You've got a brilliant start on your edible container garden. Perhaps you started with herbs and some sweet trailing cherry tomatoes, but now you want to expand your harvest. You love cucumbers and you want to know, can cucumbers be grown in pots?- Pick put the right variety cucumber seed
- Choose a pot with abundant room
- Add the right kind of soil
- Plant the seeds
- Water
- When seedlings have 4-5 leaves, thin them out
- Water regularly
- Train the vines as they grow
- Increase mulch
- Fertilize and water regularly
- Harvest ripe cucumbers correctly
Choose The Right Variety Of Cucumber To Grow
Traditionally, cucumbers vined and sprawled out over a large space in the vegetable garden. But now, with the creation of more varieties, including bush yield cucumber plants, it's easy to grow them in containers.
Spacemaster Varieties grow well in pots with their bushy natures. These seeds mature to produce nice 4-6" cucumbers. They can grow longer but will taste a bit sweeter picked at this length.
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SaladBush seeds will produce a nice upright plant and gorgeous dark green 6-8" fruit on the vines.
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PatioSnacker varieties will produce on a 3-5' vine that will benefit from a trellis or porch railing to climb on. These seeds will produce great plants and great yields of cucumbers if planted and fed correctly.
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Choose The Right Pot
The trick to growing cucumbers in containers is to have the right container. It needs to be large enough - preferably between 18-24" in diameter. This space will give enough depth and enough room for the plant to grow, vine, and fruit as needed.
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Depending on the variety you plant, you may need to plant next to a trellis or railing in order to support your vines. Find a large enough pot that comes with a trellis option if you have nowhere to tie up your vines. This one is even self-watering which helps keep the cuke vines from drying out.
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Choose The Right Soil And A Sunny Location
When picking soil, you want to make sure and choose a potting soil that is mixed for vegetables. Potting soils for shrubs and other outdoor plants may contain weed seeds that you want to avoid.
Your cucumber plants will need at least six to eight hours of sunlight daily to be as strong and produce as much as possible.
Plant The Seeds
Now comes the fun part - actually planting!
How Deep Do Cucumbers Need To Be Planted?
If you're planting seeds, follow the instructions on your seed packet. Typically, cucumber seeds will be buried about 1/4" below the surface of the soil.
If you're transplanting starts, you want to make sure you plant the root ball and stem in deep enough that all the leaves are above the soil level but that your plant is securely upright and the roots are covered completely. Be sure to give your seedlings or transplant a good watering and keep it moist.
How Much Space Does Your Cucumber Plant Need?
Once your seedlings have come up, you're going to want to thin them out, leaving them with about 6" between the plants. Be sure to snip the seedlings you don't want. Though it may be tempting to pull them out and replant them in another pot, this will disturb the roots of the remaining seedlings and might cause issues with their growth.
If you're planting in a large 24" pot, you should be able to fit 3 vines to either trail off the sides onto a table or grow onto a trellis.
Water Regularly
The one issue with a container garden is the need to water regularly. Containers dry out much more quickly than actual in-the-ground gardens, so you want to keep a close eye on your vegetables and make sure the soil stays moist. It's always better to water in the morning so that your plants have moisture as the day grows warm and sunny.
Train The Vines As Your Container Cucumbers Grow
Whether you use tomato cages, a wooden trellis, or your porch railings, larger varieties of cucumbers and those laden with fruit, will need some support. There are many different types of stakes and strings and trellises available on the market to help your container cucumbers thrive.
This tomato cage set comes with three cage supports, clips, and twist ties to help keep your vines growing upright. Some easy assembly required.
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For something a bit more glamorous, try this black iron support trellises. This 8-pack of trellises will really give your container garden a touch of class. They're rust-proof and sturdy and require no assembly.
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Add Mulch As The Growing Season Progresses
As your cucumber vines grow and blossom, you want to not only protect the vines but protect the roots, too. Adding a deeper layer of mulch as your vines grow helps hold moisture in and provide some added support for the base of your plants.
Fertilize And Water Regularly
Cucumber plants will be working hard as they mature. For this reason, it's important to help them out with regular waterings and fertilizer. Water them daily during the hottest months of summer, but check the soil first before soaking them. You want it to remain moist but not drenched.
With fertilizer, you'll want to give your cucumber vines some food every three weeks or so. Mix your fertilizer with water to make a liquid and apply it to the root system, making sure to avoid the leaves.
This variety has a good mix of nitrogen, phosphorous, and potassium.
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Harvest Your Cucumbers
Your hard work has paid off, and it's time for your harvest. Each variety will have a recommended mature size, but with cucumbers, it's pretty easy to tell, as the little nubby bits will transform into a smoother outer surface. Though you might be tempted to simply pull the cucumber off the vine, it's better to snip them.
Take your snips and cut just below where the cucumber attaches from its stem to the main vine. Be careful not to cut the main vine, as it will keep producing throughout the summer if you harvest correctly.
How Many Cucumbers Will One Plant Yield?
The normal yield for the entire growing season can be as much as 20-25 lbs of fruit per plant.
Are you ready to start enjoying those container cucumbers now? We sure are! If you enjoyed this post, be sure to check out these other helpful guides:
How to Choose the Right Container for Your Vertical Garden
L-Shaped and Corner Planter Boxes: What Gardeners Need to Know
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