Meet Cucumber

Fruit or Vegetable Vegetable (botanically a fruit!)

Color Leaves: green. Fruit Skin: green, brown, yellow, striped white and green. Fruit Flesh – white, light green

Edible Parts Fruit, seeds and peels

Season Year-Round (peak spring and summer)

Seeds vs cutting Seeds

How it grows Vine with hanging fruits

Nutrition Fruit: vitamins A, B9, C & K; Skin: fiber, silica/ Supports: connective tissue, cools inflammation, hydration

About the plant

Cucumbers originated in Southeast Asia more than 10,000 years ago. They are in the same family as melons and squash. More than 70% of cucumbers grown are used to make pickles. Cucumbers have a cooling effect in and on the body. Cucumbers can be used on the skin to reduce puffiness under the eyes, heal sunburns and dermatitis. Cucumbers have strong vining tendrils. They will wrap onto whatever they can use to pull themselves up! Many cucumbers have tiny spikes on the fruit for protection against predators.

How Cucumbers Grow

Cucumbers grow on vines. As the tendrils help the vines crawl, you'll soon start to see flowers. The flowers turn into cucumbers!

When to pick the fruit?

Cucumbers come in all shapes and sizes. The fruits will look differently depending on what variety of cucumber you are growing. The cucumbers should be firm and fully developed. The color should be bright and vibrant. The cucumber will begin to dull in color and get soft when it is past its prime… but this is perfect for saving seeds!

Pick before the skin gets too tough

I personally don’t mind tough skin, but it’s not usually a big hit with most people. For a more delicate skin, pick before the cucumber gets too big!

Pick before the seeds get too BIG!

The larger the cucumber grows, the bigger the seeds get.