Here's How To Grow Fresh Cucumbers In Your Garden This Summer

There’s nothing like a crisp cucumber freshly harvested from your garden, then chilled to perfection. They’re so much better when you grow them yourself! They’re also one of the easiest vegetables to grow from seed. New compact varieties of cucumbers grow well in containers on a deck, patio or balcony, too.

Cucumbers mature quickly, typically from 40 to 60 days, in a bush shape or on a vine. The vining types can be “trained” up a trellis, which they’ll grasp with tiny tendrils. Using a trellis also creates a healthy environment for your cucumber plants, permitting airflow and keeping fruits off the ground where they can rot. Growing them vertically saves space in your garden, too, and makes them easier to harvest.

You can grow more than one crop of cucumbers per season in your garden because they mature so quickly. There are both pickling and slicing types, as well as many different varieties including striped, yellow and round. While you can buy plants or start them indoors two to three weeks before the last expected frost in your area, it’s best to direct seed cucumbers into the garden because they’re a little fussy about having their roots disturbed.

Plant Attributes

Growing From Seed

Cucumbers love the heat, so wait until all danger of frost has passed in your area and soil temperatures are 65 degrees or warmer. They will not tolerate even a light frost. 

Plant a few seeds together about an inch deep, spacing rows about a foot or so apart. Press down to cover the seeds, and water. To extend the harvest, sow seeds again in a few weeks, up until mid-summer.

When the plants are about 5 inches tall, thin them to preserve the healthiest plants. Place the trellis now so you won’t disturb the plants later. Also, make sure to weed so that plants won’t have to compete for nutrients and moisture.

Cucumbers produce male and female flowers on the same plant. Male flowers appear first, attached by a slender stem. Female flowers grow closer to the main vine with a tiny round fruit behind the flower. Pollinators, such as honey bees, must move pollen from the male to the female flowers. To ensure your cucumbers produce fruit, plant pollinator-friendly flowers, such as sweet alyssum, marigolds, and nasturtium, near or along the edges of your garden.

If space is at a premium in your garden, some new varieties of cucumbers, such as ‘Diva,’ are parthenocarpic, which means they do not require pollination to set fruit.

Cucumber Care

Light

Cucumbers need full sun, which is considered 6 or more hours of direct sunlight per day. They will become spindly and do not produce well in shade.

Soil

Cucumbers prefer slightly acidic soil (between 6 and 6.5 pH) but will adapt to most types of soils.

Water

Cucumbers are thirsty vegetables with shallow roots, so they will suffer if not watered during drought. Water regularly to provide consistent moisture to a depth of six inches (stick your finger in to check). It’s especially important to keep them watered when they are setting fruit.

Temperature

Cucumbers grow best at temperatures between 75 and 85 degrees. They will not tolerate even the slightest frost, so don’t plant too early. Wait until two weeks past your area’s last expected frost date (check with your local university coop extension service here).

Fertilizer

Cucumbers are moderate to heavy feeders. Give them 5-10-10 fertilizer at planting, then a balanced fertilizer about once a month after that.

When To Harvest Cucumbers

Use a garden snip to cut them from the vine; trying to yank them off can damage the plant. Harvest when the variety you planted is at its ideal size; read the seed package so you’ll know when to expect fruit. Generally, pickling types are harvested at 2 to 4 inches long, with slicers picked when 5 to 8 inches long.

The great thing about cukes is that the more you harvest, the more they’ll produce! Because they grow so quickly, check your garden every day to see if you have any ready to pick. Don’t wait too long. If you harvest too late, they become yellow, seedy, and bitter.

Common Pests And Disease

Powdery Mildew And Downy Mildew

These fungal diseases coat the leaves during warm, humid weather. Plant resistant varieties, or apply a fungicide, such as horticultural oil. To reduce disease risk, avoid overhead irrigation and provide good spacing between plants. Training plants up a trellis also improves air circulation.

Aphids

These tiny soft-bodied pests cluster together on leaves and stems. Inspect your plants every other day for aphids because populations can explode overnight. Blast them off with a garden hose or try an insecticidal soap or neem oil.

Cucumber Beetles

These beetles attack all stages of the plant and transmit bacterial wilt, for which there is no cure; make sure to weed because they overwinter in weeds along the garden’s edge. Plant a disease-resistant variety oruse neem oil.

Squash Vine Borer

Adult clear-winged moths lays eggs near the base of plants. Developing larvae tunnel into stems and cause plant wilt and death. It’s a tough pest to control, but you can cut out the insect if discovered early and mound soil over the wound.

Types Of Cucumbers

‘Patio Snacker’

Vigorous, compact plants that are particularly suited to containers with 6 to 8-inch long fruits.

‘Cucumber Quick Snack’

Does not require pollination to set fruit. Compact 24-inch plants grow well in containers and produce 2 to 2 1/2 -inch long fruit.

‘Diva’

Does not require pollination to set fruit. Crisp, sweet 6 to 8 inch cucumbers. All-America Selections (AAS) winner, meaning it’s been tested for performance in home gardens.

‘Green Light’

Does not require pollination to set fruit. Little 3 to 4-inch cucumbers you don’t need to peel. AAS winner.

‘Lemon’

Round, tender, yellow heirloom variety with cucumbers a little smaller than a tennis ball.

 Related:How to Use Neem Oil on Plants