Cucumber
Vegetable · warm season
When to plant
- Sow seeds outdoors about 2 weeks after your average last spring frost.
- Ready to harvest about 55 days after planting.
- Sow again every 4 weeks for a steady harvest.
Pick often to keep plants producing.
Frost dates depend on where you live. Enter your ZIP code to get exact dates.
Dates by zone: 3a 3b 4a 4b 5a 5b 6a 6b 7a 7b 8a 8b 9a 9b 10a 10b
Growing basics
- Sun
- Full sun (6+ hours)
- Spacing
- 12 in (trellised)
- Soil temperature
- At least 65°F
- Time to harvest
- About 55 days
- Containers
- At least 5 gallons
- Plant family
- Squash family (cucurbits)
- Harvest per plant
- About 6 lb
- Seeds keep
- About 5 years
Companions
Good neighbors: Nasturtium, Green beans (bush), Dill, Radish, Marigold
Keep apart: Potato. Potatoes and squash-family crops compete for water and share pests.
Keep apart: Horseradish. Horseradish spreads aggressively. Give it its own spot.
Keep apart: Mint. Mint spreads aggressively into neighbors. Keep it in a pot.
Keep apart: Fennel (bulb). Fennel slows the growth of most garden plants. Grow it on its own.
Keep apart: Sunchoke (Jerusalem artichoke). Sunchokes spread aggressively and shade neighbors.
Varieties to try
- Boston Pickling 55 days: for pickles
- Straight Eight 58 days: slicer
- Marketmore 76 65 days: disease-resistant slicer
- Lemon 65 days: round, yellow, mild
Pests and problems
Grow it well
Tips
- Grow up, not out. In a small space, give cucumbers, pole beans, and peas something to climb. They grow more in the same patch of ground, and the fruit is easier to find.
- Pick beans, zucchini, and cucumbers often. These plants keep making more as long as you keep picking. Let one fruit get big and seedy, and the plant slows down. Check every day or two in summer.
- Put supports in at planting time. Set cages, stakes, and trellises when you plant, not when the plant starts to flop. Pushing them in later breaks roots and stems.
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