Group/Class:  Heirloom

Description:

A beautiful vigorous heirloom variety; produces an abundant amount of 6" long, dark green cucumbers with black spines; crisp and delicious, ideal for pickling yet great for fresh eating and salads; trellising is recommended

Edible Qualities

National Pickling Cucumber is an annual vegetable plant that is commonly grown for its edible qualities. It produces small dark green long cucumbers (which are technically 'berries') with black spines and light green flesh which can be harvested at any point. The cucumbers have a delicious taste and a crisp texture.

The cucumbers are most often used in the following ways:

• Fresh Eating
• Eating When Cooked/Prepared
• Pickling

Planting & Growing

National Pickling Cucumber will grow to be about 12 inches tall at maturity, with a spread of 4 feet. When planted in rows, individual plants should be spaced approximately 12 inches apart. This fast-growing vegetable plant is an annual, which means that it will grow for one season in your garden and then die after producing a crop.

This plant is typically grown in a designated vegetable garden. It should only be grown in full sunlight. It does best in average to evenly moist conditions, but will not tolerate standing water. It is not particular as to soil pH, but grows best in rich soils. It is quite intolerant of urban pollution, therefore inner city or urban streetside plantings are best avoided. Consider applying a thick mulch around the root zone over the growing season to conserve soil moisture. This is a selected variety of a species not originally from North America, and it is considered by many to be an heirloom variety.

National Pickling Cucumber is a good choice for the vegetable garden, but it is also well-suited for use in outdoor pots and containers. It is often used as a 'filler' in the 'spiller-thriller-filler' container combination, providing the canvas against which the larger thriller plants stand out. Note that when growing plants in outdoor containers and baskets, they may require more frequent waterings than they would in the yard or garden.