Whether pickled, as a salty snack or purely natural: they taste delicious and are healthy. Although there are over 40 species of cucumbers, pickling cucumbers and green cucumbers are usually the same plant: Cucumis sativus. Plant gherkins - they will thrive and bring more yield.

They are pickling cucumbers, small and harvested early. If you wait longer, you will harvest ripe cucumbers. Particularly resistant and easy-care F1 hybrid varieties:

  • Regal - small, fine and high-yielding variety
  • Weisse Spangenberg - robust, white to golden-yellow fruits
  • Foothill grapes - early ripe and aromatic
  • Sikkim cucumber - aromatic, Indian variety

Which location do pickling cucumbers prefer?

Cucumber plants are sensitive to frost and may only be outdoors when the soil temperature is above 10° degrees. Sunlight is the most important source of nutrients for photosynthesis. It warms the soil and guarantees that the cucumber seeds will germinate. When growing outdoor cucumbers, therefore, choose a warm and full sun location that is as sheltered from the wind as possible.

Greenhouse cucumbers do not know bad weather. Light, warmth and weather protection guarantee healthy growth and an early harvest.

In which soil do pickled cucumbers feel particularly comfortable?

The ideal soil for pickling cucumbers is loose, light and sandy. Keep the ground flat and cover with mulch (€239.00). This protects the sensitive roots, prevents drought and saves pulling the weeds.
A neutral to slightly alkaline soil with a pH value of 7.0 is ideal.

Prefer gherkins - later is earlier

Growing gherkins yourself is very easy. Sow cucumber seeds in the mini greenhouse (€7.95) at the beginning of April. As a dark germinator, cucumber seeds will sprout lightly covered with soil within a week on a warm, bright windowsill. If you sow earlier, you risk that they will get too big too quickly before they can go outside from mid-May.

The right timing from flowering to harvest time

Harvesting of greenhouse cucumbers begins at the end of May. Preferred outdoor plants are mature in mid-July.
If they turn yellow, they are overripe. Important: Regularly cutting the ripe cucumbers from the plant promotes the subsequent ripening of other fruits. Ideally, you can enjoy fresh organic cucumbers every week until late autumn.

Small cucumbers big distance

Small pickling cucumbers need as much planting distance as large snake cucumbers. It's not the size of the cucumber that matters, it's the plant. Place them 60 centimeters apart. The row spacing should be about 1.50 meters. Outdoors you can plant two to three cucumber plants per square meter.

tips and tricks

2 to 3 pickling cucumbers per square meter can be planted outdoors. It is best to put them in black mulch film and put an irrigation hose. This saves labor and water.

Category:

Vegetable garden