Relatives of squash, melons, and pumpkins, there are a variety of ways to
learn how to grow cucumbers. Grow them in hills, in rows along a wire trellis,
or train your cucumber vines to climb a wall or wooden trellis. In addition to
growing directly in the garden, cucumbers make an attractive container plant.
The cucumber is an appealing plant with lovely blossoms that permeate the air
with the heady fragrance of — what else? — cucumbers!
When getting ready to learn how to grow cucumbers in your garden, it’s best
to prepare the soil about a month ahead of planting them. Cucumbers are not good
at competing for space and nutrients. Remove weeds and spade in rich organic
material. You’ll have plenty of time to do this, since cucumbers are subtropical
vines that prefer the sunny days and balmy nights of summertime. Seeds need
about an 80F temperature to germinate, but then will do so in four to five days.
Although seeds can be planted directly into the garden, cucumbers can also be
started indoors for transplanting. If you use peat pots to start the seed, you
can bury the whole pot in the garden lessening the risk that you’ll damage the
tender vines.
Once established, in addition to keeping the fruit cleaner, a layer of mulch
in your cucumber patch minimizes weed growth and helps your soil retain
moisture. Although cucumbers hate wet feet and won’t grow in standing water, the
more moisture they can absorb the juicier and sweeter they will be.
Harvest cucumbers at whatever size you like, as long as you don’t wait for
them to turn yellow (unless they are a yellow variety). Once they begin to turn
yellow, they’re past their prime. Flavor turns bitter and the fruit begins to
dry out. Besides, frequently picking your cukes will promote more prolific
blossoming resulting in larger harvests.
The versatile cucumber (cucumis sativus) is tasty pickled, in a salad, as a
salad, in a sandwich, or just eaten raw. How to grow cucumbers depends largely
in part on how you plan to eat them. Cucumbers come in over 120 varieties that
range from small picklers to large slicers and from dark green to the yellow of
the lemon cucumber. They come “burped” or burpless, seeded or without seeds.
