Squash & cucumbers
Cucumber
Spring and fall vines on a trellis; skip summer.
- Outside
- Direct late Mar to Apr, again late Jul to early Aug
- Where
- Raised bed or in ground, on a trellis
- Sun
- Full sun
- Water
- Deep weekly soak; steady moisture, at the base
- Harvest
- May to Jun, then Sep to Oct
Care
- Water
- Deeply and about weekly, in the early morning on the soil; skip any week that brings half an inch of rain, and lean toward the county's 1 to 2 inch August target while the fall round climbs. Steady moisture matters more than extra feed here, so mulch and keep the rhythm.
- Sow
- Direct sow, 1 to 2 seeds a half inch deep thinned to the strongest, with the trellis up the same day so the vines climb and the leaves dry fast. Late March to April for spring; late July to early August for the fall round, a fast variety under the county's 60-day cap.
- Feed
- Compost worked in at planting, then fish and seaweed liquid every 2 weeks once the vines run, kept modest. Hold all feeding through the July-August heat; restart lightly with the fall round.
- Ready
- Pick young and firm before the skin toughens or the color yellows, and keep picking; one hidden yellow fruit tells the vine to ease off. Snip stems rather than yanking. The spring round runs to the June heat; the fall round picks into October ahead of the mid-November frost.
- Trouble
- The calendar is the honest trouble here: a spring vine slowing as mid-June heat builds is on schedule, and a fall sowing later than early August races frost. A plant that droops at 4 p.m. and rebounds by evening is handling the heat; still wilted in the morning means a real soak.
In a bag?
- Yes
- Up to a 5–10 gal bag.
- Water
- Daily in the heat, twice a day in a heat wave, until it drains from the holes; afternoon shade or 30 to 50 percent shade cloth through the gap.
- Feed
- Dilute liquid feed on the watering calendar, leached weekly with plain water; hold the feed when days top 90F.
- Sow
- One or two plants per bag with the trellis set the same day; a large bag on a trellis works for the spring and fall rounds only, never a summer bag.
Cucumbers run fast twice here: a spring sowing on the trellis picked into June, then a late-July fall round that climbs and fills through October.
Growing
The county list carries cucumbers on both ends: sow late March to April once the soil warms, and again late July to early August for the fall round, which the county caps at 60-day varieties. Train the vines up a trellis set the same day as sowing; the leaves dry faster and the fruit hangs straight. Even moisture counts for more than feeding, and the spring round hands off as the mid-June gap opens, exactly when the fall sowing goes in.
Varieties
The state sheet splits the Texas list the usual way: pickling (Calypso, Carolina, Fancypak, Multipik, National Pickling) and slicing (Burpless, Dasher II, Poinsett 76, Slice Master, Straight 8, Sweet Slice, Sweet Success). National Pickling is the escabeche jar's own class; any of the slicers eats fresh.
In the kitchen
The pickling class is the reason the row exists in a salsa kitchen: quick jars of escabeche with carrot, onion and a chile from the pepper bed, plus refrigerator dills for the week. Slicers go straight to the table, smashed with salt or cut into spears alongside the pico bowl.