Cucumber Plants
All About Cucumber Plants
No vegetable garden is complete without at least a few cucumber plants. Cucumbers are a warm weather crop, and fun to grow, as they grow rapidly. There are a number of varieties, and three major types to choose from. And, of course, there are a number of ways to prepare cucumbers for eating. One fact about the cucumber, probably not overly important, is that the cucumber is not a vegetable, but a fruit. This is so because fruits have their seeds in the part of the plant we eat, where vegetables do not. Whether you are aware of that or not, will not affect the taste of the cucumber.
Cucumber plants may be grown in rows, hills, and even in containers. The varieties grown in containers are normally the slower growing types, and often bush types. Container growing is ideal for the gardener having limited space, or perhaps no garden at all, except for a patio. Another solution, if you are lacking growing space, is to grow cucumbers on a trellis, or along a fence. This is a particularly good idea when growing slicing cucumbers, as the fruits tend to be longer and straighter when grown this way. Fence and trellis growing also provides the cucumber plants with improved air circulation, lessening the problems associated with pests and disease.
The more popular bush varieties include Bush Champion, Salad Bush Hybrid, and Spacemaster. Straight 8 has long been a favorite as a slicing cucumber, providing a generally uniform 8 inch cylindrical fruit. Dasher II is another good slicing cucumber. It has a reputation for being very disease resistant, and usually is a strong performer in terms of yield.
County Fair is probably the top selling pickling cucumber for the home gardener. County Fair has a very high resistance to disease and produces an abundance of fruit.
If you want a bit of novelty in your garden, you can opt for the Lemon Cucumber. A round yellow cucumber, about the size of a tennis ball, the Lemon Cucumber is a bit sweeter than other varieties. It can be eaten off the vine, and is just the right choice if you want to make up a batch of yellow pickles.
Give the growing plants an occasional side dressing of fertilizer. Once the cucumber plants have started blossoming, you should get a more or less continuous crop over the summer. The pickling varieties do need to be picked while still under 6 inches long, or they will soon become too large for pickling purposes. Don't apply too much fertilizer though, or you'll be rewarded with luxuriant foliage, and few cucumbers.
While some plants in the vegetable garden are at their best after a first frost, cucumber plants definitely are not. The cucumber is not frost tolerant, and with the coming of the first frost, your growing season for all practical purposes is at an end. When that time comes however, you'll be happy you had a few of these plants in your garden.