Cucumbers are classified as cucurbit (Cucurbitaceae) vegetables. The cucurbit family includes cucumbers,  summer squash (zucchini), winter squash (hubbard, acorn, spaghetti, butternut, delicata), pumpkins, melons, and gourds.

Since all of these plants share a common ancestor, they all have very similar growing needs and are prone to similar problems.

While they are quite similar, there are some key differences, so to ensure best success so we've broken these into separate articles for easier instruction.

Cucumbers are high in vitamin K, B6, C and riboflavin. Check here for detailed information from the USDA National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference. 

The Canadian Food Guide recommends that roughly half of the food on your plate should be fruits and vegetables.

Cucumbers are a warm season plant that need between 45 and 65 days to maturity. They can be seeded directly into the garden once the soil is warm (at least 18°C). Direct seeding works very well on the prairies, so using seedlings is not necessary.

If you live in the far north, you can grow cucumbers as seedlings. Seedlings can sometimes also be purchased from a local greenhouse.

Starting your own cucumbers plants from seed

• Cucumbers do not like root disturbance from transplanting, so it's important not to start seedlings too early. Seedlings should only be 10-14 days old before planting out (cotyledons have emerged along with only one or two true leaves).  Larger transplants will experience transplant shock when they are planted outdoors: plants will not grow for several weeks (or at all) depending on the level of transplant shock they experience. See our video below.
• Start seedlings about 2 -3 weeks prior to transplanting out. You can transplant seedlings as soon as daytime and nighttime temperatures are warm at least 18°C, about 2 weeks after your last average frost free date. For example, in Wollaston Lake (northern Saskatchewan) your plant out date is June 5, so start your seedlings around the first of June for planting out around June 20.
• Jiffy-7's are good for sowing seeds because there is less root disturbance when planting. Soak the Jiffy-7's for 20 minutes in warm water to fully hydrate and expand them. Once they are planted, cover with plastic or a dome and do not water. Remove the plastic once seeds have germinated. 
• Another way to reduce root disturbance is to use home-made newspaper pots or peat pots. Fill them with a soil-less mix that contains peat or coir and vermiculite and/or perlite. (Both of these types of pots can be planted directly in the soil, but be sure to bury the rim of these pots. Otherwise the rim acts as a wick and will dry out your seedling.)
• Sow 2 seeds 1 cm deep per JIffy-7 or container and then thin to the strongest plant after they have grown their first set of true leaves. 
• Cucumbers prefer warm soil. At 24°C, seeds will germinate in 5 or 6 days. Use a heat mat if you have one, or place pots in a warm spot like the top of the fridge for germination.
  
• Take care not to over water your seedlings. Soil should be moist like a damp sponge, but not soggy.
• Place seedlings under lights after germination, which is crucial for the growth of healthy seedlings. seedlings require a minimum of 14 hours of light each day.
  
• Leave a fan blowing on your young seedlings as they grow to help to grow heartier plants and to reduce some seedling diseases. Research has shown that stem diameter can be increased by providing seedlings with constant air movement from an oscillating fan – or by lightly brushing seedling tops with a tea towel or stick at least 20 times daily.
• For more details, check out our article on growing your own seedlings.

The ideal cucumber transplant:

• has no more than two sets of true leaves. The first leaves that grow are not true leaves. They are "seed leaves" called cotyledons and are round. All leaves that grow after these are true leaves.
• is dark green in color.
• has a good root system but is not root-bound (tight, hard ball of roots) or has lots of roots growing out of the Jiffy-7.
• has a stem that is strong and sturdy. The internodes (spaces between leaves along the stem) will be small.  seedlings that are too tall will tend to break and dry out more easily once planted out into the garden.
• Fertilizing recently planted seeds or young emerging seedlings is not recommended. Start fertilizing a few days after they have been planted out in the garden using 20-20-20 water-soluble fertilizer once or twice a week. Mix according to label directions.

Harden off seedlings prior to planting out by moving them outdoors into a sheltered, frost-free location at least 3 days prior to transplanting.

Don't forget to label what you planted. It's also helpful to draw a map to help you track planting locations and success each year. This information is critical if you're rotating your crops to help prevent insect and disease issues.

