How to Grow Lemon Cucumbers

Once a mainstay of 19th century gardens, lemon cucumbers are now making a comeback due to their their sweet, mild taste and attractive appearance. The 2- to 3-inch-long fruit possess a roughly round shape with solid yellow skin covered in small prickles, but the skin is nonetheless tasty and lacks bitterness unlike most other strains of cucumber. Like most cucumbers, lemon cucumbers grow readily from seed and will produce a large volume of fruit 65 days after planting if they are provided with adequate water and some shelter from direct sunlight in hot areas.

Things You'll Need

• Rotary tiller
• Compost
• Wire cage or trellis
• 20-20-20 ratio fertilizer
• 30-percent shade cloth

Instructions

1. Select a planting site for the lemon cucumber seeds with southerly exposure and full sun. Avoid areas with heavy shade and boggy, hardpan or rocky soil.

2. Break up the soil to a depth of 6 to 8 inches using a rotary tiller or cultivating fork. Incorporate a 4-inch-thick layer of compost into the bed if your soil is very sandy or heavy. Water the bed to a depth of 5 inches to settle the soil.

3. Sow the lemon cucumber seeds 1-inch deep and 18 to 24 inches apart. Place a wire cage or trellis over the planting site, or allow the vines to spread out along the ground.

4. Water the lemon cucumber seeds every other day to maintain moisture to a depth of 1 inch. Avoid overwatering the seeds since they are prone to rotting.

5. Watch for germination in three to six days. Maintain light but constant moisture in the bed by watering to a depth of 2 inches every three or four days after sprouting.

6. Feed the lemon cucumber plants once a month with organic 20-20-20 ratio fertilizer. Follow the label directions when applying the fertilizer to ensure good results.

7. Hang 30-percent shade cloth along the southern edge of the bed on especially hot, cloudless days since lemon cucumber leaves scorch easily under intense sunlight.

8. Harvest the fruit once they turn a pale to medium-yellow shade and no longer have a greenish tinge near the stem. Scrub off the small prickles and eat them raw.

Tips & Warnings

• Leave a few lemon cucumbers on the vine to mature until they are dark-yellow in color, then harvest the seeds for planting next year.

References

• "American Horticultural Society Plant Propagation: The Fully Illustrated Plant-by-Plant Manual of Practical Techniques"; Alan Toogood; 1999
• Floridata: Cucumis Sativus