way to support outdoor cucumbers. Stretch chicken wire or netting over a wooden frame and secure it into place with staples or U-shaped nails. Lean the frame against an A-frame made of sturdy bamboo canes.

Salad leaves such as lettuce can then be grown in the shade of the frame—a clever solution for growing cool-season crops in hotter areas.

Also, see our video on how how to build a trellis and support for cucumbers.

• ‘Boston Pickling’ (vine) is our favorite heirloom variety bred especially for pickling.
• ‘Burpless Bush Hybrid’ (bush) is good for small gardens, pots, or pickling.
• ‘Bush Crop’ (bush) is a dwarf variety with a high yield. Great for eating fresh.
• ‘Calypso’ (vine) is disease-resistant and has a high yield. Perfect for pickling.
• ‘Lemon’ (vine) produces round, yellow, super-sweet fruits. Fun for kids!
• ‘Parisian Pickling’ (vine) produces long, thin cucumbers perfect for making gherkins or cornichons.
• ‘Sweet Success’ (vine) is good for greenhouses, as it requires no pollinators. Produces seedless fruit.

• Cucumbers should be harvested when they are young and tender! They are picked when immature—before their seeds harden and they become bitter. Do not let them get yellow. A cucumber is of the highest quality when it is uniformly green, firm, and crisp.
  • Harvest regular slicing cucumbers when they are about 6 to 8 inches long (slicing varieties).
  • Harvest dills at 4 to 6 inches long and pickling cucumbers at 2 inches long.
  • The large burpless cucumbers can be up to 10 inches long, and some types are even larger.
  • Gherkin varieties are picked very small – an inch long for crunchy cornichons or three inches long for larger pickles.
• At peak harvesting time, you should be picking cucumbers every couple of days. They’ll grow quickly!
• Use a knife or clippers to cut the fruit off the plant. Pulling it may damage the vine.
• Keep on picking! If you don’t, as plants mature, they will stop producing.
• Any cucumbers left on the vine too long will also get tough skins and lower plant productivity.

How to Store Cucumbers

• Cucumbers are over 90 percent water. Store wrapped tightly in plastic wrap to retain moisture.
• They keep for 7 to 10 days when stored properly in the refrigerator.

Little or No Fruit:

• If your cucumber plants do not set fruit, it’s not usually caused by a disease. There is probably a pollination issue. The first flowers are usually all male. Both female and male flowers must be blooming at the same time for fruit to set. This may not happen early in the plant’s life, so be patient. (Female flowers are the ones with a small cucumber-shaped swelling at the base that will become the fruit; male flowers do not have this swelling at the base.)
• Lack of fruit may also be due to poor pollination by bees, especially due to rain or cold temperatures, or insecticides. Do rest assured, you could always hand pollinate. (Dip a Q-tip into the male pollen and transfer it to the center of the female flower.)
• Remember, gynoecious hybrid varieties (those that produce primarily female flowers) require companion cucumber plants with male flowers in order to produce fruit.

• Plant cucumbers while you are wearing your pajamas, on the first day of May, before sunrise, and no bugs will eat them.
• "Burpless" cucumbers have little to no cucurbitacin, which causes bitterness and increases the likelihood of burping by those who consume it.
• If you’re pickling, consider growing dill, a favorite pickling herb! Plant every few weeks into midsummer to ensure a constant supply. See our Growing Guide for Dill.
• Don’t forget that cucumbers aren’t just for eating. When puréed in the blender, cucumbers make a great summer facial for toning the skin and reducing puffiness.
• With special molds, you can grow cucumbers in different shapes, like hearts and stars!
• A favorite vegetable for more than 3,000 years, the cucumber originated in northern India and was cultivated in China before spreading to Europe and points beyond.
• The name for the cucumber evolved from Europeans. To Romans, it was known as cucumerem; the French call(ed) it concombre; the English, who at first saw its value only as animal feed, referred to it as "cowcumber."

• See our section on pickling with lots of recipes and ideas.
• Enjoy our fun video on How to Make Easy Refrigerator Dill Pickles!

Catherine Boeckmann

Executive Digital Editor and Master Gardener

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