Timing

• Cucumbers may be direct seeded in the garden on the prairies or planted as seedlings in the far north. See our transplants tab for tips on growing or purchasing your own transplants.
• You can transplant seedlings as soon as daytime temperatures are above 18°C. For example, in Wollaston Lake (northern Saskatchewan) your plant out date is June 5, so start your seedlings around the first of June for planting out around June 20. 
• Transplants must be hardened off before transplanting outdoors. Cucumbers do not tolerate cool soil or air temperatures.

• Sow 3-4 seeds 2 cm (1″) deep and 25 cm apart within the row. Thin to the strongest seedling. 
• Sow 2 or 3 successive plantings starting after the soil is warm.

Planting instructions for seedlings

• When planting, cover the entire transplant “plug” or seed ball with soil to prevent the plant from drying out.  If using newspaper pots or peat pots, make sure they are quite moist before planting and remove the rims of the pots. Exposed rims, peat or coir within the plug will act as a wick, drawing water away from the transplant and drying out the root ball. 
• Try not to disturb the roots when planting.
• Seedlings should be spaced 25 cm apart within the row, allowing 90 cm between rows.
• Water the transplants in with 10-52-10 soluble fertilizer, mixed according to the directions on the label. This is only done once, to encourage good root development. See the "Care Once Planted" tab for how to fertilize for the rest of the growing season.

Cutworm prevention

If you have had cutworm problems in your garden, place a collar around your seedlings right after planting. Make collars out of toilet paper rolls, or any tin can or plastic container such as a yogurt container with both ends removed. Insert the collar at least 5 cm in the ground to prevent cutworms from feeding on the stems of your seedlings.

Although any cucumber can be pickled, the "pickling" types tend to be shorter and more suited to pickling. Smaller cucumbers also have the advantage of having fewer seeds. Some of the pickling types can grow to be long and large, so it's best to harvest them before they reach their full size. 

Slicing cucumbers are good for fresh eating. 

Cocktail or snacking cucumbers are cucumbers that have a soft skin and are mature when they are only 15cm long (these are the type sold in packages of 5 or 6 in the grocery store).

A third type of cucumber are called "greenhouse" or English or parthenocarpic cucumbers. They are hybrids that have been bred for all female flowers. They do not need pollination and produce seedless fruit. However, if these are planted near other types of cucumbers and pollinating insects are present, cross pollination is still possible and they may produce cucumbers with seeds. Greenhouse cucumbers are meant to be grown in the greenhouse and do not yield well when grown outdoors.

Here are cultivar recommendations from the North Dakota State University Cultivar Trials, as they share a similar prairie climate and soils. You may download their list here:North Dakota State University Vegetable Cultivar Recommendations for 2021

• Pickling: Alibi, Calypso, Eureka, Homemade Pickles, H-19 Little Leaf
• Slicing: Dasher II, Diva, Fanfare, General Lee, Mercury, Muncher, Orient Express II, Raceway, Raider, Salad Bush, Silver Slicer, Straight Eight, Summer Dance, Sweet Slice, Sweet Success, Tasty Green

The following cultivars are recommendations from the University of Saskatchewan vegetable program field trials which were conducted from 1989 through 2016. Although this information is no longer current, some may find it useful.

• Pickling: Atomic, Ballerina, Cool Breeze, Cool Breeze Improved, Cross Country, Eclipse, Eureka, Europick, Fancipak, Gherkin, KFR, Northern Dawn, Zapata
• Slicing: Babylon, Darlington, Dasher II, Diomede, Emperator, Fanfare, General Lee, Indio, Indy, Jazzer, Marketmore, Natsuhikari, Olympian, Raider, Speedway, Straight 9, Ultra Pak

Cucumbers should have about 2.5cm of water per week early in the season.  By mid-July, provide 2.5cm of water, twice weekly.

Dry soil may result in smaller cucumbers and cause them to become bitter.

Apply soluble 20-20-20 fertilizer every week prior to fruit set. Increase fertilizing to twice a week after fruit set.

Pick weeds as they appear.

To conserve soil moisture and reduce weeding, apply a thick layer of mulch around your plants, whether in the garden or in a container. Ensure the mulch is not resting against the stems of the plants.

