Heirloom SMR58 Pickling Cucumber
$2.99
These open pollinated heirloom cucumbers are a dark, green-black spined mild flavored fruit. They are tolerant to scab, black spot and mosaic virus. Developed at the University of Wisconsin in 1959, this ever-bearing variety produces masses of small crisp, sweet fruits over the whole growing season if kept well picked. Great variety for pickling and canning.
9 in stock
Product Description
Difficulty:
Easy
Timing:
Cucumbers need very warm soil to germinate. If direct sowing, wait until mid-June. If weather turns cool and wet after that, just re-sow. Or start transplants indoors in individual peat or coir pots 3-4 weeks before transplanting out into warm soil. If starting indoors, use bottom heat. Transplant when the plants develop their third true leaf. If the plants are too big, they may experience transplant shock. Optimal soil temperature for germination (and transplanting) is 60-85°F.
Starting:
Sow 3-4 seeds 1″ deep in each spot you want a plant to grow. Thin to the strongest seedling. Space plants 9-12″ apart in rows 36″ apart.
Growing:
Ideal pH: 6.0-6.8. Choose a warm, well-drained soil. Raised beds work well. Add dolomite lime and compost or well-rotted manure to the bed and ½-1 cup of complete organic fertilizer mixed into the soil beneath each transplant. Cucumbers are vigorous and need lots of nutrition and water. Use plastic, mulch, plant under floating row cover or cloches – anything to warm things up. Once the weather warms up, keep soil evenly moist. When plants begin to flower, remove covers so bees can access the flowers to pollinate. Fruit that is not fully pollinated will be very small and shriveled, and should be removed from the plant. Most varieties should produce fruits until the weather begins to cool down. Keep plants well picked for better production. Try to water the soil only, keeping the leaves as dry as possible.
Almost all cucumbers benefit from being trained onto a trellis of some kind. Some vines can reach 7 or 8 feet in length, so growing them upward onto a trellis makes good use of garden space. Fruits that grow hanging into space tend to be straighter than those that form on the ground.
Harvest:
For a continuous harvest, make successive plantings every 2 to 3 weeks until about 3 months before first fall frost date. Keep picking the cucumbers regularly, because if they get too big, the plant will stop producing. About one month before first frost, start pinching off new flowers so plants channel energy into ripening existing fruit.
Days to Maturity: 58 days
Planting Depth: 1″
Distance Apart: 9″ – 12″
Amount: 1g
