Cucumber wire trellis
Hint Vines bear two kinds of flowers, pistillate (female) and staminate (male). The first flowers are staminate, will drop from the vine and will not bear fruit. Subsequent flowers will include both male and female and pollination will occur. Recently, gynoecious plants (those bearing female flowers only) have been introduced. The seed packet will have specifically marked seeds indicating that the marked seeds must be planted as well for proper pollination. Read the seed package label carefully!
Cucumbers thrive best at relatively high temperatures, 65-75 degrees F being the ideal temperature range. The plants do not tolerate any frost. Since cucumbers are a quick growing crop, they can be direct seeded into your soil. Your pot soil must be supplied with moisture and plant nutrient elements throughout the growing season. Never allow your cucumber vines soil to become dry. Cucumbers like a damp, Not Wet, soil throughout your summer garden growing season.
Cucumbers can be grown successfully in many types of soils. However their preferred soil is loose, well drained rich soil supplied with organic matter (compost). Work in compost such as well rotted (composted) manure before planting. During the heat and dry summer days, you may find that you need to water your plants every morning and every evening.
Fertilizers are best applied prior to planting, you should add a complete fertilizer such as 5-10-10 or similar analysis according to label recommendations. Fertilize again one week after blossoming begins, and again three weeks later. Caution Do not over fertilize, to much nitrogen encourages vine growth and retards fruiting.
Cucumbers are well adapted to growing on a trellis to conserve space and makes finding and harvesting your cucumber crop easy to do. An added benefit of growing cucumbers on a trellis is it makes controlling insects and diseases a much easier task.
spotted cucumber beetle
Cucumbers like a cool-ish moist, Not Wet soil. Water when the soil begins to dry. Using a 1 or 2 inch layer of fine chopped grass/hay mulch will help cool the soil and retain soil moisture.
Cucumbers Varieties worthy of your consideration.
Salad Bush Hybrid
Bush Champion
Picklebush
Spacemaster
Hybrid Bush Crop
Midget Bush Pickler
Hint Cucumbers can be harvested at any size. Always harvest your cucumbers when small and before they develop large seeds and tend to get a bitter taste. Harvest in the early morning hours if possible. Keeping cucumbers harvested will encourage your vines to continue producing cucumbers all season long.
Straight Eight – Heavy yield of smooth, 8-inch long straight and smooth cucumber, dark skin and pure white flesh. Allow vines to spill over the sides of your container or grow on a trellis to conserve space.
Spacemaster – Excellent for baskets on containers, 7-1/2 inch dark green fruits, mosaic and scab tolerant. Allow vines to spill over the sides of your container or grow on a trellis to conserve space.
Seman – Sunny yellow skin, lemon shaped and lemon sized cucumbers, crisp and mild.
Sweet Slice Burpless – mild 10 to 12-inch fruits, never bitter, resists several diseases.
Bush Pickle Hybrid – early crop of white-spined 5-inch fruits on smaller bush type plants. Suitable for container growing.
Hint Paint using an outdoor latex paint, your containers to dress-up the looks of your container garden.
Grin … Setting in your garden eating small firm almost seedless cucumbers fresh off the vine, salt and black pepper. It doesn’t get any better than that.
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