All these cucumbers generally fall into the four main groups described here.
Try planting several different ones to experience all that cukes have to offer.
The biggest challenge of growing pickling types is harvest.
Credit: Dean Schoeppner
Pickling cucumbers are excellent formaking pickles and relishesas their name indicates, and they can also be enjoyed raw.
Their crunchy flesh adds crisp texture to salads and sandwiches.
Great pickling varieties include Fresh Pickles, which is grown both for pickling and slicing.
Credit:Keller & Keller
Endeavor has dark green flesh and good disease resistance.
Boston Pickling is an heirloom variety dating back to 1880.
The long, slender fruit has a thicker skin and slightly softer flesh than pickling cucumbers.
Credit: Jon Jensen
Slicing cucumbers can be harvested at any length but are most flavorful when harvested at 8 inches or so.
If left on the vine too long, theyll become bitter, and their seeds will harden.
Expect slicer cucumbers to have a crunchy texture and a mild, sweet flavor.
Credit: Kritsada Panichgul
Unlike the bland, spongy slicers from the grocery store, homegrown slicers are more crisp and flavorful.
Expect them to bestandout salad toppersor let them take center stageas an appetizer.
Lunchbox is a prolific producer of small or large fruitharvest them any time before theskins turn yellow.
Expect more than 130 fruit per vine.
Unique, international varieties are often heirlooms in their country of origin.
A few favorites include Beit Alpha, which is grown for its sweet flavor and exceptionally thin skin.
Suyo Long is a seedless, mild-flavored variety from northern China that grows about 18 inches long.
China Jade has striking yellow-green flesh and long, thin-skinned fruit.
Heirlooms
A smaller group of cucumbers, heirlooms are often uniquely shaped.
In fact, you might mistake some of these cukes for melons or tiny squash.
Lemon is an American favorite for more than 100 years.
It produces round fruit with light yellow skin and flesh with a mild, sweet flavor.
Enjoy them fresh or use them to make crunchy pickles.
Mexican Sour Gherkin produces tangy fruit that looks like miniature watermelons.
This variety has a cucumber-like taste with a twist of lemon.
Small Space Solutions
Cucumberscan be grown in potsorraised beds.
If trellising isnt a good option, several bush-jot down varieties are available.
Bush throw in cucumbers spread just 2 to 3 feet.
Expect traditional varieties to ramble 8 to 10 feet in all directions.
Slicers and picklers are most commonly available as bush types.
A few favorites include Bush Champion and Picklebush.
