Cucumber Picolino F1 (organic)

Snack cucumber Picolino F1 organic is a hybrid mini variety. It produces small, uniform, dark green, 10 to 12 cm long cucumbers with thin, shiny skin, a crunchy texture and a mild flavour, with no bitterness whatsoever. It is very productive, yielding 3 to 4 fruits at each node. It is a parthenocarpic variety: no bees, insects or a nearby male plant are needed for the flowers to produce cucumbers. Therefore, a single young plant is enough to give abundant harvests. The resulting fruits are seedless (or with very few seeds), making them even more pleasant to crunch.

Sow from April to June for a harvest from July to October, in open ground, in containers or under glass. This variety also stands out for its disease resistance (cladosporium leaf spot, powdery mildew, cucumber mosaic virus, CVYV), making it a safe and reliable choice for amateur gardeners and market gardeners alike.

Cucumbers appreciate light, loose, moist soils rich in humus. They like sunny positions and temperatures between 18 and 22 °C. They are thirsty vegetables, so regular watering is advised, especially during periods of intense heat or when the fruits are forming.

The cucumber is, along with the tomato, one of the star vegetables of summer. Refreshing, crunchy and low in calories, it can be enjoyed raw, in a compound salad or on its own, accompanied for example by a yoghurt, lemon and dill sauce. Thanks to its snack size, the Picolino F1 organic can also be enjoyed as is, as a healthy and thirst-quenching snack.

There are two main types of cucumbers: 'forcing' varieties, intended for cultivation under cover, and those suited to open ground. They can be smooth or thorny, long or half-long. Alongside these classic varieties, you can also find original cucumbers, like the Armenian Cucumber Melon or the Horned Melon, which are more demanding in terms of heat.
Picolino F1 organic, however, stands out in the mini-cucumber category for its ease of cultivation and high yield.

Harvest: pick the fruits when they reach their optimal size (10 to 12 cm), before they turn yellow. Regular harvesting stimulates the formation of new fruits and prolongs production.

Storage: Cucumbers keep for a few days in the refrigerator. To enjoy your harvest for longer, you can also preserve them in jars using lacto-fermentation or vinegar.

The gardener's little tip: like all cucurbits, cucumbers can be susceptible to powdery mildew, which appears as a white felting on the foliage. Remove severely affected leaves and spray with wettable sulphur every two weeks if necessary. In case of a light attack, a natural treatment based on diluted skimmed milk (10 to 20% in rainwater) may suffice. As a preventive measure, avoid watering the foliage and ensure good ventilation in your greenhouse if growing under cover. A spray of horsetail decoction also helps to strengthen the plants' natural defences.