cucumber

When to sow cucumbers?

Botanical name
Cucumis sativus
Family
Cucurbitaceae

Cucumbers are sown outdoors from May to June, 2 cm deep. They germinate in 7 to 14 days. They are harvested from July to October.

Cucumbers are annual plants. The edible part is the fruit.

cucumber
Photo: Stephen Ausmus, USDA ARS

Cucumbers through the year

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Indoor sowing
Transplanting
Outdoor sowing
Harvest
15913172125293337414549
  • indoor sowing
  • transplanting
  • outdoor sowing
  • harvest

In short

Outdoor sowing
from May to June
weeks 21 to 24
the window opens a week after the last frost
Indoor sowing
from April to May
weeks 16 to 19
the window opens five weeks before the last frost
Transplanting
from May to June
weeks 21 to 23
the window opens a week after the last frost
Sowing depth
2 cm
Spacing in the row
20 to 50 cm
80 to 150 cm between rows
Germination
7 to 14 days
Germination temperature
21 °C
Days to maturity
50 to 70 days
Harvest
from July to October
weeks 29 to 41

The last frost is not on the same day everywhere, so the recorded weeks are a guide and not a date.

Growing conditions

🪨
Soil
loamy
🧪
pH
5.5 to 6.5
☀️
Sun
full sun
💧
Water
moderate water
❄️
Frost
does not tolerate frost
🌱
Nutrients
a moderate feeder
🔁
Crop rotation
no sooner than the fourth year
📏
Height
20 to 45 cm

Companions in the bed

Companion planting is tradition and not an agronomic claim. What is recorded is which pairs sources recommend and which they advise against.

bean cited

Next to cucumbers the neighbours go to the edge of the bed.

beetroot cited
celery cited

Next to cucumbers the neighbours go to the edge of the bed.

kohlrabi cited

Kohlrabi is a quick catch crop.

leek cited

Next to cucumbers the neighbours go to the edge of the bed.

sunflower cited

The sunflower as a living support. It works only if it is sown a few weeks earlier.

sweet corn cited
  • “Cited” means the pair is named by one source or two.

Pests and diseases

Listed here is every problem for which the sources name this plant as a host. The problems are not listed in order of how common they are.

Aphids

pest
Signs
Colonies of small aphids sit on the shoot tips and the underside of the leaves. The leaf curls and puckers, and sticky honeydew is left on everything below. The viruses they carry are more dangerous than the feeding itself.
Prevention
Go easy on nitrogen, because soft sappy growth is what aphids are looking for. Encourage the predators (ladybirds, lacewings, parasitic wasps). Use a reflective mulch, which puts them off settling, and a strong jet of water to knock the colony off the tips.

Powdery mildew

disease
Signs
A white, floury coating spreads over the leaves, first on the lower and older ones. The leaf under it yellows and dries up. The fruit stays small, because the plant loses leaf surface.
Prevention
Plant resistant varieties, leave an airy spacing and sun, and clear the debris at the end of the season. Unlike most fungi it is not helped by wet foliage, since it spreads in heat and high air humidity, in a dry summer too.

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Related plants

The plants below are in the same botanical family (Cucurbitaceae).

Sources about the plant: Bayerische Landesanstalt für Weinbau und Gartenbau, Clemson Cooperative Extension, GBIF Backbone Taxonomy, KGZS Zavod Ljubljana, KGZS Zavod Nova Gorica, NC State Extension Plant Toolbox, Royal Horticultural Society, Semenarna Ljubljana, Smernice za strokovno utemeljeno gnojenje (Mihelič et al., MKGP 2011), Utah State University Extension, Wikidata. Checked between 14 and 28 August 2026. The problem descriptions also draw on: KGZS, UF/IFAS Extension, University of Maryland Extension, University of Wisconsin-Madison Division of Extension.