How best to grow .
Cool, crisp cucumbers are an essential summer crop, writes Colleen Simpson.
The coolest and crunchiest of the cucurbit crew, cucumbers add sophistication to sandwiches, salads and cocktails, reduce puffiness around the eyes and even take a jug of iced water to the next level.
Luckily, they’re not too cool for school when it comes to growing them.
In fact, they’re one of the most rewarding summer crops to grow, being quick to crop in as little as 60 days.
Growing instructions
Cucumbers are a summer crop and should only be planted once soil temperatures warm up.
They’re prolific producers, so unless you have a real taste for tzatziki, you’ll only need a plant or two (unless you want to try your hand at homegrown gherkins, then sow at least half a dozen seeds to ensure you have enough fruit at any one time to fill a jar).
Unlike their unruly cousins, the melons and pumpkins, cucumbers take up the least amount of space of all cucurbits, but should be grown vertically up a teepee or trellis or down the side of a raised bed to avoid misshapen fruit and to minimise the risk of pests and diseases.
When temperatures steadily hit the teens, they’ll start climbing and need little training – once they reach the top they’ll climb back down again.
Liquid feed regularly, surround them with a thick layer of mulch and water them deeply once or twice a week so the plants don’t get stressed and the cucumbers don’t become bitter.
Cucumbers produce both male and female flowers on the same plant. Outside, bees will do the pollinating for you.
If you’re growing cukes in a glasshouse, use a soft makeup brush to collect pollen from the male flowers and dust it liberally on the females (these are the ones attached to tiny proto-cucumbers).
Do this mid-morning before pollen loses viability and the flowers close up.
Varieties
Cucumbers come in many different shapes and sizes, from pale, round apples to long green ones as well as prickly cucumbers for pickling.
There are many varieties available as seeds or seedlings from the garden centre. ‘Lebanese’ and ‘Diva’ are prolific, don’t need peeling and can be picked small or left to grow without becoming bitter, or try ‘Lemon’, ‘Burpless’, ‘Telegraph’ or ‘Tendergreen’.
Gherkins are prolific pickling