Cucumber

Healthy snacks from your garden

Growing cucumbers in your garden: first you’ll be amazed by their rapid growth. Then the second part of the fun begins: harvesting and snacking.

You can plant them yourself in containers, pots or beds, so they’re also suitable for balconies or your (roof) terrace. Some plants are even sold with a few cucumbers already in place. These pre-cultivated plants surprise you over the summer with small yellow flowers and then with delicious healthy cucumbers. Cucumber plants come as climbers and also in a dwarf variety which is ideal for pots and containers. 

Origin

Cucumber plants bear the Latin name Cucumus sativus, which means ‘cultivated’. The plants originate from India, where they have been grown for 3000 years. The Romans brought them to Western Europe via the countries around the Mediterranean. 

Trivia 

  • Vegetable or fruit? It’s always a source of confusion. From a culinary and horticultural perspective, cucumbers are a vegetable.  

  • The gherkin is closely related to the cucumber - it’s basically its little brother. You grow them in the same way. 

  • Cucumbers consist of 90% water, fibre and nutrients and contain few calories, making them the ideal snack.

  • The cucumber season falls during the quiet days of summer, giving you more time to spend in your vegetable patch.