Harvest
and Enjoy Garden-Fresh Cucumbers
By Melinda Myers
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[July 19, 2024]
Low in calories and versatile, cucumbers can flavor
beverages, perk up a salad, served as a snack, or made into pickles.
This popular vegetable is a good source of fiber, potassium, and
vitamin K. Plus, they have a high water content, making them a mild
diuretic to help in weight loss and reduce blood pressure.
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To
ensure the best flavor and greatest nutritional value, grow your own
or purchase cucumbers fresh from the farmer’s market.
Harvest cucumbers or purchase them based on the variety and intended
use. Pick the fruit when it is 1½ to 2½ inches long if you plan on
making sweet pickles. If dill pickles are on the menu, allow the
cucumbers to grow bigger to about three to four inches.
Wait to harvest those you plan on using fresh in salads, beverages,
or for snacking. Harvest slicing cucumbers when the skin is firm,
bright green, and the fruit is six to nine inches long. You can
leave burpless-type cucumbers on the vine a bit longer. They have
been bred to maintain their mild flavor when harvested at 10 to 12
inches in length.
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Go big and impress your family with the crisp, mild
flavor of the long Japanese cucumber. Pick these when they are 12 to
18” long. Their flavor remains mild and the skin is easy to digest
despite the longer size.
Misshapen and bitter-flavored cucumbers are usually the result of
drought, improper fertilization, and large fluctuations in
temperature. These are safe to eat but may not have the best flavor.
The bitter flavor in cucumbers is caused by the cucurbitacin B and C
in the plant moving from the leaves, stems, and roots into the fruit
when the plants are under stress. Remove about an inch of the stem
end and peel where these compounds concentrate to improve the
flavor. Consider growing varieties that are typically less bitter
like Sweet Slice, Sweet Success, and Marketmore 76.
Compost poor quality fruit that are not suitable for
eating. Then adjust your care to ensure better quality cucumbers for
the remainder of the season.
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Consider making a second planting if space and time
allow. Many cucumbers reach maturity in 60 days or less. Calculate
the days remaining until the first fall frost to determine if you
have enough time to plant, grow, and harvest a second cucumber crop.
Grow the All-America Selections winner Green Light, ready to harvest
in as few as 37 to 42 days. Train the long vines on a pole or
trellis to save space and for easier picking. Harvest the fruit when
three to four inches long for great taste without peeling.
Try growing Patio Snacker cucumber if space is limited. This compact
plant produces an abundance of six- to seven-inch fruit in about 50
days.
Extend the season indoors with the new Kitchen miniâ Quick Snack
cucumbers. These small plants will grow indoors in a sunny window,
with no pollination needed, and produce fruit that tastes best when
picked at 2½ inches long.
No matter how you plan to enjoy this multi-purpose vegetable,
harvest it at just the right time for the best flavor and intended
use.
Melinda Myers has written over 20 gardening books, including Midwest
Gardener’s Handbook, 2nd Edition and Small Space Gardening. She
hosts The Great Courses “How to Grow Anything” instant video and DVD
series and the nationally syndicated Melinda’s Garden Moment radio
program. Myers is a columnist and contributing editor for Birds &
Blooms magazine. Myers’ website is www.MelindaMyers.com.
[Photo courtesy of
www.MelindaMyers.com] |