Pickling Cucumber
Homemade Pickles cucumber is a prolific, compact pickling variety bred for gardeners who want crisp, homemade pickles without the canning equipment. This heirloom, open-pollinated cucumber produces high yields of small fruits perfect for refrigerator pickles or dill spears, maturing in just 60 days. It grows in hardiness zones 2, 13, thrives in full sun, and its compact habit makes it surprisingly easy to tuck into containers or smaller garden spaces. With its thick skin and crunchy texture, every bite tastes like fresh-picked flavor.
Full Sun
Moderate
2-13
8in H x 48in W
Annual
High
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This cucumber delivers the thick skin and satisfying crunch that makes homemade pickles worth the effort, without requiring any special canning knowledge or equipment. Its compact growing habit sets it apart from sprawling pickling varieties, making it genuinely practical for container gardening and tight spaces. You can harvest fruits at 1.5 inches for tiny gherkins or wait until they reach 5 to 6 inches for traditional dill spears, and the variety's disease resistance means you spend more time pickling and less time troubleshooting.
Homemade Pickles cucumber is specifically bred for pickling, whether you prefer tiny gherkins cured whole or traditional dill spears. The variety also works fresh; its thin skin and tender flesh make it pleasant sliced in salads or eaten raw. Its compact vine and prolific fruit production make it well-suited to consistent harvesting every few days during peak season, ensuring a steady supply for pickling projects or fresh eating throughout summer.
Start seeds indoors 2 to 4 weeks before your average last frost date in biodegradable pots, as cucumbers are sensitive to root disturbance during transplanting.
Transplant seedlings outdoors 1 to 2 weeks after your average last frost date, when soil temperature is at least 60°F and ideally 70°F to 90°F.
Direct sow seeds outdoors 1 to 2 weeks after your average last frost date when soil temperature reaches at least 60°F.
Harvest cucumbers when they are firm and uniformly green. For pickling, pick fruits when small before seeds form; you can harvest at 1.5 inches for gherkins or wait until they reach 5 to 6 inches for dill spears. Use a knife or garden shears to avoid disturbing the vine during harvest. Remove very large cucumbers even if you don't need them, as leaving oversized fruit on the plant signals the vine to slow production. Consistent harvesting every few days during peak season keeps plants productive and ensures the highest yields.
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“Homemade Pickles cucumber comes from Mountain Valley Seed Co., a small, family-owned seed company known for sourcing and preserving heirloom varieties. It is an open-pollinated, heirloom cucumber saved and grown for generations by home gardeners who valued reliable yields and the ease of saving seeds for the next season. The variety reflects a broader gardening movement toward self-sufficiency, particularly the DIY preservation movement that turned refrigerator pickling into an accessible alternative to formal home canning.”