Growing Cucumbers

More Garden Resources Organic Gardening Growing Salad Vegetables

Cucumbers are a warm-weather vegetable that make a great addition to salads during the summer when other spring vegetables have run their course.

Salad and pickle varieties are available, so if you plan to grow them for salads, be sure to choose a salad variety.

Soil Conditions: Cucumbers flourish in a sunny garden patch with highly enriched soil, when soil termperature reaches 70⁰F.

Planting Tips: Cucumbers grow from seed or seedlings, however seedling taproots can be easily damages when transplanted, so seed planting might be the safer garden route. Organic seed varieties are available from specialty stores. They grow well near radishes

Spacing: As vining plants related to pumpkins and squash, cucumbers require above average garden space. Once the seeds germinate and the plants begin to grow, thin them so that the healthiest plants have about a foot of space between them.

Plant Care: Cucumbers plants are suceptible to more garden pests than the average salad vegetable. Mulching or placing black plastic around the plants keeps the soil warm and relatively weed free.

Harvesting Tips: Removal of the fruits before any hard seeds form materially lengthens the life of the plants and increases the size of the crop.

© 2009. Patricia A. Michaels