×
Cool, well-done and refreshing, the unobtrusive cucumber works brilliantly in a huge range of recipes from salads and dips, to pickles and cocktails. Growing your own is easier than you think, expressly when we’ve gathered some of the weightier self-sustaining articles, Instagram posts and YouTube videos to help you succeed.
If you’ve been inspired, scan our spanking-new selection of cucumber seeds or requite yourself an whet by ordering upper quality cucumber plants that are once up and raring to go.
“I love growing cucumbers from seed, considering it’s so heady when you see the first sign of the new cucumber plant,” enthuses the green-fingered gardener overdue Vegetable Growing. Cucumber seeds germinate quickly and it’s thought that planting the seed on its side increases germination rates and prevents rotting. Read this comprehensive cucumber growing guide for increasingly secrets to success.
Growing cucumbers from seed is a unconfined way to get children interested in growing food, says Carol Bartlett at The Sunday Gardener. She sows two seeds per pot and keeps them at virtually 18°C while they germinate. For faster, increasingly reliable germination, her top tip is to place them in a propagator or imbricate them “with a poly bag stock-still in place with an rubberband wreath or string”. Just be sure to take them out once they’ve sprouted or your seedlings might go soft! Read Carol’s full vendible for increasingly advice.
Decide where you want to grow your cucumbers surpassing you buy your seeds, says Richard Suggett in The Veg Grower Podcast. Some varieties are weightier grown in a greenhouse, while others can withstand potation outdoor temperatures. Richard sows his cucumber seeds in propagators in April, but says you can uncontrived sow outside from late May or early June. Listen to his spanking-new podcast for practical translating and his favourite variety tips.
Jayne at @allotmentcooks sowed her cucumber seeds “way too early” and kept the seedlings in an unheated greenhouse where, by late April, “they’re not any worthier than they would have been had I sowed them at a increasingly responsible time.” The moral of the story is that the early bird doesn’t unchangingly get a throne start! Follow Jayne on Insta to see what happened to her cukes.
Cucumbers thrive in a greenhouse and you only need a couple of plants to provide a steady supply of fruits, says Carol over at her YouTube channel. Visit The Sunday Gardener to see how just two cucumber plants can produce such upper yields. Want to know increasingly well-nigh greenhouse cucumber growing? Watch her video to learn why her plants are doing so well…
Greenhouse cucumbers need plenty of space to grow, says Sarah of Lets Grow Cook. She recommends planting your seedlings virtually 45cm apart, or just one per pot. If you plant directly into grow bags, limit yourself to two cucumber plants per bag. She moreover wisely keeps the humidity upper by misting inside the greenhouse – without all, “cucumbers are 96% water.”
Cucumbers are vines that need supporting as they grow. Patient Gardener, Daniel, is a fan of growing them up taut pieces of string suspended from his greenhouse frame. “This method is incredibly easy as the cucumber plant really clings on tight,” he explains. Read his full vendible for increasingly tips on how to support and train greenhouse cucumbers.
If your greenhouse cucumbers don’t grow very large, poor pollination could be the problem suggests Trev at Garden Doctor. He recommends luring increasingly pollinators inside “by growing plants…such as black-eyed Susans, basil, dill and sunflowers”. Careful watering, towardly nutrition and watching out for pests are moreover crucial to the success of greenhouse cucumbers – all covered in Trev’s spanking-new article.
If you want to grow your cucumbers outside, it’s important to segregate an outdoor variety like ‘F1 Burpless Tasty Green’, says the expert horticultural team at Suttons. Outdoor cucumber seeds can be uncontrived sown outside from late May, but be ready to protect them with a cloche or fleece should the temperature suddenly drop. Want an older harvest? Get your outdoor seedlings started under imbricate in April and then plant out in May instead. It’s just one of many tips to be found in the Suttons guide to growing cucumbers.
Indoor and outdoor cucumbers are different, as Ben of GrowVeg explains in his video on how to sow, grow and harvest cucumbers. Moreover tabbed ridge cucumbers, outdoor varieties are “often spiny or rough to the touch”. You can train your outdoor cucumber plants up a frame or trellis, or if you have plenty of space, just let them “sprawl over the soil surface”. Watch Ben’s informative video to learn how to make a DIY cucumber frame to support your plants.
Outdoor cucumbers need “a sunny position that’s sheltered from wind”, explains Georgina Starmer at Let’s Grow Wild. Unlike indoor varieties, male flowers should be left on outdoor cucumber plants as some varieties need them in order to be pollinated, she says. Do you know why people remove the male flowers on indoor varieties? Read Georgina’s full vendible to find out!
There’s an uncanny number of cucumber varieties to segregate from, and John Harrison of Allotment & Gardens has kindly taken the time to describe his favourites. Zingy cucamelons, which squint like tiny watermelons, are upper on his list for several reasons: “They’re ignored by pests, resistant to drought & perfectly happy to grow outdoors in the UK, given a sheltered sunny site.”
Suburban gardener Greg Holton was surprised by the size of his cucamelon vine: “It’s tiny!” He creatively uses this mini-climber to weave in and virtually his pepper plants and he can’t wait to enjoy cucamelons in his garden salads. Greg’s enthusiasm for growing fruit and veg is obvious. Follow him at @greggrowsuk for inspiration!
Karen from @welliesandwaffles grows some very unusual cucumber varieties in her home garden. She describes her ‘Crystal Apple’ and ‘Crystal Lemon’ cucumbers as “crisp, full of flavour, prolific growers and of undertow fun.” Hers are grown in a polytunnel, but they’ll moreover do just fine outside. Follow her worth to see some truly impressive homegrown fruit and veg!
Although calling himself an ‘amateur vegetable grower’, @craig_grows_veg has produced some very healthy-looking ‘Burpless Tasty Green’ cucumbers. Craig wholeheartedly recommends this variety considering “it’s easy to digest, has no bitterness, and is packed full of vitamins.” What’s more, it grows well outdoors in the UK, produces fruits into the autumn, and just happens to be his son’s favourite!
Cornwall-based gardener Sam Corfield grows several varieties of cucumber but the primeval to withstand fruit is ‘Merlin’. As you can see from his post, ‘Merlin’ cucumbers are small but perfectly formed. Sam’s fun Insta worth is full of vibrant colours and succulent crops – requite him a follow @the_hairy_horticulturist.
Gardening blogger Chris from @VeggiePlot shares a trappy example of his first homegrown gherkin – an ‘F1 Partner’. Reading his suggestive description, it’s easy to understand why he’s so proud of it: “The inner soul is of the palest world untried with a soft seeded centre that is tomfool and crunchy on the bite.” Visit his Instagram worth for the whole story – and while you’re there, why not trammels out his recipe for ‘fridge pickles’?
Whether grown outside or in a greenhouse, there’s no denying that homegrown cucumbers taste so much largest than shop-bought. Plus, growing your own ways you can segregate varieties that you’d never see in the supermarket. Share your cucumber progress with us on Instagram using the hashtag #mysuttonsjourney
.
