Seeds, Cucumber Excelsior (West Coast Seeds)

This is an outstanding pickling variety for full season production and home gardening. Plants are open and have a vigorous habit with medium to dark-green fruits averaging 10-12cm (4-5") in length. Excelsior is a parthenocarpic variety with high resistance to Cornyspora and scab, with intermediate resistance to powdery mildew, cucumber mosaic virus, and vein yellowing virus. Try it at home for high tunnel growing. Keep Excelsior cucumber plants picked, and they will reward you with buckets of cucumbers, the perfect size and shape for making dill pickles. 

Matures in 65 days

Season Warm season

Exposure Full-sun

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): 15-30°C (60-85°F).

Starting
Sow 3-4 seeds 2cm (1″) deep in each spot you want a plant to grow. Thin to the strongest seedling. Space plants 23cm (9″) apart in rows 90cm (36″) apart.

Companion Planting
Plant cucumbers beside asparagus, beans, Brassicas, celery, corn, dill, kohlrabi, lettuce, onion, peas, radish, and tomatoes. Avoid planting near potatoes and sage. Both corn and sunflowers can act as a trellis for cucumbers to good effect. Dill will help cucumbers by attracting predatory insects, and nasturtiums is said to improve the flavour and growth of cucumbers.