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Cucumbers

Cucumbers

By M.R.FATHIMA HASBANAPublished 10 months ago 7 min read
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Cucumbers
Photo by MANMOHAN PANDEY on Unsplash

Cucumbers are easy to grow from seed indoors, or can be bought as young plants or grafted plants in spring or early summer. Make sure you select a variety suitable for your growing location – a greenhouse or an outdoor type. Greenhouse varieties crop for a longer season, from mid-summer through to early autumn.

How to grow cucumbers

Our detailed growing guide will help you with each step in successfully growing Cucumbers.

Getting Started

Choosing

Preparing the Ground

Sowing

Planting

Plant Care

Harvesting

Problems

1

Getting Started

Getting Started

Choosing

Section 1 of 8

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Cucumbers are tender climbing or scrambling plants, for growing in a greenhouse, cold frame or a warm sunny site outdoors, either up supports or trailing on the ground. With enough warmth and plenty of water, they’ll produce lots of tasty, crunchy, refreshing cucumbers from mid-summer onwards. You can also choose from small, medium or full-length fruits, with many different varieties of each type.

Cucumbers are easy to grow from seed indoors, or can be bought as young plants or grafted plants in spring or early summer. Make sure you select a variety suitable for your growing location – a greenhouse or an outdoor type. Greenhouse varieties crop for a longer season, from mid-summer through to early autumn. Outdoor varieties are weather dependent, starting to fruit later and finishing earlier, but should still produce a good crop in warm conditions.

If you grow cucumbers up supports, such as bamboo canes or trellis, they take up little ground space, so are ideal in compact gardens, patio containers or small greenhouses

For growing outdoor cucumbers, choose a warm, sheltered, sunny site with fertile soil. Remove any weeds and dig in two bucketfuls of well-rotted organic matter, such as garden compost, for each plant. Then rake in a general purpose fertiliser at a rate of 100g (3½oz) per square metre/yard

Cucumbers are best sown indoors, as they can be started off earlier to get an earlier crop. Germination is also more reliable and young plants are easier to look after until they’re more resilient. They should be moved to their final growing position after about a month.

Seeds of outdoor varieties can also be sown outside in mild locations, once the soil has warmed up in early summer.

Sowing times depend on where you’re ultimately going to grow the plants.

Sow in: 

Mid-February to mid-March – if you’ll be growing them in a heated greenhouse 

April – if they’ll be growing in an unheated greenhouse, polytunnel or large cold frame

Late April – for growing outdoors 

Fill 10cm (4in) pots with seed compost, water well, then sow one seed in the centre of each, 1–2cm (½–¾in) deep. Position the seeds on their side to prevent rotting.

Place the pots in a heated propagator at 21°C (70°F) or on a warm sunny indoor windowsill.

Remove from the propagator once seedlings appear, which may take one to two weeks. Continue to keep the young plants warm, in bright light, and water regularly.

Sowing indoors has several advantages:

Reliably warm conditions, which should lead to better germination.

Keeps the seedlings out of reach of slugs and snails.

Protects seedlings from poor weather.

Sowing outdoors

Seeds of outdoor cucumber varieties can be sown directly in their growing site in late May or early June, especially in milder parts of the UK or if the weather is particularly warm. They should be protected with cloches or fleece.

Prepare the ground as detailed above, then sow the seeds 1–2cm (½–¾in) deep and 30cm (1ft) apart. You can sow up to three seeds together in each spot, to allow for failures, then if several germinate, remove the weaker ones to leave just one strong seedling at each spacing.

Cover the sowings with cloches or fleece to keep them warm, and leave the covering in place after germination too, to help the young plants get well established and grow strongly. Protect seedlings from slugs and snails

How to grow cucumbers

Our detailed growing guide will help you with each step in successfully growing Cucumbers.

