How to Grow Cucumbers in Zone 7
Cucumbers are an essential salad ingredient and nothing beats the crispy crunch of a home-grown cucumber. Growing cucumbers is not very difficult, but you need a large garden bed and one that receives dappled but not full sun. Cucumbers need warmth but can burn with too much sun exposure. If you plan to grow cucumbers and you live in the U.S. Department of Agriculture plant hardiness zone 7, which includes Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, and Atlanta, Georgia, you need to wait until the last chance of frost is past in spring for planting. Does this Spark an idea?
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Things You'll Need
- Composted organic matter or composted manure
- Garden hoe
- Black plastic
- Peat pots
- Cucumber seeds
- Spray bottle
- Knife or scissors
- Thermometer
- Pesticide
- Nitrogen-rich fertilizer
Instructions
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Till about 2 inches of composted organic matter or composted manure into the first 8 inches of soil. Do this about three weeks before the expected last frost. For USDA zone 7, the general range of the last frost dates are from middle to late March. Check with your nursery or county extension office for exact dates.
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Build up soil into mounds around 20 inches across and 10 inches high. Leave about six feet between mounds.
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Cover the mounds with black plastic. This will act as a mulch, helping raise the temperature of the soil in the mounds and keeping away pesky weeds.
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Plant three or four cucumber seeds in each peat pot around 1 inch deep. Spray the seeds lightly with water. Do this about three weeks prior to planting. Place the peat pots in a sunny place or in a greenhouse. Thin the cucumbers to one plant per peat pot around 10 days after they germinate.
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Make a hole slightly larger and deeper than the peat pots in the top of the mounds, cutting through the black plastic. Gingerly break up the bottom of the peat pots to free up the roots, then plant one peat pot per mound. Cover over the sides with soil, but don't press hard enough to form a crust.
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Water the cucumbers weekly. The water should soak to 6 or 8 inches deep. The black plastic should keep weeds at bay, but if bugs are present, spread or spray an appropriate pesticide -- following the pesticide application instructions -- around the cucumbers to ward off cucumber-loving pests like aphids, cucumber beetles and pickle worms.
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Spread a side dressing of 1 tbsp. of nitrogen-rich fertilizer onto the cucumber plants when the first blossoms form. Repeat the fertilization three weeks later. Do not fertilize after this point, as this will cause the cucumbers to divert energy to growing leaves or extending vines rather than fruiting.
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Harvest the cucumbers as they ripen on the vine, which can take 50 to 60 days, but do not let the cucumbers become yellow on the vine, as they will take on a bitter taste. If you keep harvesting the cucumbers as they ripen, the vine will keep producing all summer.
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Tips & Warnings
Don't spray pesticides "just in case." Only use if pests are present in the garden and are destroying your cucumber crop.
Use pesticides sparingly and choose products targeted for the pests you find on the cucumbers.
Avoid using pesticides on windy days, as the product can travel to other parts of the garden and have detrimental effects on beneficial garden insects like lady beetles or praying mantises.
References
- United States National Arboretum; USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map; Henry Cathey; 1990
- University of Illinois Extension: Cucumber
- Ohio State University Extension; Growing Cucumbers in the Home Garden; Pamela Bennett
- Purdue University; Growing Cucumbers, Melons, Squash, Pumpkin and Gourds; B. Rosie Lerner, et al.; 2001
Resources
- Photo Credit Jupiterimages/Photos.com/Getty Images
