I’m going to churn these out (hopefully) once a week through the summer.

It’s not too late to plant cucumbers from seed for a fall harvest, but if you’d like to enjoy them before summer is over, pick up some starter plants at your local plant store. That will take off about a month of the three months it takes for the plant to mature.

Cucumbers aren’t too fussy if you know what they need. Good loamy soil that isn’t too sandy or too tightly packed, like you have with clay. They also like the soil to be more alkaline, so keep that in mind if you plant your cucumbers in the ground where a lot of rain leeches the salt out of the soil.

Planting:

Cucumbers should be in a larger, 24 inch pot. Mix in as much organic matter in as you can, along with an organic fertilizer. I like E.B. Stone Tomato and Vegetable fertilizer. If growing from seed, I like to plant about three seeds an inch deep and pick the seedling that holds the most promise and put the others in the compost bin.

Watering:

Keep the soil moist. Cucumbers love water and heat (not too hot though)–they go under stress with extended heat waves at or above 90 degrees.

Feeding:

Cucumbers are heavy feeders. I mix E.B. Stone fertilizer into the soil at planting, and then feed with compost tea, fish emulsion, and an all-purpose fertilizer. Once a week.

Light:

Plant in full sun. Sorry apartment dwellers..you’re not going to be able to grow these on your window sill. But if you have a sunny, south-facing patio, you’re in luck!

Harvest:

I like to grab mine when the fruits get to about 3-5 inches. Don’t allow fruits to stay too long on the vine. The more you pick, the more it will produce. Leaving them too long will weaken the plant and it will stop producing altogether.