Homemade Pickles Cucumber

Why I grow it

This is my cucumber for proper homemade pickles. Unlike Paris Pickles, which I pick tiny for cornichons, I let these develop into larger cucumbers and then cut them lengthways into chunky spears.

They're crisp, productive and exactly what I want when there needs to be a jar of pickles in the fridge — which, frankly, is most of the time.

At a glance

Type: Pickling cucumber
Fruit: Medium-sized, crisp and firm
Growth: Vigorous vine
Position: Full sun
Support: Excellent grown vertically
Best for: Pickle spears and bread-and-butter pickles
Harvest: Pick while firm and before fruit becomes oversized

In the kitchen

We use this one two ways: big crunchy dill pickle spears and bread-and-butter pickles for burgers.

Our Dill Pickle Spears

Pick the cucumbers when they're a decent size but still firm and crunchy. Cut each one lengthways into four and cram the spears tightly into a clean, wide-mouthed jar.

Add:

• A big handful of fresh dill
• Fennel seed or celery seed — whichever you fancy
• Garlic if that's how you're making that particular jar
• A few peppercorns if desired
• White vinegar
• Boiling water

I'd keep your same salting step from the cornichons if that's what you actually do here too — 30 minutes with sea salt, then drain and rinse — but I won't sneak it in unless you confirm you do.

Then pour white vinegar roughly one-third of the way up the packed jar, top with boiling water, seal and refrigerate.

Keep refrigerated. These are fridge pickles rather than shelf-stable preserves.

Bread & Butter Pickles

When the cucumbers start arriving faster than we can eat them, we also use them for bread-and-butter pickles. Sweet, sharp and crunchy, they're particularly good stuffed into burgers — although standing at the fridge eating them directly from the jar is also entirely acceptable.

We use Allyson Gofton's Bread and Butter Pickle recipe, which has become our go-to version.

Allyson Gofton's Bread and Butter Pickle recipe

In the garden

Homemade Pickles is a vigorous cucumber grown for firm fruit that holds its texture particularly well for preserving. Give the vines a sturdy trellis or arch and they'll happily head upwards, keeping the developing cucumbers visible and easy to harvest.

Unlike Paris Pickles, you don't need to pounce on these when they're the size of your little finger. Let them develop into useful pickle-sized cucumbers, but harvest while they're still firm and crisp rather than allowing them to become enormous and seedy.

Care

Same cucumber care: rich, fertile soil, full sun, consistent moisture and regular feeding once flowering and fruiting begins. Give it climbing support early.

What you'll receive

One healthy, established plant grown here at A Garden Between. Plants naturally vary in size and shape and may be supplied in reused nursery pots or growing bags — perfectly useful plastic doesn't need replacing simply because it doesn't match.