“Homemade pickles” isn’t just the name of a tasty snack; it’s also a type of cucumber. As you can imagine, Homemade Pickles Cucumbers are perfect for making fresh, tasty pickles.
If you love pickles, then these cucumbers are for you. Keep reading to learn all about this fruit, how to use it, and how to grow it yourself.
Characteristics of Homemade Pickles Cucumbers
Type of Cucumber
Cucumbers are usually classified as burpless, slicing, or pickling. As their name suggests, Homemade Pickles Cucumbers fall into the pickling category.
Pickling cucumbers are bred for, you guessed it, pickling. This means they’re shorter in length, wider, and often have thinner skins than other cucumber varieties. Perfect for storing in a jar!
Appearance
These cucumbers are a medium shade of green with white spines.
Like other pickling cucumbers, Homemade Pickles Cucumbers are smaller in size. They are usually harvested when they are anywhere between one-and-a-half and six inches long.
Eating Homemade Pickles Cucumbers
How They Taste
Eaten fresh, Homemade Pickles Cucumbers are slightly sweet, mild, juicy, and crisp.
However, these cucumbers are often eaten as pickles. Pickled, they have a perfect salty and sour flavor, enhanced by whatever spices are added to the brine.
How to Use Them
With a name like “Homemade Pickles”, it should be no surprise that the best way to use these cucumbers is to make them into pickles.
As mentioned above, these cucumbers can be harvested when they are between one-and-a-half and six inches in length. The smaller cucumbers are best for making sweet pickles, and the larger ones are great for making dill pickles.
Try this sweet pickle recipe or this dill pickle recipe. Then, eat your pickles by themselves for a snack, add them to a sandwich, or turn them into relish.
Health Benefits
Not only are Homemade Pickles Cucumbers tasty, but they’re quite healthy, too.
Cucumbers are low in calories and fat, with just ten calories in a medium-sized fruit. They’re also a good source of fiber, Vitamin C, and other nutrients.
If you’re eating your cucumbers as pickles, keep in mind that pickles are high in sodium, so they should be eaten in moderation.
Where to Buy Homemade Pickles Cucumbers
Homemade Pickles Cucumbers are popular among home growers, and they may be more difficult to find in stores.
I recommend trying local farmers markets or specialty stores, or try your hand at growing them yourself.
Growing Them At Home
Homemade Pickles Cucumbers are great to grow at home! Not only does the plant produce the perfect cucumbers for pickling, but it also produces a high yield and is disease resistant.
Keep reading for more information about growing this particular type of cucumber. For a more in-depth guide, visit our How to Plant Cucumbers post!
Growing Conditions
Cucumbers like warm weather and Homemade Pickles Cucumbers are no different. They grow during the summer months and should be planted in full, direct sunlight.
One major benefit of this particular cucumber variety is its resistance to common diseases. Homemade Pickles Cucumbers are resistant to several types of mildew as well as cucumber mosaic virus, among other diseases.
Planting the Seeds
Plant your Homemade Pickles Cucumber seeds once the weather has warmed and the risk of frost has passed. Soil should be at least 60 degrees Fahrenheit, but ideally above 70 degrees Fahrenheit.
You can sow these seeds either inside or outside, but I recommend planting them directly outside to avoid disturbing the roots, which are sensitive.
Plant seeds in groups of two, a half-inch deep, with 12 inches of space between each seed group. If you plant seeds in hills, you can reduce this spacing to six inches. Leave three to four feet of space between rows to give the vines room to grow.
Once seedlings emerge after about five to ten days, thin plants to just one seedling every 12 inches.
Watering
Cucumbers need regular water, at least one inch per week. However, if you live in a particularly warm or dry climate, your cucumbers may need even more.
It’s best to water your cucumbers consistently and evenly. Otherwise, they may grow misshapen.
Additionally, ensure your soil is well-draining to keep your plants healthy.
Maintenance
Fortunately, because these cucumbers are disease-resistant, they don’t need quite as much maintenance as other, less disease-resistant varieties.
For best results, I recommend using a trellis. This helps give the vines space to grow, produces straighter cucumbers, and helps keep your plant clean and healthy.
It’s also important to ensure your cucumbers are properly pollinated.
Homemade Pickling Cucumbers are monoecious, meaning they grow separate male and female flowers. The female flowers produce the fruit, but they need pollination from the male flowers in order to do so.
Cucumbers are most commonly pollinated by bees and other animals, but you may consider pollinating them by hand if needed.
Harvesting Your Cucumbers
Homemade Pickles Cucumbers reach maturity in around 55 days, depending on how you plan to use them and how big you want them to grow.
Once they reach the desired length, they are ready for harvest!
To harvest your cucumbers, use scissors or garden shears to cut them at the stem. Avoid pulling the fruits, because the stems are fragile, and doing so will risk damaging the plant.
Make sure to harvest the cucumbers when they are ready. If you leave too many overripe cucumbers on the vine, it will slow down the production of additional fruits.
Where to Buy Seeds
The easiest way to find Homemade Pickles Cucumber seeds is online, and there are many online retailers to choose from. Here is one option we recommend:
You may be able to find these seeds in person, too, but with so many different cucumber varieties out there, stores may not always carry this particular type. It’s best to call your local seed stores or larger retailers first to see if they carry this type.
Ready for the Perfect Homemade Pickles?
As you can see, Homemade Pickles Cucumbers are the perfect plant for pickle lovers. Add it to your home garden to have a fresh cucumber supply all summer long, and turn the yield into pickles that last even longer!
Ready to continue discovering these funky fresh vegetables? Then learn more about cucumbers by checking out my planting guides, recipe tips, brand suggestions, and more!