No garden would be complete without a few cucumber plants. Although easy and rewarding to grow, are the ones in your garden really good cucumbers? Here are a few pointers to help improve the quality and quantity of this garden staple.

Variety Selection - Personal preference dictates whether you choose slicers or picklers, vine or bush type. However you might want to consider the burpless forms. These recent hybrids lack the chemical that contributes to the bitterness often associated with cucumbers. An additional advantage to this absence of the bitterness chemical is a natural protection from the cucumber beetle.

Space - Most varieties need 12 to 18 inches between plants and three to four feet between rows. However, to conserve on space, cucumbers can be easily grown vertically on a trellis. Given the effect of gravity, this technique permits the fruit to grow nice and straight [1] and the increased air flow helps ward off fungal diseases.

Moisture - Because cucumbers are shallow rooted and so fast growing, they need a lot of water, especially when they are flowering and fruiting. An inch to an inch and a half per week should be adequate. The addition of a layer of mulch after the soil has warmed up in late June will aid tremendously in conserving this moisture.

The next time you plant cucumbers, take a few extra minutes and incorporate these suggestions into you garden plans. The rewards will be worth the extra time.