Growing Cucumbers from Seeds - 16 Tips for a Successful Cucumber Garden

The term "cucumber season" dates back to the 18th century, when there was little news and little commercial activity during the summer. Cucumbers were, however, available back then. For vegetable gardeners, summer is anything but a time for relaxation; it's a time for enjoying the well-deserved harvest after many months of sowing, transplanting, training, feeding, and watering. Growing cucumbers from seed? This article will tell you all about it.

Growing cucumbers during the silly season is one of the most popular vegetable garden activities in our country and the surrounding area. Originally from Asia, the cucumber is now a well-established vegetable garden plant. It thrives in a greenhouse or conservatory, as well as outdoors in the ground. It's a relatively easy vegetable to grow, so anyone starting a vegetable garden should pay attention. This article offers 16 tips for successfully growing cucumbers in your vegetable garden.

There are two ways to grow cucumber plants after sowing: with limited support horizontally across the ground, or as a climber with pliable arms that happily climb a climbing frame. Depending on how you want to grow cucumbers, you should choose the right type of cucumber seeds.

Climbing cucumber varieties are usually also long cucumbers, such as Chinese Snakes or Marketmore (organic). These are the best choice if you want to grow cucumbers productively. Because the cucumber plants are trained along a climbing system (which can consist of branches, ropes, concrete reinforcement, etc.), the plant produces straighter cucumbers. Moreover, they are less susceptible to diseases and insect pests than those grown on the ground.

The mini cucumber, or snack cucumber, Iznik is best suited for horizontal cultivation because the cucumber plants are smaller. These plants are ideal for smaller gardens or square-foot vegetable plots. You can also grow them in pots or containers, but in that case, you'll need to provide some support. A meter of support is more than sufficient. The fruits of the snack cucumber are smaller and ideal for lunchboxes or for those who need more than enough for a meal with a small cucumber.

Growing snack cucumbers ( Iznik cucumbers) is very easy if your garden gets plenty of sunshine. If you follow a few simple tips, and you don't have to worry about late spring frosts, you should be able to harvest your cucumbers after 65 to 105 days.

Choose cucumber seeds from plants that suit your vegetable garden. We've previously discussed climbing varieties and the more compact mini or snack cucumbers. If you have a large garden or a massive greenhouse or conservatory, create a massive climbing system and plant a cucumber plant every 20 cm. The plant has its own claws, allowing it to cling easily. The fruits cling securely to the plant and won't fall off. If you have a balcony, use a 10- to 20-liter pot and grow the snack cucumber. If you have a small vegetable garden, greenhouse, or conservatory, also grow the more compact mini cucumber.

Choose a sunny and fertile patch of garden with well-drained soil. This can be done in a greenhouse or conservatory , but you can certainly also find success outdoors. Rain and damp conditions are a major enemy of your cucumbers. These can cause powdery mildew on your plants, which you can see as a white residue on the leaves. If you don't have a greenhouse to protect your plants from rain, you might opt ​​for snack cucumbers in pots, which you can easily move indoors or to a sheltered spot during inclement weather.

Just planted: cucumber Marketmore BIO

If you want an early harvest and fewer insects on your seedlings, you can sow them indoors in P9 pots a month before the last spring frost is predicted. In the Low Countries, this means sowing from April 15th. The plants will grow like wildfire, especially in a propagator with a grow light. Place your seedlings indoors in a very sunny, warm place. If you have a propagator, germinate these seeds at 24°C. As soon as you see cracking soil or a hint of green, turn on your grow lights and let them shine on your young seedlings for 15 to 18 hours. The result is amazing: sturdy, compact plants that can withstand a blow. When the first pair of true leaves appears, you can harden off your plants in the Greenhouse or greenhouse, but beware of night frost. The plants are very fragile, even in frost. Plant out your cucumber plants when they have 2 to 3 true leaves and before the nights are warmer than 5 degrees Celsius.

If you choose climbing varieties, create a structure for your plants to enjoy. You'll be amazed by the strength of their claws as they cling to your structure. You can use various materials. Consider growing your cucumbers on recycled materials; it looks cool, too. An old fence or concrete reinforcement can instantly become a playground for your climbing cucumber plants. It must be sturdy, though; simple string won't be able to support the weight of your plant. If your plant doesn't attach itself well enough, or if the fruits are numerous and heavy, you can provide additional ties and support.

growing cucumbers on rope

Growing twine on a roll: ideal for determining the length yourself. If you have a certain height in your greenhouse or conservatory and can attach a twine somewhere above, you can also grow cucumbers on twine. Attach a twine to a structure above your plant. Lower a twine to the base of the plant and attach a tomato clip under the first fork in the vine. Then place tomato clips every 30 cm along the vine. This is a very natural way for the plant to grow and has proven successful many times.

Frost is a major enemy of your plants. A single night below freezing and your cucumber plants will be food for the compost heap. Only when you're sure there will be no more frost and that the soil is and remains relatively warm can you start planting in the garden. Sowing directly in the vegetable garden only makes sense once the soil has warmed up to around 15°C. You can measure your vegetable garden soil with a soil thermometer. The ideal pH for cucumbers is between 5.5 and 6.8. You can measure the acidity in your vegetable garden with a pH meter. In this video, you'll see how I plant my cucumbers and other fruit crops in the polytunnel greenhouse.

A common mistake. We sowed indoors on the first day the plants were allowed outside (in my case, sometimes even a few days earlier :p ). We show off our first cucumbers like they're gems. But then it's the end of August, and it's game over. Our neighbors and family are thrilled with all the cucumbers they received as gifts. But if you had spread out your cucumber harvest better, you'd still be eating fresh cucumbers until October. So sow a second crop of cucumbers at the end of May directly in the spot where the cucumbers will grow. If you have slug problems, prepare them first and treat your vegetable garden with slug pellets or nematodes .

Sow your climbers in rows 5 to 10 cm apart and 2.5 cm deep. Thin them out when they are about 8 cm tall, leaving 20 to 30 cm between plants, depending on their emergence.

Just like you sow beans around a stake, you can also sow cucumbers in mounds with a circumference of 30 cm. Cucumbers don't like having their feet in water, hence the mounds. Sow 4 to 5 seeds with your twine in the middle. Keep the two strongest seedlings. If you're growing snack cucumbers in 10- to 20-liter pots with a smaller circumference, make two sowing holes 20 cm apart and sow two seeds per hole. Cut away the weakest seedling when the plants have 2 to 3 true leaves, not counting the cotyledons. When thinning, don't pull the seedlings out, but cut them down to the ground to avoid damaging the root system of the remaining plants.

To prevent your homegrown cucumber from tasting bitter, growing crooked, or being unevenly thick, you need to water the soil regularly. If you don't, you'll end up with an off-flavor or odd shapes. In dry, warm weather or in a greenhouse or conservatory, it's best to water it daily. It's better to water a little every day than a lot once a week.

Add fertilizer four weeks after sowing; cucumbers are voracious eaters. You can use liquid tomato fertilizer, applied biweekly at the base of the plant during your regular watering. You can also use organic fertilizer pellets, working a handful of it into the surface of the plant with a garden rake.