How to Grow Cucumber Plants: The Complete Guide (2024)

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Select a site that gets full sun (at least 6-8 hours of direct sunlight per day). Cucumbers like warmth and lots oflight!

Cucumbers require fertile soil.Prior to planting, add about 2 inches of aged manure and/or compost to the bed and work it into a depth of 6 to 8 inches. Soil should be moist but well-draining (not soggy) and have a pH of around 6.5 to7.0.

Improve clay soil by adding organic matter.Improve dense, heavy soilby adding peat, compost, or rotted manure. (Get a soil test if you are unsure of your soil type; contact your local county cooperative extension.) Light, sandy soils are preferred for northern gardens, as they warm quickly in the spring. See our guide to soil amendments.

When to PlantCucumbers

• For an early crop, sow cucumber seeds indoors for about 3 weeks before you plan to transplant them outside into the ground. Provide bottom heat of about 70ºF (21ºC) with a heating pad or place the seedflats on top of a refrigerator or water heater. Sow two seeds an inch deep in each pot, then water well. Once the seedlings emerge, remove the weakest to leave one perpot.
• Outdoors, cucumbersshould besown or transplantedinto the ground no earlier than 2 weeks after the last frost date. Cucumbers are extremely susceptible to frost and cold damage; the soil should be at least 70ºF (21ºC) for germination. Seedlings set best at that temperature, too. (In cooler climates,warm the soil by covering it with black plastic prior toplanting.)
• Make successive plantings (every 2 weeks) for continued harvests through the season. In warm soil, cucumbers will grow quickly and ripen in about 6weeks.

How to PlantCucumbers

• Sow seeds 1 inch deep and about 3 to 5 feet apart in a row, depending on variety (see seed packet for details). For vines trained on a trellis, space seeds or plants 1 footapart.
• Cucumbers can also be planted in mounds (or “hills”) that are spaced 1 to 2 feet apart, with 2 to 3seeds planted in each mound. Once plants reach 4 inches in height, thinthem to one plant permound.
• If you live in acooler climate, you can help warm thesoil prior to planting by covering the hill or row with blackplastic.
• After planting, mulch around the area with straw,chopped leaves, or another organic mulch to keep pests at bay and also keep bush types off the ground to avoiddisease.
• A trellis is a good idea if you want the vine to climb or if you have limited space. Trellising also protects the fruit from damage from lying on the moist ground. See how to build a trellis andsupport for vining vegetables.
• Cover freshly planted cucumber seeds with row covers, netting, or a berry basket if you have pests; this will keep themfrom digging out theseeds.
• You can also grow cucumbers incontainers!

Check out this video to learn more about how to plantcucumbers.

• When seedlings emerge, begin to waterfrequently.
• The main care requirement for cucumbers is consistent watering! They need at least one inch of water per week (or more, if temperatures are particularly high). Inconsistent watering leads to bitter-tastingfruit.
• Water slowly in the morning or early afternoon, and avoid getting the leaves wet, as that may encourage leaf diseases that can ruin the plant.If possible, water your cucumbers with a soaker hose or drip irrigation to keep the foliagedry.
• Mulch around plants to retain soilmoisture.
• Cover young plants with row covers or berry baskets if pestsappear.
• When seedlings reach 4inches tall, thin the plants so thatthey are about 18 inchesapart.
• If you’ve workedorganic matter into the soil before planting, you may only need to side-dress your plants with compost or well-rotted manuresparingly.
• Otherwise, fertilize the plants with a liquid 5-10-10 fertilizer. Apply 1 week after the plant starts blooming and every 3 weeks thereafter directly to the soil around the plants. Or, you can work a granular fertilizer into the soil. Do not over-fertilize, or the fruits will getstunted.
• If you have limited space or would prefer vertical vines, set up trellises early to avoid damage to seedlings andvines.

Growing GreenhouseCucumbers

Greenhouse cucumbers can be planted in beds, containers, or growing bags. Train your cucumbers up supports such as bamboo canes, vertical wires, strong netting, or trellis. Pinch out the growing tips when the plant reaches the top of the support to encourage it to produce side shoots. Pinch out the tips of side shoots so that just two leaves remain beyond each developingfruit.

Keep plants well watered and feed them every two weeks with a liquid fertilizer that is high inpotassium.

Remove all male flowers from greenhouse cucumbers (unless you’re growing an all-female variety). This prevents bitter-tasting fruits. Female flowers have a slight swelling behind each bloom that will become a fruit ifpollinated.

Making a CucumberFrame

A cucumber frame is a great way to support outdoor cucumbers. Stretch chicken wire or netting over a wooden frame and secure it into place with staples or U-shaped nails. Lean the frame against an A-frame made of sturdy bamboocanes.

Salad leaves such as lettuce can then be grown in the shade of the frame – a clever solution for growing cool-season crops in hotterareas.

Also, see our video onhow how to build a trellis and support for cucumbers.

• ‘BostonPickling’(vine) is our favorite heirloom variety bred especially forpickling.
• ‘Burpless Bush Hybrid’ (bush) is good for small gardens, pots, orpickling.
• ‘Bush Crop’(bush) is a dwarf variety with a high yield. Great for eatingfresh.
• ‘Calypso’(vine) is disease-resistant and has a high yield. Perfect forpickling.
• ‘Lemon’(vine) produces round, yellow, super-sweet fruits. Fun forkids!
• ‘Parisian Pickling’(vine) produces long, thin cucumbers perfect for makinggherkins orcornichons.
• ‘Sweet Success’ (vine) is good for greenhouses, as it requires no pollinators. Produces seedlessfruit.

• At peak harvesting time, you should be picking cucumbers every couple of days. They’ll grow quickly!
  • Don’t let cucumbers get too large before harvesting, or they will tastebitter.
  • Harvest regular slicing cucumbers when they are about 6 to 8 inches long (slicingvarieties).
  • Harvest dills at 4 to 6 inches longand pickling cucumbersat 2 incheslong.
  • The large burpless cucumbers can be up to 10 inches long, and some types are evenlarger.
  • Gherkin varieties are picked very small – an inch long for crunchy cornichons or three inches long for largerpickles.
• Cucumbers are best picked before their seeds become hard and are eaten when immature. Do not let them get yellow. A cucumber is of the highest quality when it is uniformly green, firm, andcrisp.
• Any cucumbers left on the vine too long will alsoget tough skinsand lower plantproductivity.
• Use a knife or clippers to cutthe fruit off the plant. Pulling it may damage thevine.
• Keep on picking!If you don’t, as plants mature, they will stopproducing.

How to StoreCucumbers

• Cucumbers are over 90 percent water. Store wrapped tightly in plastic wrap to retainmoisture.
• They will keep for 7 to 10 days when stored properly in therefrigerator.

Catherine Boeckmann