Cucumber

Cucumbers require full sun as they are a sub-tropical plant. They will also need a lot of growing room, so if you are short of space, consider growing cucumbers vertically on a trellis. Dwarf varieties often do very well as a container plant.

Make sure your soil is well draining – cucumbers grow in most soil types. Mulch well around your cucumber plants in the summer to keep moisture levels up. Regular and consistent watering is required to ensure even growth and well formed fruit.

Cucumber plants will firstly grow male flowers, which will grow and then quickly fall off – this is normal! After this stage, both female and male flowers will start to grow and will start to pollinate.

Cucumbers can be planted directly in the garden or started indoors before your last frost date. If planting in the garden: either arrange your soil into small hills and plant 4 seeds per hill, or plant in rows.

By our calculations*, you should look at sowing Cucumber about 14 days after your last frost date .

Plant your cucumbers out when there is no chance of frost, as even a light frost can kill cucumber seedlings.Cucumbers are prone to bacterial wilt, before sowing the seeds ,sterilizing the soil using hot water and wood ash will improve soil ph and halt the growth of soil pathogens.(wood ash must be mixed thoroughly in soil)

The medium sized fruit varieties are ideal for salads.
Pick fruit regularly to ensure that the vine keeps producing. Fruit left for too long on the vine will slow or stop production, although those fruit are the best for seed saving purposes.

Leave the fruit on the fine until it yellows. Do not let it rot. Cut cucumber in half and scrape out seeds. Rinse and air dry. Or ferment (the good seeds will sink), and then rinse and dry. ²

These plants have been known to grow well alongside Cucumber so consider planting:

Nasturtiums, radishes, marigolds, sunflowers peas, beets, carrots, and Dill ¹

• Cucumber loves Garden nasturtium

  Nasturtium helps deters cucumber beetles, and provides a good environment for beneficial insects.

• Cucumber loves Sweet corn

  Protects from bacterial wilt virus

• Cucumber loves Greek oregano

  repels cucumber beetle

• Cucumber loves Radish

  deters cucumber beetle

• Cucumber loves Tansy

  Deters cucumber beetles and other pests.

These plants will not grow well with Cucumber so avoid planting these within close proximity:

Tomato, Sage ¹

• Cucumber dislikes Cauliflower

• Cucumber dislikes Potato

• Cucumber dislikes Basil

  Cauliflower doesn't like growing with aromatic herbs.

These problems, diseases and pests are known to affect Cucumber plants:

Powdery Mildew

aphids are common during warm dry months.

• Cucumber Mosaic Virus

  Cucumber Mosaic Virus (CMV) was first found in Cucumbers, hence its name - ho...

• Powdery Mildew

  White powdery spot disease that affects a large variety of plants.

• Aphids

  Also known as greenfly and blackfly, Aphids are a common sap-sucking garden p...

The English word cucumber originated from Indian word “kachumbar”(कचुँबर).
The botanical epithet is from the Latin sativus meaning “cultivated”

A cucumber is made up of 96% water. Bush cucumbers are great for small spaces and have abundant yields. Plant three to a hill and enjoy pickling size cukes for salad, snacking and pickles.

Garden cucumber, Common cucumber, Greenhouse cucumber, Pickling cucumber, Pipino, Katimon, Paris pickling cucumber, Sikkim cucumber

Cucumis sativus L., Cucumis sativus var. sativus

Misspellings: cucmber, cukes, Cucmber, Cucumis sativas

Our when to plant Cucumber estimates are relative to your last frost date. Enter your frost dates and we'll calculate your sowing and planting dates for you!

¹ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_companion_plants

² :The New Seed-starters Handbook; Published 1988