15 Types of Cucumbers that Climb While Growing

Based on the structure of the plants, we can broadly classify cucumbers as bush and climber varieties.

The climbing varieties are a blessing for gardeners who don’t have much space to grow vegetables.

These varieties can be easily trained to grow upward, which prevents the plants from spreading everywhere.

Let’s look at these varieties in closer detail.

15 Types of Cucumbers that Grow on Vines

Not all cucumbers are climbers.

If you’re pressed for space, vining cucumber varieties are the better choice because they grow upward, leaving enough space for other plants.

Additionally, these varieties are generally more resistant to disease and easy to harvest.

An added benefit is that gravity aids the growth of the vegetables, making them straight and without patches on the skin.

Here are some of the vining cucumbers to try.

1. Boston Pickling Cucumbers

Boston pickling cucumbers are a beautiful heirloom variety of vining cucumbers.

The plant produces abundant fruits under the right growing conditions.

They love sunlight, but you should grow them in the shade if it gets too hot where you live.

These cucumbers have bright green skin when they’re ready for harvesting.

Beneath the green skin is bright white flesh with seeds in the center.

The skin is thin and bumpy with tiny green specks.

As the name suggests, these cucumbers are best used for pickling.

Their crisp texture and delicious flavors make them taste good in pickles.

You can also use them in sushi, gazpacho, and other recipes that use thin-skinned cucumbers.

2. Boothby’s Blond Cucumbers

Boothby’s Blond cucumbers are named after a Livermore family that introduced this variety to the world.

These cucumbers have a unique white color.

The skin is creamy white with black spines, forming a salt-and-pepper effect.

The vines grow beyond 6 feet. Nonetheless, you can train them with a trellis and use these plants for container gardening.

These cucumbers are crisp and tender when ready for harvest.

They absorb flavors well and are good for pickling.

The main concern with Boothby’s Blond pickles is that they’re prone to powdery mildew.

3. Burpee Pickler Cucumbers

The Burpee Pickler is another pickling variety of cucumber that grows on vines.

This plant produces a large harvest under optimal growing conditions.

It’s also a fast-yielding variety, and you can harvest the cucumbers in less than two months of planting.

The Burpee Pickler is best grown vertically because the vines grow very tall.

When supported properly, they grow beyond eight feet.

These cucumbers are green and white with bumpy skin.

The flesh is soft, delicate, and absorbent. Hence, it’s good for preparing pickles.

4. Calypso Cucumbers

If you’re looking for a high and fast-yielding variety of vining cucumbers, Calypso is a good choice.

This cucumber produces plenty of fruits within just sixty days of planting.

The cucumbers are of similar size and green with white spines.

They should be harvested when they are 4 to 5 inches long.

Leaving them on the vine for too long can make them over-ripe.

The plant thrives when supported by a trellis.

The vines grow vigorously and produce fruits along their length.

Calypso cucumbers are versatile and can be used in various ways.

They make high-quality and flavorful pickles.

You can also add them to salads and use them in vegetable platters or sandwiches.

5. Sumter Cucumbers

Sumter cucumbers are one of the most widely used pickling varieties.

These plants grow tall and produce uniform, straight, blocky cucumbers along their length.

The cucumbers are five to six inches when fully mature.

They’re green with white spines. You can harvest the fruits before they reach this size to make pickles.

These cucumber plants do best when grown on a trellis.

The vines will grow profusely with suitable support and produce plenty of foliage and fruit.

These cucumbers will also be safer from pests, and the fruits will have better airflow when you grow them vertically.

6. Double-Yield Cucumbers

As the curious name suggests, double-yield cucumbers produce high yields.

It’s one of the few varieties that produce two cucumbers at each joint, which is twice as much as other varieties.

They’re one of the best choices for pickling and are widely used for gherkins and dills.

The cucumbers are dark green and look attractive in pickles.

Double-yield cucumbers also have soft and crunchy flesh with excellent flavor.

The cucumbers grow 4 to 5 inches in size.

The fruits are lime green with black spines. The skin is smooth and soft.

Apart from using them in pickles, you can also eat them fresh.

7. Hokus Cucumbers

Hokus cucumbers are cute and tiny cucumbers that grow profusely.

These cucumbers are seedless and don’t have any bitter-flavored bits.

They grow to the same size and come with spines on their skins. They’re an excellent choice for sweet pickles.

These are early-yielding cucumbers that you can harvest in less than two months.

You can use them for pickling when they’re just one to two inches long.

However, they will grow to a maximum size of four inches if you leave them on the plant.

Though Hokus plants grow best outdoors, you should shelter them from the sun.

