Curious about growing cucumbers? In this post, we will teach you all the secrets to growing cucumbers… even if you think you have a black thumb! In this post, we will discuss which varieties are available, how and when to plant, when to harvest, and how to prepare the fruit once it is in your kitchen. We will also discuss how to force pollination if you find yourself needing to!

Cucumbers are Easy to Grow!

A few years ago I decided to try to grow cucumbers. Mostly because my daughter eats them like candy and my husband loves pickles. I was pleasantly surprised about how fun and easy it is to grow cucumbers. And how many I get! I grow two plants and end up giving a ton away after we have eaten our fill!.

Choosing the Best Cucumber Variety for Your Garden

Like many things that grow in the garden, there are many types of cucumbers that can be grouped into two categories. Those categories are slicing and pickling cucumbers.

Slicing cucumbers are long and skinny and typically have a smooth skin. They can be either seedless and seeded. These are the cucumbers you typically purchase at the store and probably are the kind you are thinking about right now.

Pickling cucumbers are short and fat and typically have bumpy skin. As the name implies, they are best used for pickles- either whole or sliced.

There are a few speciality varieties of slicing cucumbers as well. These include Armenian (long, curvy cucumbers with light green skin), English (extra long and seedless), and Lemon (about the size of a lemon with yellow skin).

Cucumbers are often also classified as being vine or bush cucumbers, which indicates what type of plant they grow on.

I am growing an heirloom variety of Poinsett 76 cucumbers this year.

How to Successfully Grow Cucumbers (aka How Not to Kill Cucumbers)

Cucumbers can be planted indoors about 3 weeks before the last frost or they can be directly sown 2 weeks after the last frost. I have always had great success with direct sowing cucumbers.

Cucumbers love warmth, so make sure they are in a sunny spot. You can plant cucumbers on small mounds or hills of soil, but it is not necessary. Cucumbers can easily be grown in containers, so if you are short on space, don’t neglect to include cucumbers in your garden plans!

In warm weather, cucumbers will grow quickly… and will dry out quickly, so be sure water frequently. They are also heavy feeders, which means they need fertilizer regularly. They especially love fertilizer with lots of potassium.

Vining cucumbers can be left to sprawl on the ground, but they will do so much better if supported by a trellis. There are many types of trellises that would work for cucumbers, including traditional trellises, teepees, tomato cages, and arches. When you keep cucumbers off the ground, they produce more fruit and the fruit is cleaner and protected from pests.

Cucumbers grow fast and will need to be secured to the structural support every couple of days.

I taught a gardening class last week and the question that I got asked more than any other was about cucumbers and why their plants had blooms, but no fruit. The answer to that question is all about pollination.

Loads of plants in the garden are self-pollinating, meaning that they will grow fruit on their own, with no outside interference. Most vining plants, however, are not self-pollinating and need some help. That help comes in a number of ways- usually from pollinators such as butterflies and bees (hence the term “the birds and the bees”... although maybe it should be the butterflies and the bees). If there is not sufficient pollinator activity in your garden, you need to become the pollinator.

When you step in to fill the role of pollinator, we call the process forced pollination. It is not as scary (or as illegal) as it sounds and is quite simple. I’ve needed to use forced pollination on my cucumbers this year and it is working quite well. I have brought in 6 cucumbers this week alone. We cover forced pollination in our book, The Black Thumb Garden Club Workbook (available here).

But don’t worry- I’m going to share the basics here. This process works not only on cucumbers, but also on squash, melons, and pumpkins as well. These plants will start to get male blossoms a few weeks before you see any fruit production. These blossoms are showing off, hoping to attract pollinators to the area.

A few weeks later, female flowers will form. Wait? There are male and female flowers? How do you tell the difference between male and female flowers? It’s pretty easy. Male flowers are just flowers. Female flowers have little tiny baby fruit growing underneath them.

If you need to do forced pollination, all you need to do it to take pollen from the male flower and get it to the female flower. There are two ways to do this. You can transfer pollen from the male stamen to the female stigma with a q-tip or with a small, clean paint brush. You can also break off a male flower at the base and rub the male stamen directly onto the female stigma. I personally prefer the second method, but both work great!

Female flowers only bloom for a day or two, so be sure to check daily to see if any plants are ready for pollination.

How (and When) to Harvest Cucumbers

Once cucumber are pollinated, they grow quickly. And by quickly, I mean that they will be ready for harvest in just a couple of days (about 5 to 9). Harvest when they are 2-6 inches long (pickling cucumbers) or 6-8 inches long (slicing cucumbers). Pick when they are green and uniform in color.

When I pick mine, they occasionally have a prickly feel. I just rub the prickles off and they are good to go. I take mine off the vine by clipping the vine close to the fruit with a pair of clean clippers.

Did you know that most store bought cucumbers are coated with a layer of wax to help preserve freshness? Technically you need to scrub the wax off the skin from those cucumbers. Fresh cucumbers don’t need that, which is an added bonus, if you ask me. They are super tasty.

Cucumber Preservation and Storage

Pickles are the most popular preservation method for cucumbers. There are tons of recipes out there for pickling cucumbers. Different recipes produce different flavors, which creates plenty of varieties for all preferences. My hubby is the only pickle eater in our house and he loves spicy pickles. I saved some dried dragon cayenne peppers from my garden last year. I will be adding those to the spicy pickles that I will make this year.