Cucumbers are one of the most popular vegetable plants among gardeners. They taste refreshing, have few calories but are full of vitamins and minerals. When growing cucumbers, a distinction is made between outdoor cucumbers and greenhouse cucumbers and you should pay attention to this when growing and harvesting.
How to grow cucumbers successfully?
Cucumber cultivation is successful by selecting suitable varieties, choosing the right location (sunny, sheltered from the wind) and providing sufficient nutrients. Grow cucumber plants outdoors or in a greenhouse and use climbing aids. Harvesting regularly promotes the formation of new fruits.
The right type of cucumber for every recreational gardener
You can simply choose the right variety based on your taste or the future use of the cucumbers. You can choose between classic cucumbers or small, short pickling cucumbers. The F1 hybrid varieties are generally high-yielding. They were specially developed for outdoor cucumber cultivation or the greenhouse and do not need to be pollinated.
- Printo – the most cold-tolerant, refined mini snake cucumber for balconies and pots
- Bimbostar F 1 – bitter-free pickling cucumber
- Clementime F 1 – pickling cucumber, ripens in 45 days
- La Diva F 1 – sweet, bitter-free refined home cucumber, for outdoors and greenhouses
To obtain resistant, more robust plants, you can graft cucumbers yourself or purchase grafted cucumber plants. The advantage of pumpkin seedlings as a growing base: They are more resistant to fungal diseases due to their stronger and less sensitive root system.
Cucumber cultivation in the greenhouse and outdoors
If you grow cucumbers in a greenhouse at the beginning of April, you should prepare the ground beforehand and attach shade nets and climbing ropes to the roof. Cucumber plants can go outdoors in mid-May. Your location in the garden or on the balcony should be warm, sunny and protected from the wind.
Plant the cucumbers at a planting distance of half a meter. When the weather is good and provided with sufficient nutrients, the cucumber plants shoot up quickly. With special trellises (€59.00 at Amazon) you can direct growth and direction to where there is space. Stripping out side shoots also prevents wild growth and the plant power remains in the flowers and fruits.
Can you grow cucumbers on the balcony?
You can grow cucumbers on the balcony in a bucket or pot that is at least 20 liters in size. Fill the planter with substrate or potting soil, plant cucumbers, attach them to a trellis and place them in a sunny, wind-protected location.
Finally harvest time
The first cucumber harvest begins just two weeks after flowering - if sowed early in the greenhouse from the end of May. Outdoor cucumbers are ripe in mid-July. If the skin turns yellow, the ripeness stage has been exceeded. Cut off overripe fruits from the plant to avoid weakening them unnecessarily. When harvested regularly, cucumber plants continue to produce new fruits. Ideally, you can harvest fresh cucumbers twice a week until September.
Growing cucumbers and choosing neighbors
Good neighbors are beans, garlic and dill. On the other hand, peas, cabbage and celery don't get along as well with cucumbers.
Tips & Tricks
Snails love young cucumber plants. Immediately after cultivation, protect the plants with a slug fence or spread slug pellets.