Install a trellis or other support to grow cucumbers vertically. This saves space and improves air circulation which can prevent or reduce problems such as powdery mildew.

Cucumbers benefit from growing in plastic mulches, supported plastic tunnels or crop covers.  Crop covers and tunnels must be removed as soon as flowers appear so that bees and other pollinators can pollinate flowers.

Cucurbits have both male and female flowers on their vines.  Male flowers are the first flowers to appear on the plant.  It is normal for some of these initial male flowers to fall off – don’t be alarmed.  Female flowers appear 7-10 days after the male flowers start to appear.  The female flowers are identified by what looks like a small fruit where the stem meets the flower.  This ‘small fruit’ is missing on the male flowers.

Cucumbers are not suited to fall seeding.

Cucumbers are best grown as transplants in the far north. Direct seed only if the soil is very warm. To pre-warm soil, cover soil with a layer of clear plastic 2 weeks before planting. Secure the edges to keep the plastic from blowing away. Remove the plastic after planting.

Cucumbers do well in containers. Black or dark coloured containers help keep the soil and root system warm.

Cucumbers benefit from black plastic mulch, row covers and clear low plastic tunnels to keep the environment around the plants warm. 

See our preservation section for more videos.

Any cucumber will work in a container. Patio cultivars are very dwarf vines but produce fewer cucumbers than the longer vines.

Cucumber seeds can be saved from “heritage” or “open-pollinated” plants. If the plant tag or seed package from the original plant says “hybrid”, the plants grown from seeds collected from hybrid plants won't look the same next year.
 
This fermentation method gets rid of the pulp on seeds.

• Let two or three cucumbers ripen as long as possible on the plant before frost. Over-ripe cucumbers that are beginning to turn yellow are good for seed saving. Avoid saving seeds from diseased plants as disease can be carried over on seeds.
• Slice the cucumbers in half lengthwise and scoop the seeds into a bowl. 
• Seeds have a slimy coating called pulp. Put the seeds and pulp in a container with a lid. Label the container with cucumber name and year. Add some water – the seeds and pulp will float to the top.
• Keep this in a warm place for 3 – 5 days. The warmth causes the pulp to rot and ferment. This releases the seeds which will drop to the bottom of the container.
• Once the seeds have separated from the pulp and dropped to the bottom of the container, add some water and pour off the pulp.
• Fill the container again. Let the seeds sink to the bottom and pour off the water.
• Now dump the seeds and water into a fine mesh strainer. Rinse under cool water.
• Put the seeds on a coffee filter or a plate and spread them out to let them dry. It may up to a week for the seeds to dry completely. Seeds are dry when they can be snapped in half.

Another way is to save seeds is to simply wash the seeds to remove as much pulp as possible. Strain the seeds in a colander and spread them on a plate or tray to dry. Before you plant these seeds, pre-soak them in water for a few hours to get rid of the coating.
 
How to store seeds
Vegetable seeds can keep for several years if you store them properly. Seeds should be stored in a cool, dry, dark place. Moisture, heat and light can cause seeds to sprout or rot.

• Place your seeds in envelopes or make your own envelopes out of foil or waxed paper. Label with name of the seeds and the date (month and year) you harvested them.
• Place your envelopes inside an airtight container. To help keep seeds dry, place about a tablespoon of dry powdered milk in a paper towel or piece of cloth, secured with a twist tie or piece of string. The powdered milk will absorb humidity and keep seeds dry inside the airtight container.
• Put the container in the refrigerator. Do not store seeds in an unheated shed or garage. These places are either too moist and/or too cold for seed storage.

Ripe cucumbers tend to come off the plant easily with a gentle tug. Otherwise, use a sharp knife or scissors to cut the cucumber from the stem. Leave about 1 cm of stem. Do not cut into the cucumber itself.

Cucumbers have a high respiration rate, especially the thin-skinned varieties. It is important to keep them cool during harvest.

Coming soon

• Download entire series here

Common problems include powdery mildew and pollination problems.

An interesting archeological paper about early cucurbit use by Indigenous peoples:

Additional evidence for early cucurbit use in the northern eastern woodlands east of the Allegheny Front

More research:

Organic cucurbit production - Dalhousie University

Managing cucurbit disease - Michigan State University