Cucumis sativus
Cucumber
Common names: Slicing cucumber, Pickling cucumber
Photo: Bff · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Source
Description
The cucumber is a warmth-loving climber that grows outdoors on a trellis or, as a pickling cucumber, along the ground. Given enough warmth and water it bears tirelessly for weeks.
Care instructions
Plant it only from mid-May in a warm, sheltered spot and water exclusively with hand-warm water at the root; cold water makes it bitter and encourages mildew. Harvest regularly, because every picked fruit prompts new flowers.
Soil & site
Soil pH
Soil type
humus-rich, well-drained, nutrient-rich, loamy
Feeding
Heavy feeder
Companion planting
Good neighbors
legume family (Fabaceae)
Beans and peas enrich the soil with nitrogen, which cucurbits, as heavy feeders, can make good use of.
For example Broad beanRed CloverRed CloverWhite CloverSweet PeaLupine and 20 more species in the catalogue
Source: classic companion planting (DACH-Gartenpraxis)
Rather not
nightshade family (Solanaceae)
You should avoid planting potato and cucumber together because they share disease pathogens such as leaf and brown rot and stand in each other's way as strong feeders.
For example Sweet pepperEggplantCape gooseberryChiliPeperoniTomatillo and 6 more species in the catalogue
Source: basic crop-rotation rule
Companion planting is partly traditional gardening lore. Where the reason is known, it is given.
Some of these explanations were machine-translated.
Diseases & pests
7 relevantFrom the knowledge base, automatically linked by affected species. How to spot and prevent them is covered in full in the lexicon.
Erysiphales
You will see the true powdery mildew covering the upper leaf surfaces with a milky‑white coating that can be easily wiped off, unlike the false powdery mildew, which comes from below.
More on True powdery mildewPeronosporaceae
You will find that the False Mildew is not a true fungus, but an oomycete that comes from the underside of the leaf, unlike the True Mildew.
More on False MildewTetranychus urticae
The two-spotted spider mite appears above all in dry heat in the greenhouse and sucks on the underside of the leaves, which makes the leaves first pale and speckled, then dull bronze coloured, before…
More on Two-spotted spider miteStickstoff-Mangel
Nitrogen deficiency arises when plants cannot take up enough plant available nitrogen from the soil, usually on exhausted or sandy ground.
More on Nitrogen deficiencyThysanoptera
Thrips are tiny, elongated insects that become particularly active on warm, muggy days, which is why they are also called thunderflies.
More on Thrips (thunderflies)Wassermangel
Drought stress arises when plants cannot take up enough water over a longer period, usually during persistent heat with no rain.
More on Drought stress (water shortage)Trialeurodes vaporariorum
The whitefly is a heat loving sap sucker that appears above all in the greenhouse and on container plants: larvae and pupae sit on the undersides of the leaves, and when the plant is knocked the…
More on WhiteflyVarieties
7 varieties‚Bidan F1’
The *‚Bidan F1’* is a compact mini snake cucumber for greenhouse and warm raised beds, producing slender fruits about 20 cm long in dense succession.
‚Chinesische Schlangen’
The *‚Chinesische Schlangen’* is a seed‑stable Asian snake cucumber whose extremely long, slender and often slightly…
‚La Diva F1’
An early mini snacking cucumber that sets handy fruit of 10 to 15 cm in large numbers, perfect for the balcony, the pot and the nibbling garden.
‚Marketmore’
A proven classic for the outdoor slicing cucumber, giving you straight, dark green fruit 18 to 20 cm long even without a greenhouse.
‚Restina F1’
A modern, highly resistant pickling cucumber for outdoors, exactly the right choice if mildew has spoiled your harvest in damp summers so far.
‚Tanja’
An open pollinated slicing cucumber that produces long, slender and glossy dark green fruits, as much at home in the greenhouse as on a warm trellis outdoors.
‚Vorgebirgstrauben’
An old pickling cucumber from the Rhineland that sets its small fruits in grape like clusters, which is where the name comes from.
Notes from real gardens
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From the magazine
Growing cucumbers: salad or pickling, bitter-free and crisp
Salad or pickling cucumber, greenhouse or outdoors, and why a cucumber turns bitter. How to grow both types, train them up a support and harvest them crisp.
Cucamelon and Achocha: two tough climbers for the fence
Two exotic gourds that shrug off mildew better than the garden cucumber: the grape-sized cucamelon and the stuffable achocha. An eye-catcher along the fence, started indoors from CW 16 and planted out from mid-May.
Build Your Own Trellis and Support: Sizes for Beans, Cucumbers, Peas
Build plans with real measurements for a bean teepee, a cucumber trellis and a pea frame, put up in CW 14 to 18, before you sow.
Fermenting: Sauerkraut and Vegetables With Nothing But Salt and Patience
Sauerkraut, salt-brined cucumbers and more: how to preserve autumn vegetables with just two percent salt, keep everything under the brine, and tell harmless kahm yeast apart from mould.
The Merry Month of May: Now Everything Can Go Outside
May is the big moving day: once the Ice Saints have passed, tomatoes, cucumbers and beans can finally head outdoors. We'll show you what to plant, sow and stake now, and how to keep the first slugs in check.