Plant your cucumber seeds about six inches apart in rows or make hills with five seeds in them every six feet down your row. We like to train our cukes up on a trellis so the fruits grow straight and are easy to see and harvest. While cukes do like to climb, they must gently be woven into the trellis to keep them going. Be careful though as the tender vines will break easily. Harvest young for pickling or let grow larger to use as slicers. To save seeds, let a few fruits grow very large; they’ll turn golden. Late in the fall, harvest these “boats”, cut them in half lengthwise and scrape out the seeds into a bowl. Add half warm water and let ferment for three days at room temperature. Pour into a wire sieve and run under warm water, mashing the “goop” through the sieve with your fingertips. Dry the clean seeds thoroughly on a plastic plate then store in an airtight, rodent and insect proof container.
CUCUMBERS about 100 seeds
Early Fortune
Early Fortune This is a wonderful heirloom slicer we really love for summer salads and to make sliced cukes with sour cream and mayo. Mmmm! As its name indicates, it is early and also very productive. Originally bred in Royal Oak Michigan. 55 days
Homemade Pickles
Homemade Pickles An old favorite, Homemade Pickles, is an early pickler that produces waves of nice, solid, sweet pickling cukes that also grow larger for slicers. I make tons of dills and bread and butter pickles with these great, productive cukes. 53 days
Suyo Long
Suyo Long This long, bumpy, ridged burpless cuke is just right for salads or making bread and butter pickles. If you trellis it like we do, you’ll have nice, straight cucumbers. If not, they will twist and turn in an interesting way. 60 days
