How To Plant Cucumber Seeds: Planting, Growing & Harvesting!

Learning how to plant cucumbers seeds is easy with these tips for planting, growing and harvesting cucumbers.  Cucumbers are fast growers that love sun, fertile soil and can be grown right in the ground, in a greenhouse or right up on your deck in containers.

You can also start them a couple weeks earlier inside like I do if you live in a shorter growing zone.  Pick them fresh off the vine to slice up on your favorite salad or pick small for your favorite pickling recipe.

Types Of Cucumbers To Grow

The two main types of cucumbers are the long slicing ones and the shorter plump ones for making pickles.  You will find that there are now a lot of different varieties for those two types of cucumbers.

You can also get selections of vine cucumbers or shorter more compact cucumber plants that you can grow in containers on your deck if you are limited on space.  So depending on how much room you have and the type of cucumbers you want will determine the kind of cucumber seeds that you want to grow.

How To Grow Cucumbers From Seed

You will want to make sure your soil is worked and prepared with fertile organic matter.  Be sure to check your zone number and find out when your last frost date is if you are going to be planting outside into the ground.  Cucumbers like warm soil to grow in and are very fragile when it comes to cooler nights.

Where To Grow Cucumbers

Cucumbers prefer sunny locations but will also do well in partly shaded areas of your garden.  Cucumbers like rich fertile soil so you will want to make sure the area of your garden has enough nutrients which you can test by doing a garden soil nutrient test.  You can also add in some organic fertilizer to help enhance your soil.

If you are planting your cucumbers in your garden just remember that they will spread out and take up a lot of space so you will want to plan to leave enough space for what you are planting besides your cucumbers so they don’t cover them up.

You may want to try growing them on climbing trellis to get them off the ground and to help save space.

If you are planting your cucumber seeds in a container you will want to choose a sunny location on your deck.

When To Plant Cucumber Seeds

Cucumber seeds can be planted directly outdoors into fertile soil after your areas last date of frost.  Cucumber seeds prefer warmer soil so ideally you want your soil to be warm.  You can also plant cucumber seeds indoors 4 – 6 weeks before planting outside.  This is what I like to do because I have a shorter growing season where I live and it does help to get that extra month of growing in.  I explain how to plant your cucumber seeds inside to get a head start on them below.

How To Plant Cucumber Seeds

Planting cucumber seeds outside straight into the garden:

1. Sow cucumber seeds directly into the garden in late spring after last frost.  You can make hills to plant your cucumber seeds in as well.
2. Plant seeds 1/2 -1 inch deep and up to 12 inches apart.  I like to plant in a couple of seeds a bit apart for in the case that one doesn’t do well and then you can pick it out and still have a healthy cucumber plant.
3. Water regularly and fertilize every 2 weeks as cucumber plants are fast growers and will need their nutrients.
4. You can add mulch around your cucumber plants to help keep the heat in and keep the weeds down.

Starting cucumber seeds inside:

1. Gather your seed starting soil and your containers or peat pots to plant in.  One of the benefits of using a peat pot is that it can be planted directly into the ground with out disturbing the root system.
2. Fill your containers with the seedling soil and lightly pack it down.  Place one cucumber seed into each pot about 1/2 inch into the soil.
3. Place all containers onto a tray to keep together and to catch any excess water.
4. Place tray in sunny location and place under growing lights as soon as they pop up to avoid getting leggy.
5. Water consistently and fertilize with a weak solution of fertilizer after 10 days.

Tips For Growing Cucumbers

• Grow your cucumber plants in full sun with lots of space
• Don’t overcrowd your plants by planting to close together
• Check your cucumber plants for signs of diseases or pests
• Water your cucumber plants regularly
• Fertilize your plants every 2 weeks
• Lay out mulch to keep heat and moisture in