Cucumbers: How to Plant, Grow, and Harvest Cucumbers | The Old Farmer's Almanac

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What would a summer salad be without the cool crunch of cucumber slices? It’s no surprise that cucumbers are one of the most popular garden vegetables! Learn how to plant, grow, and harvest cucumbers in your garden.

There are two types of cucumber plants: vining cucumbers and bush cucumbers.

There are different cucumber varieties for growing outdoors and for growing in a greenhouse. Outdoor cucumbers can tolerate cooler climates and often have rough or spiny skins. Greenhouse cucumbers produce smoother fruits but need extra warmth and protection for success. Some varieties will happily grow indoors or outdoors.

If you’re interested in making pickles, we recommend several prolific varieties below that are bred especially for pickling, such as heirloom ‘Boston Pickling’ or ‘Calypso.’ For crispy pickles, be sure to prepare them within a few hours of harvesting!

Select a site that gets full sun (at least 6-8 hours of direct sunlight per day). Cucumbers like warmth and lots of light!

Cucumbers require fertile soil. Before planting, add about 2 inches of organic matter (aged manure and/or compost) and a complete fertilizer to the area. The soil should be moist but well-draining (not soggy) and have a pH of around 6.5 to 7.0.

You can also grow cucumbers in containers!

Check out this video to learn more about how to plant cucumbers.

A cucumber frame is a great way to support outdoor cucumbers. Stretch chicken wire or netting over a wooden frame and secure it into place with staples or U-shaped nails. Lean the frame against an A-frame made of sturdy bamboo canes.

Salad leaves such as lettuce can then be grown in the shade of the frame – a clever solution for growing cool-season crops in hotter areas.

Also, see our video on how how to build a trellis and support for cucumbers.

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Amakana festus (not verified)

1 month 3 weeks ago

Love the content! It's so detailed and helpful.

PlantoraApp (not verified)

7 months 3 weeks ago

I really appreciate the depth of research and clarity of presentation in your blog post. Thank you for sharing your wisdom and experiences.

Tyler Fallon (not verified)

1 year 6 months ago

Oh! that's a very informative! I will take that into consideration when I start planting round cucumber varieties for my vegetable garden!

Jasemine (not verified)

2 years 5 months ago

I really liked this article because it answered everything to the point and brief. Keep it up!

Diane porter (not verified)

3 years 4 months ago

I have learned from experience and also from running my own little tests and cucumbers store much better in your basement or anywhere that is not hot other than the fridge and I have pictures to prove that after having done both at the same time. The cucumbers stored in the refrigerator went bad weeks before the others that had been stored in the basement.

Michael (not verified)

2 years 4 months ago

In reply to Cucumbers storing in the fridge by Diane porter (not verified)

I agree Diane. Cucumbers last much longer stored in a cool dark place like a basement rather than the refrigerator.

The Editors

2 years 8 months ago

In reply to Cucumbers storing in the fridge by Diane porter (not verified)

Thanks for sharing your experience, Diane! We are all interested in ways to keep the summer harvest fresh!

Jance Carter (not verified)

4 years ago

I have grown lemon, Suyo Long, and pickling cucumbers this year. Despite spring and midsummer plantings, variety diversity, applying compost, mulching, lots of sun, and spreading the plantings among several locations, I continue to have dismal results. The seedlings always start out strong and begin to fruit very well, but once they reached 6-8", the bottom leaves begin to develop yellow spots, some curl upward, remain very small, and eventually turn brown and die. This pathology continues working its way up the plant. Growth slows significantly, fruits become deformed, cease to grow or die. The plant, however, continues to languish, producing prolific amounts of male flowers, but it never dies. Do you have any suggestions of what the issue may be?

The Editors

4 years ago

In reply to Cucumber Mortality by Jance Carter (not verified)

We’re so sorry to hear this. It sounds like Cucumber mosaic virus (CMV).This is a virus. The leaves become yellow and curl downwards. The cucumbers become distorted and stunted in size. Take a look at this page to see which problem matches, and take the recommended precautions.

Donna (not verified)

4 years 2 months ago

This is my 1st time planting & growing White Wonder cucumber in a half-barrel container. All of the cucumbers are very bitter, no matter what the size. What am I doing wrong? Please help!!!

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