Planting, Growing, and Harvesting Cucumbers
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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. Prior to planting, add about 2 inches of aged manure and/or compost to the bed and work it in to a depth of 6 to 8 inches. Soil should be moist but well-draining (not soggy) and have a pH of around 6.5 to 7.0.
Improve clay soil by adding organic matter. Improve dense, heavy soil by adding peat, compost, or rotted manure. (Get a soil test if you are unsure of your soil type; contact your local county cooperative extension.) Light, sandy soils are preferred for northern gardens, as they warm quickly in the spring. See our guide to soil amendments.
When to Plant Cucumbers
- For an early crop, sow cucumber seeds indoors about 3 weeks before you plan to transplant them outside into the ground. Provide bottom heat of about 70ºF (21ºC) with a heating pad or place the seed flats on top of a refrigerator or water heater.
- Outdoors, cucumbers should be sown or transplanted into the ground no earlier than 2 weeks after the last frost date. Cucumbers are extremely susceptible to frost and cold damage; the soil should be at least 70ºF (21ºC) for germination. Seedlings set best at that temperature, too. (In cooler climates, warm the soil by covering it with black plastic prior to planting.)
- Make successive plantings (every 2 weeks) for continued harvests through the season. In warm soil, cucumbers will grow quickly and ripen in about 6 weeks.
How to Plant Cucumbers
- Sow seeds 1 inch deep and about 3 to 5 feet apart in a row, depending on variety (see seed packet for details). For vines trained on a trellis, space seeds or plants 1 foot apart.
- Cucumbers can also be planted in mounds (or “hills”) that are spaced 1 to 2 feet apart, with 2 to 3 seeds planted in each mound. Once plants reach 4 inches in height, thin them to one plant per mound.
- If you live in a cooler climate, you can help warm the soil prior to planting by covering the hill or row with black plastic.
- After planting, mulch around the area with straw, chopped leaves, or another organic mulch to keep pests at bay, and also keep bush types off the ground to avoid disease.
- A trellis is a good idea if you want the vine to climb, or if you have limited space. Trellising also protects the fruit from damage from lying on the moist ground. See how to build a trellis and support for vining vegetables.
- Cover freshly planted cucumber seeds with row covers, netting, or a berry basket if you have pests; this will keep them from digging out the seeds.
Check out this video to learn more about how to plant cucumbers.
- When seedlings emerge, begin to water frequently.
- The main care requirement for cucumbers is consistent watering! They need at least one inch of water per week (or more, if temperatures are particularly high). Inconsistent watering leads to bitter-tasting fruit.
- Water slowly in the morning or early afternoon, and avoid getting the leaves wet, as that may encourage leaf diseases that can ruin the plant. If possible, water your cucumbers with a soaker hose or drip irrigation to keep the foliage dry.
- Mulch around plants to retain soil moisture.
- Cover young plants with row covers or berry baskets if pests appear.
- When seedlings reach 4 inches tall, thin the plants so that they are about 18 inches apart.
- If you’ve worked organic matter into the soil before planting, you may only need to side-dress your plants with compost or well-rotted manure sparingly.
- Otherwise, fertilize the plants with a liquid 5-10-10 fertilizer. Apply 1 week after the plant starts blooming and every 3 weeks thereafter, directly to the soil around the plants. Or, you can work a granular fertilizer into the soil. Do not over-fertilize, or the fruits will get stunted.
- If you have limited space or would prefer vertical vines, set up trellises early to avoid damage to seedlings and vines.
- See our section on pickling with lots of recipes and ideas.
- Enjoy our fun video on How to Make Easy Refrigerator Dill Pickles!
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Oh! that's a very informative! I will take that into consideration when I start planting round cucumber varieties for my vegetable garden!
I really liked this article because it answered everything to the point and brief. Keep it up!
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.
I agree Diane. Cucumbers last much longer stored in a cool dark place like a basement rather than the refrigerator.
Thanks for sharing your experience, Diane! We are all interested in ways to keep the summer harvest fresh!
Can you please tell me the ratio of sugar in water and how to make it ….. do I need to boil or just mix….. & how frequently to spray this on vines of cucumber. Thanks in advance
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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?
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.
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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