Getting Started

Choosing

Preparing the Ground

Sowing

Planting

Plant Care

Harvesting

Problems

Getting Started

Cucumbers are tender climbing or scrambling plants, for growing in a greenhouse, cold frame or a warm sunny site outdoors, either up supports or trailing on the ground. With enough warmth and plenty of water, they’ll produce lots of tasty, crunchy, refreshing cucumbers from mid-summer onwards. You can also choose from small, medium or full-length fruits, with many different varieties of each type.

Cucumbers are easy to grow from seed indoors, or can be bought as young plants or grafted plants in spring or early summer. Make sure you select a variety suitable for your growing location – a greenhouse or an outdoor type. Greenhouse varieties crop for a longer season, from mid-summer through to early autumn. Outdoor varieties are weather dependent, starting to fruit later and finishing earlier, but should still produce a good crop in warm conditions.

If you grow cucumbers up supports, such as bamboo canes or trellis, they take up little ground space, so are ideal in compact gardens, patio containers or small greenhouses.

There are many cucumber varieties to choose from, varying in fruit size, flavour, disease resistance and growing location. There are indoor varieties for growing in greenhouses, polytunnels or large cold frames, and outdoor or ridge cucumbers for growing in a sunny, sheltered spot.

Small or mini cucumber varieties produce lots of fruits, which are ready to harvest more quickly than longer ones. There are also varieties with tiny fruits (gherkins) for pickling.

F1 Hybrid varieties are generally more vigorous and productive, but seeds are more expensive. Several cucumber varieties have an RHS Award of Garden Merit (AGM), which shows they performed well in trials, so should crop reliably for you – see our list of AGM fruit and veg.

Grafted cucumber plants have recently become more readily available – these are very vigorous plants and should produce a larger crop over a longer season. They are more resistant to soil-borne pests and diseases, so are useful for growing in the same ground (such as a greenhouse border) year after year. However, grafted plants are more expensive and there’s only a limited choice of varieties.

CHOOSING

here are many cucumber varieties to choose from, varying in fruit size, flavour, disease resistance and growing location. There are indoor varieties for growing in greenhouses, polytunnels or large cold frames, and outdoor or ridge cucumbers for growing in a sunny, sheltered spot.

Small or mini cucumber varieties produce lots of fruits, which are ready to harvest more quickly than longer ones. There are also varieties with tiny fruits (gherkins) for pickling.

Preparing the Ground

For growing outdoor cucumbers, choose a warm, sheltered, sunny site with fertile soil. Remove any weeds and dig in two bucketfuls of well-rotted organic matter, such as garden compost, for each plant. Then rake in a general purpose fertiliser at a rate of 100g (3½oz) per square metre/yard.

Sowing

Cucumbers are best sown indoors, as they can be started off earlier to get an earlier crop. Germination is also more reliable and young plants are easier to look after until they’re more resilient. They should be moved to their final growing position after about a month.

Seeds of outdoor varieties can also be sown outside in mild locations, once the soil has warmed up in early summer.

Indoor-sown cucumber plants or newly bought plants should be settled into their final growing site in spring or early summer, depending on where that will be:

Greenhouse cucumbers – transplant into their final growing container or a greenhouse border in late March (in a heated greenhouse) or late May (in an unheated greenhouse, polytunnel or cold frame), as long as the temperature can be kept above 12–15°C (53–59°F). 

Outdoor cucumbers – harden off carefully, before being planting outside from early June, once you’re sure temperatures won’t drop below 12–15°C (53–59°F) at night. Choose a warm, sunny, sheltered spot. 

Planting them is very straightforward – water well beforehand and try not to disturb the rootball, so they settle in quickly without a check in growth:

To plant in a container – choose a pot that is at least 30cm (1ft) wide and deep, and fill it with good quality potting compost. Position one plant in the centre, firming it in gently then watering generously. You can also plant two cucumbers in a growing bag.  

To plant in the ground – either outdoors or in a greenhouse border or polytunnel, prepare the soil (see Preparing the ground, above) then plant 30cm apart, firming in gently and watering well.

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