Cucumbers
Image: gardeners.com
A Lake County, Illinois, advertising sales and management professional, Jeanne Marcis serves as senior multimedia solutions consultant with Clipper Magazine. In her free time Jeanne Marcis enjoys gardening, and she grows a variety of herbs and vegetables including green beans, basil, tomatoes, and cucumbers.
Originally coming from the tropics, cucumbers do best in hot weather and with abundant water. One of the keys to growing cucumbers in the garden involves ensuring that the plants are placed in the garden after soil temperatures are consistently in the 70 degree range. Planting should occur at least two weeks after the last day of frost.
When planting cucumbers, set them at the base of a trellis with mulch on top. If the spring is cool and lengthy, the row can be covered in black plastic or wheat or pine straw. Traditionally straw mulch is preferred, as slugs avoid it and cucumber beetles are also deterred.
Cucumbers are plants with both female and male flowers. As the cucumber blooms, look for a cucumber-shaped swelling at the base of the female flower. If you do not see that cucumber-shaped swelling, pollination may have been interrupted and hand pollination may be in order.
Jeanne Marcis 