Do you love growing cucumbers in your organic garden? Perhaps you have never tried growing them before and are thinking about giving them a try. Whether it’s your first or fifth year of growing cucumbers, deciding which seeds to choose can be challenging. There are many different varieties, traits, and colors to choose from! The list of seeds for cucumbers available is endless. This blog post will help you choose which cucumber seeds are the best.
What is an English cucumber?
English cucumbers are a true summertime treat. They are mild, refreshing, and slightly sweet, but they have a thin skin and seeds that don’t need to be removed. That makes them the perfect choice when you’re looking for something to snack on, making homemade pickles, or needing a quick way to jazz up a salad or sandwich.
Here’s why an English cucumber is your best bet for all uses.
An English cucumber is long and thin with dark green skin that is also very thin. The flesh is pale green and crisp with tiny edible seeds. They can grow up to 12 inches, whereas typical garden-variety cucumbers are usually about half that length. Some varieties of English cucumbers are seedless, but almost all of them can be eaten without peeling because the skin is so thin. English cucumbers are often wrapped in plastic at the grocery store — this keeps them from drying out — but most supermarkets also sell unwrapped ones at less of an expense if you don’t mind sacrificing some shelf life. In either case, once you get them home, store them in a plastic bag.
To start, what’s the difference between an English cucumber and the standard variety? It comes down to three things:
- Size. English cucumbers are bigger than regular cukes. They’re typically 8 to 9 inches long, while slicers range from 6 to 7 inches.
- Seeds. English cucumbers are seedless, so there’s no need to scoop out the center with a spoon.
- Skin. Regular cucumbers have bumpy skin that’s often waxed to preserve freshness, while the peel of English cucumbers is smooth and unwaxed.
Are mini cucumbers the same as English cucumbers?
Sometimes called English or gherkin cucumbers, Mini cucumbers are the same species as regular garden cucumbers. In fact, they can be used in place of regular cucumbers in most recipes. A mini cucumber is just a small cucumber. It’s not a special type of cucumber, and it’s not a different variety of cucumber. It’s just a baby cucumber, picked before it has grown to the size of a full-grown cucumber. Because mini cucumbers are small, they are often used in salads or added to other dishes as a garnish. They can also be eaten by themselves.
The flavor of a mini cucumber is much like the flavor of an English cucumber, although they do tend to be sweeter than regular garden cucumbers. They are also less bitter than most garden cucumbers or pickling cukes. The nice thing about mini cucumbers is that they don’t need any peeling, and there are very few seeds inside them. This does make them great for salads or for serving fresh as snacks for kids who might not like the skin of a full-size cucumber.
Best English Cucumber Seeds
Tendergreen Burpless
Cucumber Seeds – Tendergreen Burpless
75 days to harvest. This is the classic Heirloom burpless cucumber, an extremely popular variety for its mild flavor and thin skin, so peeling is no need! Tendergreen produces loads of 12″ long, dark green fruits with a slight taper on vigorous vines. Excellent fresh or pickled. The plant is resistant to many diseases that plague cucumbers: scab, anthracnose, angular leaf spot, powdery and downy mildew. It’s also resistant to cucumber mosaic virus, making it one of the best choices for organic gardeners. Tendergreen is tolerant of heat and will do better in warmer summer climates than most other varieties. Often referred to as “seedless” because the seeds are very small and tender, these easy-to-grow plants produce an abundant harvest of slender cucumbers with few spines and smooth skins. The leaves of this disease-resistant plant provide plenty of shade to keep the fruit from getting sunburned.
Garden Sweet Burpless
Cucumber Seeds – Garden Sweet Burpless
Garden Sweet Burpless Cucumber is an heirloom, slicing cucumber that descends from a cross between a commercial variety and a wild cucumber. The cucumbers are sweet with no bitterness, crisp, and have small seed cavities. The vines produce fruits that grow from 12 to 15 inches long and are semi-spineless. The fruit is dark green in color and oblong in shape.
Its name comes from the fact that it produces burpless cucumbers, which means they don’t produce the gas that causes people to burp after eating them! This variety also has female flowers only, making it perfect for home gardeners.
Pepinex
Pepinex
Looking to grow a cucumber that is mild and sweet with no bitterness? Look no further than Pepinex! This variety was selected for its high quality, uniformity, and ease of harvest. Pepinex has an attractive dark green skin color and is vigorous in the field. It performs best when grown on a trellis (or similar supportive structure) which helps avoid disease and promotes the growth of long, straight fruit. Pepinex can be grown with or without spines if harvested at the proper size. Start harvesting when fruit reaches 6-8″. Enjoy fresh from the garden or in salads. Matures in 50 days.
Bella
Bella
Tender, smooth-skinned, and deliciously sweet, this cucumber is a garden favorite. Its crunchy flesh is perfect for salads and snacking, while its relatively small seeds make it ideal for pickling. A prolific producer resistant to powdery mildew, downy mildew, and scab. The compact vines grow up to 6 feet long and can be grown with or without support.
Poinente
Poinente
Cucumber Poniente is one of the most uniform, early-maturing slicer cucumbers you can buy. The dark green fruits grow straight and true to 8-9″ long before their skin gets speckled. Pick them young and tender for eating fresh, or leave them to get seedy for pickling. Poniente keeps producing all season in a compact bush that’s well suited to growing in containers.
