Cucumbers are a fun and easy plant to grow. Nothing gets a gardener more excited than enjoying a plump juicy cucumber straight from the vine. There are a variety of cucumbers to choose from and all will give you a hardy yield if grown correctly. Cucumbers are great for a cool treat. They are popular in salads, on sandwiches or in wraps. A favorite is cold sliced by themselves with a little bit of salt.
Cucumber seeds
Cucumber seeds can be started early spring indoors so you can keep the starter soil warm. Cucumbers thrive in warm soil. If you want to sow the seeds outside you must wait until late Spring, or when the soil is at least 75 degrees. Keep the soil damp and rich with nutrients but do not over water while seeds are germinating. If transplanting from inside, it’s best to wait about 4 weeks from germination to move outside, or when the third leaf has begun to expand.
Cucumbers do grow on a vining plant. If you introduce a trellis to the plant elate on it will encourage the plant to climb it’s way up to the sun. A Trellis will give you more space to plant many cucumbers as well and let you use your garden space effectively.
The cucumber plant will bloom with male flowers first. These flowers are not pollinated and will not produce the fruit. Yes, cucumber’s are fruit. It is when the female flowers bloom that the bees pollinate the blossoms and the fruit will begin to sprout. If the flower isn’t pollinated properly it will shrivel up. It’s best to removed these blossoms so that the plant has the opportunity to try again.
As your cucumbers are growing be sure to water them often and that they get at least 6 hours of full sun a day. If you are trellising these plants it will be easy to water them correctly. Cucumber plants do not like having wet leaves, so the trellis helps keep the leaves off the moist soil, which should always stay damp and warm. A tip for trellising would be to have them in a good sheltered spot from the wind. No plants enjoy the wind, and the trellis’ could fall and damage the plants.
As harvest time arrives it might be a good time to plant another set of cucumbers to keep your yield growing well into the autumn season. Another ideas would be to plant a new row of cucumber every few weeks in the summer until September arrives. However when the fruits to come in, harvest the cucumbers quickly. The longer you keep a cuke on the vine, the more bitter it will taste and the more strain it puts on the rest of the plant.
To create the organic cucumber, just have the same fun but don’t use any unnatural fertilizer’s or pesticides. Try using some organic compost with the soil to help keep it moist. If you already have chickens or ducks in your yard they can help keep pests away from your cucumber crop. You’ll soon be enjoying these crispy cool fruits all summer long and well into fall.