There are many types of cucumbers: pickles, slicers, pickles, and bush cucumbers. You can pickle any small sized cucumber. To learn how to pickle cucumbers, do a Google search to find out how. Slicers have large, cylinder-shaped fruits that are great for slicing and serving fresh. You can eat raw cucumbers fresh off the vine after washing or you can slice them up and add them to salads. There are or so many ways to use cucumbers. That is the reason for its popularity.
The size at which you pick your cucumbers depends on the variety. slicers are best when they are 6 to 8 inches long. Picklers are best when harvested when they are 3″-5″.
Plant your cucumbers in a sunny area of your garden in well-drained soil. Cucumbers like hot, humid weather. They also generally need fifty to sixty days to grow and produce. Add an organic fertilizer like 5-5-10 to the soil before planting. Add more fertilizer just after flowers form and then again three weeks later. Cover the ground with hay straw when the weather is very hot. This helps preserve moisture around the plants. Water the base of the plants deeply and regularly in the early morning or late afternoon. Don’t water so much that you create a muddy mess. Avoid wetting the leaves as wet leaves are susceptible to disease.
Cucumber plants produce long vines that require a lot of space. It’s a good idea to put up a trellis for your vines to climb on during development. In this way, they are out of the ground, preventing the introduction of soil-borne diseases and insects.
Cucumbers require a lot of nitrogen. If its leaves turn yellow, this is an indication of a nitrogen shortage. Once the plants start to grow, it’s a good idea to add compost around the plants to get more nutrients, as cucumbers need a lot of food.
Cucumbers are ready for harvest in 50 to 70 days. Use a pair of scissors to cut the cucumbers off the vine. This avoids damaging the plant and makes harvesting easier. If your cucumbers are stressed while growing, they can turn bitter. This can be avoided by watering the plants regularly. If your crop is bitter, you can cut one to two inches off the cucumber tops. The bitterness is usually concentrated in the tips while the rest of the cucumber can be perfect.
Cucumbers are easy and fun to grow. Its crisp, juicy fruit adds a crunch to salads and can be eaten raw as a refreshing treat. With care, your harvest of cucumbers can be a nutritious addition to your family’s diet.