cucumbers

 Growing cucumbers

• Cucumbers can be allowed to grow on the ground, but for longer, straighter fruit and to save garden space, grow them in a cage or on a trellis, allowing 1 foot between plants, and keep the fruits picked promptly.

• Cucumbers like warmth and are very sensitive to cold, so planting in raised beds or large containers is beneficial (warm roots) and of course like most vegetables they need lots of sun. They enjoy soil temperatures of 65 to 90 deg. F.

• For vining types of cucumbers, If you use a support, it should be 4 to 6 feet high. Bush varieties do not need support.

• Before planting, add some general purpose fertilizer and some compost to the soil.

• Regular fertilizing (every 2 or 3 weeks with organic liquid fertilizer) will increase vigor and production of fruits.

• Keep cucumbers well watered. They need consistent, even watering for best growth and for the fruit to develop properly.

• Regular prompt picking and growing the vines on a trellis or in a cage will increase yields, as well as growing them in raised beds or large pots (for root warmth).

• Keep the fruits picked promptly. Cucumbers can be harvested at different sizes, depending on the variety. See variety descriptions below for a guide.

  PLEASE NOTE: The plants on my farm table have NOT been hardened off. They are straight from the greenhouse.
  You can do one of the following:
  1. Expose them gradually to outdoor conditions over a week
  -OR (as I do)-
  2. Plant them immediately and give them protection from excess sun, wind, and rain for a week or two.

(Descriptions and photos are from the seed company websites unless otherwise noted.)

Margarita

Exclusive! Classic shape, modern color.

Japanese-type cucumber in bright, eye-catching lime-green. Excellent eating quality—crisp texture and sweet, lemony flavor with no bitterness. A farm crew favorite every year for its flavor, uniformity, and distinctive appearance. Very small seed cavity. Best harvested at 8–12". (Johnny’s Selected Seeds)

Richmond Green Apple

(60-70 days) Super sweet fruit is crisp, like an apple! A unique heirloom from Australia, where it is still popular. The fruit is the size of a lemon but is of a beautiful lime green color. These are excellent for eating: very mild, sweet, and juicy. Hard to find and really fun to grow. Excellent flavor! This is an annual favorite at the Baker Creek farm and is truly bitter free. We eat these green globes skin and all. (Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds)

Cool Customer

Improved pickler selected for organic growers.

A rugged organic pickler that produces uniform yields of attractive, blocky fruits with small seed cavities and exceptional crunch and flavor. Vigorous plants produce 4–5" fruits over a long harvest period and are tough enough to withstand the pressures of organic growing conditions. Resilient vines hold up to late-season stress and disease much longer than many similar varieties. Bred by the late Dr. John Navazio at Johnny's. USDA Certified Organic. (Johnny’s Selected Seeds)

Sikkim

(70-80 days) The historic cucumber of Sikkim. Fat, large fruit can reach several pounds in size. The ripe fruit is a unique rusty red color and is good eaten cooked or raw. In Asia, cucumbers are often stir fried and are quite tasty. This variety is commonly grown in the Himalayas of Sikkim and Nepal. Botanist Sir Joseph Hooker first discovered it in the eastern Himalayas in 1848. He wrote of the cuke: “So abundant were the fruits, that for days together I saw gnawed fruits lying by the natives’ paths by the thousands, and every man, woman and child seemed engaged throughout the day in devouring them.” (Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds)

Unagi

Exclusive! Smooth skin and amazing flavor.
55 days. Unagi is the cucumber we didn't know we needed, but now can't live without. Glossy spineless fruit with tiny seed cavities, crisp texture, and excellent flavor. A prolific yielder of remarkably straight, uniform fruits. Harvest at 9–11" long (or smaller, if you prefer). Stays crisp and delicious up to 14". Strong disease package. Gynoecious and parthenocarpic. F1 hybrid variety. (Johnny’s Selected Seeds)

Katrina

Tasty snacking cucumber with good heat tolerance.
49 days. Katrina produces an early to midseason crop in protected culture. Known for its ability to set fruit under heat stress, Katrina is very high yielding with excellent uniformity. This seedless, thin-skinned cuke is best when harvested at 5 1/2–6 1/2" long—a great size between Unistars and the larger Socrates. Gynoecious and parthenocarpic. F1 hybrid variety. (Johnny’s Selected Seeds)

Jibai Shimoshirazu

(55-65 days) The sweetest cucumber we have tasted, this Japanese variety is a perfect snacking cucumber with no bitter flavor! Produces shorter, slightly thicker fruit than other Japanese varieties. Can be grown on the ground or on poles and is vigorous. Deep green fruit is about 7 to 8 inches long. Adapted to high temperature, humidity, and is disease and powdery mildew resistant. (Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds)

Endeavor

(53 days) This early bearing pickling or “Kirby” cucumber is a kitchen garden dynamo that produces an extended harvest of dark green, crispy, curved fruits with the traditional knobby “pickle” skin. Hybrid Endeavor is great tasting and high yielding. Vines will keep you well supplied for putting up many jars of your favorite treats like kosher dills, bread-and-butter slices, relish and traditional sweet pickles. Endeavor is also a fine crunchy, fresh-eating cucumber right from the vine. Plants are resistant to mosaic viruses and downy mildew. (Renee’s Garden)

Quick Snack

The newest addition to the Kitchen Minis™ Collection, Quick Snack Cucumber produces an abundance of small cocktail size fruit, great for snacking and salads. And the best part, you don't need a garden to grow these cukes! Plants are perfect for container growing on your patio, balcony, or even your kitchen countertop. All they need is plenty of sunlight and water to produce an abundance of fruit, which is best picked at 1 ½ to 2 inches long. Plants also benefit from being trellised to keep upright and should be pinched when plants reach the top of the trellis.

Quick Snack Hybrid is a parthenocarpic variety, which means it will set fruit without a pollinator. If grown alone, the fruit will be seedless. If grown next to other cucumbers with male flowers, then the fruits may contain small seeds. Plants can be grown year round inside if provided with plenty of sunlight and a warm location. For a continual year-round harvest, succession plant every two weeks.

The Kitchen Minis™ Collection was developed specifically for containers and small spaces. The collection has won numerous awards, including Retailer's Choice Award and was awarded with a Medal of Excellence Award by Greenhouse Grower magazine. Park Seed offers a range of Kitchen Minis™ to complete your container or small space garden! (Park Seed)

Martini

This outstanding blonde slicing cucumber is the toast of the town and makes a great all-around addition to any garden. Best when 5-6 inches long, Martini has a sweet, bright flavor from baby size up to 9 inches. Its flesh has a great juicy crunch with very few small seeds. Its smooth, white skin makes the fruit easy to spot at harvest and earns lots of compliments at the table. Plants are staggeringly prolific when picked regularly. F1 hybrid.(Territorial Seed)

One of my sisters gave me a basket of vegetables from her local farmer’s market in 2023 which included ‘Martini’. It was the best tasting slicing cucumber I’ve ever enjoyed! This year I’m wondering if ‘Margarita’ will be the taste winner.

Review from Territorial Seed customer:

Delicious and productive

I was pleasantly surprised by Martini! It produced loads of very light green cucumbers with a delicate, sweet taste. Martini swamped us and I was giving it away to anyone who would take them. Production slowed after 8 weeks, so I fertilized it heavily and it took off again. I will definitely be planting it again.

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