🥒 Gherkin

Gherkins are small, prickly cucumbers bred for pickling, producing masses of crisp little fruits on vigorous plants that scramble over supports. They are easy, reliable and heavy croppers, even in cool summers.

Harvesting the fruit small and often keeps the plants productive. They make a fine crop for a trellis or a large pot.

Varieties to try

Venlo Pickling (reliable)Hokus (heavy cropper)Bokrijk (small and crisp)Parisian Pickling (traditional)

Sow indoors from April to May, seeds on edge, 1–2 cm deep, in pots at 20°C. Plant out in early June after hardening off, 45 cm apart, against a trellis or net in a sunny, sheltered spot.

Rich soil with compost gives the best crops.

Gherkins hate cold and wet. If the weather turns chilly after planting out, cover them with a cloche or fleece overnight, and keep slug pellets or wool pellets around young plants, because slugs can strip a seedling in a night. In a greenhouse, plants can go in earlier, in mid-May, and will crop a few weeks sooner.

Top tips

• Sow seeds on edge.
• Plant out in June.
• Train up a trellis.
• Enrich the soil.

Water regularly and mulch. Feed weekly once fruiting. Tie in stems as they climb. Pinch out growing tips at 1.5 m.

Powdery mildew and slugs are the main problems. Pick regularly.

Gherkins are shallow-rooted and thirsty, so water deeply at the base every day or two in hot weather and never let the soil dry out and then flood, which makes fruits misshapen and bitter. A mulch of compost or straw keeps the roots cool. Picking the fruit while it is small is the most important job, since a single oversized gherkin left on the plant tells it to stop flowering.

Powdery mildew usually appears in late summer, particularly in dry weather and crowded plants. Growing vertically improves air circulation, and watering the soil rather than the leaves helps. Remove badly affected leaves and keep picking.

Top tips

• Water consistently.
• Feed weekly.
• Pick regularly.
• Watch for mildew.

Watch out for

Powdery mildewSlugsAphidsCucumber mosaic virus

Pick gherkins at 5–8 cm long, every 2–3 days, from July to September. Cut with scissors. Regular picking keeps plants producing; oversized fruit stops further cropping.

Pick in the morning and pickle on the day for the crispest results.

Check plants every other day in July and August, lifting the leaves to find small fruits hidden below, as gherkins hide well among the foliage. A good plant will give you a handful of fruit several times a week, which is just the right amount to make a jar of pickles at a time. You can keep a bowl of salted cucumbers in the fridge until you have enough to fill a jar.

Top tips

• Pick at 5–8 cm.
• Pick every 2–3 days.
• Cut with scissors.
• Pickle on the day.

Pickle gherkins in vinegar with dill, garlic, mustard seeds and peppercorns, or ferment in brine. Use fresh in salads and sandwiches. Salt first to draw out moisture for crisp pickles.

Pickles keep for a year in sterilised jars. Fresh gherkins keep for 1 week in the fridge.

For quick refrigerator pickles, pack the gherkins into a jar with dill, garlic and mustard seeds, cover with a warm brine of vinegar, water, salt and a little sugar, and leave for a week. For longer storage, process in sterilised jars. Sliced gherkins are good in tartare sauce, potato salad and sandwiches.

Top tips

• Salt before pickling.
• Add dill and garlic.
• Use sterilised jars.
• Pickle the day you pick.