🥒 Cucumber

Cucumbers are quick, productive plants with crisp, refreshing fruits that taste better when picked fresh. Greenhouse types have long, smooth fruits; outdoor or ridge cucumbers are shorter and slightly rough-skinned and hardier, ideal for UK gardens.

Grown up a trellis or wigwam, cucumbers use little ground and suit balconies and small gardens. They need warmth, shelter and plenty of water, and they reward you with a heavy crop through late summer.

Types and varieties

Cucumbers are for the greenhouse, the garden, or small spaces, and the choice matters for success.

Sow indoors from April to early May, placing seeds on their edge 1–2 cm deep in individual 7 cm pots of seed compost at about 20°C. They germinate quickly, within a few days, and grow fast. Do not sow too early, because cold checks growth.

Harden off in late May and plant out in early June, once the frost risk has passed, in rich, moisture-retentive soil or a large pot. Add compost generously, plant 45–60 cm apart and train up a trellis, netting or canes. Under glass, plant a few weeks earlier.

Top tips

• Sow seeds on their edge.
• Do not sow before April.
• Plant out in early June after the last frost.
• Train up a trellis to save space.

Keep the soil constantly moist, watering generously in hot weather, and mulch to help retain moisture. Feed every week to two weeks with tomato fertiliser once fruits start forming. Tie in stems as they climb, and pinch out the growing tip at about 1.5 m.

Outdoor ridge types need no pinching out of side shoots, but remove male flowers on greenhouse varieties to avoid bitter fruit. Powdery mildew, aphids, slugs and red spider mite are the main problems. Water at the base, keep the foliage dry and allow good air flow.

Top tips

• Water generously and mulch.
• Feed fortnightly once fruiting.
• Pinch out the tip at 1.5 m.
• Water at the base to avoid mildew.

Watch out for

Powdery mildewSlugs and snailsAphidsRed spider miteCucumber mosaic virus

Pick cucumbers when they reach a good size, from 15–20 cm for ridge types, usually from July to September. Cut with a sharp knife, leaving a short piece of stalk. Cut fruits regularly, because leaving ripe ones on the vine slows further production and the fruit turns bitter and seedy.

Pick in the morning when fruits are cool and crisp. The more you pick, the more the plant will produce. Pull plants up after the first frost, and use up the last small fruits for pickles.

Top tips

• Pick before fruits turn yellow.
• Cut with a sharp knife.
• Pick in the morning.
• Harvest every few days at peak season.

Eat cucumber fresh in salads, sandwiches and tzatziki, or serve it chilled in cold soups such as gazpacho. Slice thinly for quick pickles, or make bread-and-butter pickles, dill cucumbers or relishes to preserve a glut. A few slices in a jug of water makes a refreshing summer drink.

Whole cucumbers keep for up to a week in the fridge, wrapped in cling film or in a bag, but they do not freeze well. For storage, pickle in brine or vinegar and keep in sterilised jars for a year, for a satisfying crunch long after the season ends.

Top tips

• Pickle gluts in sterilised jars.
• Wrap in cling film in the fridge.
• Salt and drain slices for crisp pickles.
• Leave the skin on ridge types for extra crunch.