Cucumber is one of my favorite summer vegetables…
It is generally eaten raw, with raw vegetables and tomatoes.
Nothing like a delicious house salad with good cucumbers from the garden.
And I love making cucumber water, it's so refreshing. Or, prepare martinis with cucumber slices.
In addition, cucumber is a very easy plant to grow.
It can be installed in the ground, but also in a pot if it is trellised or by climbing on a fence.
Here are the 10 market gardening tips to have beautiful cucumbers easily . Watch:
Click here to easily print this guide in PDF.
1. Plant your cucumber plants where they will get warm, sunny exposure, preferably in shade during the afternoon.
2. Allow a spacing of 1 m between each foot and a spacing of 1.20 to 1.50 m between each row.
3. When planting, prepare the soil with plenty of compost and rotted manure. As soon as the plants produce tendril stems and their first flowers, add compost and manure.
4. A yellowing of the leaves means that your plant needs a little more nitrogen.
5. Climb the cucumbers with a trellising system to pick your cucumbers faster.
6. Water normally 1 to 2 times a week, so as to always keep the soil slightly moist. Water a little more often if the soil is sandy.
7. Cucumber beetles attack the plant, causing it to wilt. Cover your plants with a protective veil. But remove the veil as soon as the plants start to flower, to give access to pollinating insects.
8. The ideal soil pH is between 6.0 and 7.0.
9. The more often you pick cucumbers, the longer the plant will produce them.
10. To harvest your cucumbers, use a knife or garden pruner and cut the stem about 5mm from the peduncle.
Here's when to harvest the different cucumber varieties:
- long market garden green:when the size of the fruits is 15 to 20 cm
- English long green:when the fruit size is 30 cm
- Chinese long green:when the fruits reach 50 cm in length
- for most pickle varieties:when the fruit size is between 2 to 4 cm.
If your cucumbers taste bitter, remove the stem end, as this is where the bitterness is concentrated.
Have you tried these gardening hacks to grow cucumbers in your garden? Let us know in the comments if it worked. We can't wait to read you!
