Growing cucumbers: What to look for when planting and watering

Cucumbers contain many vitamins and minerals, but hardly any calories. Homegrown vegetables taste even better. If you know what to look out for when planting cucumbers, the hobby gardener can do the same.

The expert differentiates between cucumbers, also known as salad cucumbers, and pickling cucumbers. The latter are more robust and can also be grown outdoors, making them the best choice for beginners. If you want them to end up in the salad, just let them get bigger.

Sow the cucumber yourself

Consumers can find seedlings of pickling cucumbers in stores and at farmers’ markets. But the plants are also easy to grow yourself. A good time for cultivation in the cold frame or on the windowsill is from the end of April. When choosing seeds, you should choose varieties that are tolerant or resistant to powdery mildew.

Discard weaker cucumber plants

Two to three seeds are placed in a pot half filled with potting soil. At three to four days, the germination time of cucumbers is extremely short. But only the strongest seedling will survive: when its leaves protrude well beyond the edge of the pot, the weaker plants are removed and the pot filled with soil.

Cucumber appreciates warmth and sun

After the ice saints in mid-May, when there are usually no more late frosts, the plants can go outside. This also applies to purchased seedlings. “The warmer, sunnier and more sheltered the location, the more successful the cultivation is,” explains Thomas Wagner from the Federal Association of German Garden Friends (BDG) in Berlin. Loose, well-drained soil with a high humus content is ideal. “In the field, you can plant two to three gherkin plants per square meter,” explains the Straelen Horticultural Test Center of the North Rhine-Westphalia Chamber of Agriculture. “The best way to plant them is in black mulch film.” An irrigation hose can be routed underneath. If the nights are still cooler, a garden fleece offers protection to the cucumber.

Cucumber plants with fruit for pickling actually grow along the ground, but they can also grow up on a wire mesh trellis. “Then the plants need less space, the cucumbers grow evenly and without spots, and the leaves can dry off again and again,” explains the federal specialist group for vegetable cultivation in the Central Horticultural Association (ZVG) in Berlin. The area around the cucumber should be checked regularly for voracious snails.

The cucumber’s biggest enemy is a fungus

In warm periods, powdery mildew spreads at breakneck speed, while downy mildew spreads when moisture lasts longer. Hobby gardeners must destroy infested plant parts as quickly as possible. However, it can still happen that plants perish from it. To prevent cucumbers from becoming infected with fungi whose mycelium and spores have overwintered in the soil, there must be at least four years between them before the plants colonize the same spot in the bed again.

Cold leads to growth depression in the snake cucumber

Growing cucumbers is more difficult than growing pickling cucumbers. “They are very sensitive to the effects of the weather,” explains the ZVG. “Even at temperatures below 13 degrees, the plants do not feel well, react with growth depression and low harvest.” Therefore, cucumbers can only be successfully cultivated in a greenhouse.

Buy young plants for growing cucumbers

“In principle, seeds can also be used here,” says Wagner. “But I would bet on young plants.” It is best to use refined specimens, which are available in specialist shops, for example. They can prevent the occurrence of diseases that occur in the soil.

Growing cucumbers in tubs is the most practical

As soon as the plants are 25 centimeters high, they come to their final location. The distance between them should be at least 60 centimetres. Cucumbers actually need a yearly change of location – difficult in the greenhouse. And replacing the floor is a lot of work. An alternative is to put the plants in large tubs or in substrate bags. The substrate is best enriched with compost or rotted cow manure and packed on the compost or distributed in the garden after the season. The plants thrive in new soil every year.

Fertilize cucumber every two weeks

Water is also the be-all and end-all when caring for cucumbers. Preheated water from the rain barrel is ideal. A layer of mulch prevents excessive evaporation. Humidity can be increased if the soil is sprayed. As soon as the first fruits become visible, a dose of fertilizer every two weeks ensures a replenishment of nutrients, for example compost or horn meal.

Humidity helps against pests

In addition to powdery mildew, whiteflies and, most importantly, spider mites can damage plants in the greenhouse. It is usually found high up where it is light and comparatively dry. The simplest method against the pests is not to air the room for two to three days. Then there is very high humidity, which puts an end to the spider mites.

Cucumber harvest from the end of May

In the greenhouse, cucumbers can usually be harvested from the end of May, outdoors from July. All evenly green colored cucumbers are removed regularly. Since the tendrils tear easily, it is best for the hobby gardener to cut through the stems with a knife.

Pickle cucumbers

If you don’t want to enjoy your cucumbers fresh but prefer to pickle them, you always have a practical supply of the healthy vegetables in winter. Cucumbers are easy to pickle in a salt solution, as the aid information service explains: wash the vegetables, let them dry, rub them with salt and leave them to stand overnight. The cucumbers are then layered tightly in an earthenware pot with vine leaves, dill, tarragon and onions and doused with a salt solution. For a five liter pot you have to boil four liters of water with two handfuls of salt. The water solution is then cooled.

The pot is weighed down with a board and left covered for ten days, after which it is refrigerated. Now the cucumbers are glassy-green in color due to the lactic acid fermentation and smell sour, the liquid is slightly milky.

Care profile

Growing cucumbers: tips
Cucumbers for pickling cucumbers
Location Lots of sun, lots of warmth. The soil should be loose and humus. Best in the greenhouse.
Care Water regularly, preferably with preheated water. As soon as the first fruits appear, fertilize (compost) every two weeks.
Cultivation from seeds possible. Young plants are recommended.
Cultivation Only every four years at the same location. Useful in the bucket, soil is replaced annually.
Pests Powdery mildew and downy mildew; Destroy infested plant parts quickly (do not add to the compost). spider mites; high humidity helps.