Telegraph Improved
Telegraph Improved
A classic English cucumber, the Telegraph Improved is an heirloom variety that has been grown for more than 100 years. The long, slender fruits are mild and sweet with light green skin and crisp, juicy flesh. This cuke is widely considered one of the best tasting cukes in the world! Best flavor if allowed to grow to full size. Telegraph Improved is also tolerant of downy and powdery mildew.
Sweet Success
Burpee Sweet Success Slicing Cucumber Seeds 20 seeds
Burpee’s Sweet Success is an early, high-yielding slicing cucumber. Burpee bred this disease-resistant hybrid to resist powdery mildew, scab, and cucumber mosaic virus. These vigorous, uniform plants have dark green skin, white spines, and crisp, sweet flesh. Use in salads, for pickling, and for snacking. A popular choice for home gardeners. Cucumbers are easy to grow in the garden or containers and will reward you with fresh tasting fruit all summer long.
Burpless Hothouse
Burpless Hothouse Cuc
English Burpless Cucumber can reach a length of 12 inches with a smooth and crisp skin. This variety has a mild flavor and is easy to digest. English Burpless Cucumber has a burpless taste that makes it easier to eat without getting gassy. English Burpless Cucumbers are an excellent source of Vitamin C, Potassium, and Fiber. English Burpless Cucumbers thrive in full sun and moist soil. English Burpless Cucumber seeds germinate in 5-10 days and are ready to harvest in 55-65 days.
If you are looking for some English Cucumber seeds and want to know which ones are the best, the following article should give you some information on the available types of cucumber seeds. Would you like to know how to grow and harvest cucumbers from scratch? Then watch this.
Other Best English Cucumber Seed Varieties
Tasty and easy to grow, cucumbers are among the most popular crops grown in home gardens. They’re also one of the most nutritious veggies you can eat, making a great low-calorie snack. Here are the best varieties of English cucumbers that are top performers.
Tasty Jade
Tasty Jade is an early-maturing variety that produces consistently heavy yields of long (about 10 to 12 inches), slim, dark green fruits. The flesh is crisp and juicy with few seeds and a very mild flavor. Tasty Jade grows well in cool climates, making it an excellent choice for northern gardeners. The vines are strong, and will grow up a trellis if you provide one, but they don’t need to produce well.
Slicemaster
Slicemaster is another excellent choice for gardeners in the north who want to enjoy fresh cucumbers all summer long. The high-yielding vines produce an abundant crop of dark green fruits about 9 inches long with few seeds and a crunchy texture. They’re deliciously sliced or diced into salads or sandwiches. Slicemaster has a vigorous growth habit and doesn’t require any support from a trellis or fence.
Sweet Success
This hybrid variety is a prolific producer with the potential to yield up to 25 pounds of fruit per plant. This is one of the most popular varieties by far. The fruits average about nine inches long and 1 1/2 inches wide but can get up to 12 inches long when grown under ideal conditions. The thin and dark green skin and the plants don’t sprawl very much, making them well-suited for growing in containers.
Patio Pickle
These little cukes grow only 6 inches long on compact plants that produce up to 40 cucumbers per plant! They are perfect for growing in hanging baskets or pots on the patio, deck, or balcony. They also taste great pickled!
Spacemaster 80
One of the most attractive varieties, this variety produces dark green, straight cucumbers that grow up to 8 inches long. The vines spread about 4 feet wide, making them a good fit for trellises or fences, and produce medium-sized fruit.
Sprint
Sprint English cucumber plants produce tasty 6-inch-long fruits 55 days after planting. The fruits are crisp and have a mild flavor with few seeds. Sprint grows well in containers as well as in the ground.
Raja F1 Hybrid
Raja F1 hybrid cucumber plants produce dark green fruits that grow up to 10 inches long. Their skin is thin and tender, with very few seeds. Raja plants require staking; they do not produce tendrils for climbing. Raja has resistance to multiple diseases and does best in warm weather. Raja produces a large crop with a short growing season of about 50 days.
Marketmore 76 Cucumber
Marketmore 76 cucumber plants produce smooth, dark green fruits that grow 7 to 9 inches long and about 1 1/4 inch in diameter. These cucumbers have a crisp texture and sweet flavor, with few seeds. They have resistance to scab and downy mildew but are prone to powdery mildew and mosaic virus. Marketmore 76 is an adaptable plant that grows well in most conditions but prefers warm weather and is sensitive to cool temperatures.
Bush Champion
This variety is perfect if you want to grow English cucumbers in a container garden or on a patio. It grows well in a small space, producing high yields without much space in your yard or garden. Bush Champion has excellent disease resistance, and its fruit is ready to harvest within 60 days after planting.
Armenian cucumbers
These are more like melons than traditional cucumbers and come on a vine with large leaves. The flesh is crisp and juicy and perfect for salads and sandwiches.
Beit Alpha
This variety is a classic Middle Eastern type of English cucumber. It’s named after the city where it was developed in Israel, Bet Shean. It’s excellent for slicing because of its thin skin and lack of seeds.
Boothby Blonde
This variety looks more like zucchini with its rounded shape and yellow skin. It’s ideal for pickling or eating fresh with hummus or tzatziki sauce.
