For the best taste and best nutritional value, grow fresh cucumbers right from your garden. (Contributed)
Low in calories and versatile, cucumbers can be used to flavor drinks, salads, snack on, or pickled. This popular vegetable is a good source of dietary fiber, potassium, and vitamin K. Plus, their high water content acts as a mild diuretic, helping with weight loss and lowering blood pressure. For the best taste and nutritional value, grow your own or buy fresh cucumbers at a farmer's market.
Harvest or buy cucumbers depending on the variety and use. If you plan to make sweet pickles, harvest when the fruits are 1.5 to 2.5 inches long. If you plan to make dill pickles, wait until the cucumbers are about 3 to 4 inches long.
Wait to harvest those you plan to use raw in salads, drinks or snacks. Harvest slicing cucumbers when they have tough skin, are bright green and the fruit is 6 to 9 inches long. Non-burping cucumbers can be left on the plant longer. They have been bred to maintain their mild flavor when harvested at 10 to 12 inches long.
Harvest large cucumbers to impress your family with their crunchy, mild flavor. Harvest them when they are 12-18 inches long. Despite their long size, they have a mild flavor and an easy-to-digest skin.
Misshapen and bitter cucumbers are usually caused by drought, improper fertilization, or large fluctuations in temperature. They're safe to eat, but they may not taste as good.
Bitterness in cucumbers occurs when the plant's cucumber vitamins B and C migrate from the leaves, stems and roots to the fruit when the plant is stressed. To improve taste, cut off about an inch of the stem end, where these compounds are concentrated, and peel it. Consider growing varieties that generally have a less bitter taste, such as Sweet Slice, Sweet Success or Marketmore 76.
Compost the poor quality fruit that is not suitable for eating, then adjust your gardening practices to produce better quality cucumbers for the rest of the season.
If you have the space and time, consider a second planting. Most cucumbers mature in 60 days or less. Calculate the number of days left until your first fall frost to determine if you have enough time to plant, grow, and harvest a second crop of cucumbers.
An All-America Selections winner, Green Light can be grown and harvested in just 37 to 42 days. Guide the long vines up a pole or trellis to save space and make harvesting easier. For delicious fruit without peeling, harvest when 3 to 4 inches long.
If space is limited, try growing Patio Snacker Cucumbers, a compact plant that produces copious amounts of 6- to 7-inch fruit in about 50 days.
Extend your indoor season with new Kitchen Mini Quick Snack Cucumbers. These little plants don't need pollination, grow indoors on a sunny windowsill, and produce tastiest fruit when harvested at 2.5 inches long.
Regardless of how you enjoy this versatile vegetable, be sure to harvest it at the right time for best flavor and intended use.
Melinda Myers has written more than 20 gardening books, including Midwest Gardener's Handbook, 2nd Edition and Small Space Gardening. She is the host of The Great Courses' “How to Grow Anything” instant video and DVD series and the nationally syndicated Melinda's Garden Moment radio show. Myers is a columnist and contributing editor for Birds & Blooms magazine. Her website is www.MelindaMyers.com.