These cucumbers have a delicious sweet flavor and a crisp and crunchy texture.

8. Lemon Cucumbers

Lemon cucumbers are a fascinating yellow variety of cucumbers that resemble lemons in shape and color.

These cucumbers develop a beautiful lemon-yellow color when they ripen.

They’re also round like lemons with a protruding stalk area.

Lemon cucumbers can grow on the ground, but they aren’t easy to train and can quickly take over your entire gardening space.

They grow better when supported by a trellis.

The vines can grow to six feet in height when adequately supported.

Despite their name, these cucumbers don’t have any citrusy flavors.

They’re mildly-flavored cucumbers with thin and tender skin.

9. Marketmore Cucumbers

Marketmore cucumbers are dark green cucumbers that always keep their straight shape regardless of the growing conditions.

These cucumbers grow on thick vines that grow upright without any support.

If you were to grow them on the ground, the vines would spread up to 40 inches on the ground.

The cucumbers are ready to pick when they’re 6 to 8 inches.

The fruits are of high quality, and you can use them in many ways.

Their crisp flesh makes them a good addition to salads.

You can also use Marketmore cucumbers in vegetable platters and pickles.

It’s a dependable variety that continuously produces cucumbers when you regularly harvest the fruits.

10. Honey Plus Cucumbers

Honey Plus cucumbers are an attractive and delicious sweet type of vining cucumber.

As the name suggests, these cucumbers have a mildly sweet taste and crispy, moist flesh.

These cucumbers have pale greenish-yellow skin with white flecks.

Apart from the taste, another factor that adds to the appeal of this cucumber is how quickly it ripens.

The fruits are ready for harvest within forty days of planting, making them one of the fastest-yielding cucumbers.

You can eat them raw or add them to salads and vegetable platters. The delicious flavors also work well in pickles.

11. Little Leaf H-19 Cucumbers

This cucumber variety is an excellent choice for container gardening because the vines are compact and don’t grow too high.

They will reach a maximum height of three feet, and it has smaller leaves than most cucumber plants.

They also have multi-branching vines.

The plants produce blocky, medium-size cucumbers with good flavors.

Each plant produces twenty to thirty cucumbers at once, resulting in a generous harvest.

These cucumbers taste good and can be eaten raw.

Due to the tiny size of the leaves, the fruits are highly visible on the plants.

12. Miniature White Cucumbers

Miniature white cucumbers are highly attractive tiny white cucumbers with ribbed skin.

These cucumbers lack the characteristic green coloring of the common varieties.

However, they’re extra-crispy and taste delicious.

Miniature white cucumbers grow on compact vines.

Although they’re a vining variety, the vines don’t grow too tall nor spread too far.

They reach a maximum height of three or four feet, which makes the plant suitable for container gardening.

They’re good for raw snacking.

13. Parisian Cucumbers

The Parisian cucumber is an exotic-looking cucumber with slender green fruits with prominent spines.

This French heirloom variety has firm, thick flesh and few seeds.

If you look at the plant, it’s a semi-vining variety that doesn’t grow or spread too far.

However, it grows well and produces abundant fruits when supported by a trellis.

The flavors of this cucumber make it a popular choice for pickles.

You can harvest the fruits when they’re still small and use them as gherkins.

14. Rhinish Pickle Cucumbers

The Rhinish pickle is a German cucumber cultivar that produces good yields of deliciously crunchy cucumbers.

The fruits grow on vines and are green with small bumps and black spines on the surface.

It’s best to harvest these cucumbers before they grow too big.

Picking them when they’re four or five inches will ensure they have the best flavors.

Allowing them to grow bigger will make the flesh turn soft and make the seeds bigger, reducing their appeal.

Although there are many ways to use these cucumbers, they taste best in pickles.

They have a slightly sour flavor, making them a great addition to cheese boards and sandwiches.

Interesting Reading: 8 Tips to Store Cut Cucumbers

15. Wisconsin SMR 58 Cucumbers

This cucumber cultivar is a high-yielding hybrid cucumber developed by the University of Wisconsin.

Many factors make this cucumber highly useful.

Firstly, they produce ample yields of healthy, lush fruits. Secondly, they’re disease-resistant and very hardy.

The vines grow to a height of four feet and continuously produce vegetables during the growing season.

The cucumbers are sweet and crisp, with complex flavors.

It’s an excellent pickling cucumber with medium green cucumbers that taper at the ends and have pronounced black spines.

The cucumbers are ready for harvesting in less than two months.

One of the best ways to use this pickling cucumber is in dill pickles.

The tender and juicy flesh of the vegetables absorb spices, herbs, and other seasonings and make delicious pickles.