North Carolina Heirloom Cucumber
Item Details
This flavorful variety produces small, straight, pale-yellow to white fruit with juicy, crunchy, and light-green flesh. The fruits are slightly ridged, measure 1.5-2" long and 3-3.7" wide, and weigh 2-4.5 ounces. Moderately vining plants have distinctly lobed leaves and dense foliage. This prized heirloom was donated to Seed Savers Exchange in the mid-1980s by member Marian Hart and can be traced back to a family that has stewarded it for more than a century in the mountains of North Carolina.
- 60-70 days
- Organic
- From the Collection
- Small, pale-yellow, juicy, crunchy fruit grows up to 2" long
This variety works for:
- Fresh eating
- Pickling
Cucumbers are most often used raw and are perfect in salads. Some chefs prefer to peel the skin off the fruit as it can be bitter.
Cucumbers pair well with mint an dill, which can be added directly to your salad or to dressings. Cucumber and mint can also be added to smoothies and juice. Tatziki sauce is made from shredded cucumber, yogurt, and dill.
Pickling cucumbers, however, are best for preserving in a solution of vinegar, salt, sugar, spices, and water. You can create countless number of combinations for your pickles to use on sandwiches, as a relish, or eaten as side dish.
Growing Instructions
Instructions - When growing plants on a trellis, space seed 6-8" apart and thin plants as necessary; train plants to climb the trellis with an initial guidance. Alternatively, make 12" hills at least 6' apart. Plant 6-8 cucumber seeds per hill 1" deep. After germination, thin to 3-4 plants per hill. Can also be started indoors 2-4 weeks before last frost. Cucumbers benefit from steady moisture.
- Direct Seed: 1" Deep
- Seeds to Hill: 6-8 Seeds
- Thin: To 3-4 Plants
- Light: Full Sun
Ratings & Reviews
8 reviews
North Carolina Crunchy
by carol
I just harvested the first NC Heirloom cucumber this morning and shared it with my husband. Oh my! It was delicious. Not as strong tasting as the common green cuke from the grocery story. But it was crunchy and slightly sweet. It had a large seed pouch with only about 1/3 inch of flesh. We ate some with the peel and some without. Both were good. The peel is not tough. I already have seeds In a jar ready to save. This is a keeper.
Notes on growing, very good plant
by Torry
Yea, I grew it too this year, liked it well. Trellised or not, did both and each produced well so far. Had to pick every day, not a bad problem to have. Made a little something at market, made a big batch of pickles, so worth the seed price. Planted 2x every other week and have 'em coming out my ears. Sure would love to know more about the origin since I'm right nextdoor here in 6b Southern Blue Ridge. Do tell.
cute
by mac
Easy and quick to grow. They continue to produce fruit throughout the season. crunchy and sweet. Might be a little seedy for some, but we didn't mind.
Love these cucumbers
by Kim
Bought these last year and they are great. Easy to grow, sweet cucs.
Big yield from each plant. Even my dog loves them. That's the only varmint I have to deal with. I'm in central NC.
WOW! Producer!!!
by Lizzie McD
Proven winner in my Georgia garden. 45 min north of Atlanta. Can be hot and dry and also can be quite wet. These germinate, and go to work immediately climbing and setting buds. They do not mind hot/dry, and they will tolerate wet. They are PROLIFIC producers. In one week, four plants produced almost 20 fruit. And, the following week - they were back at it with another 15. Didn't succumb to pest pressure until the very end of July. I highly recommed this variety.
Love them
by Elizabeth
I've grown these for a couple of years and love them!
They are a good producer. I don't peel them, I rub the little spines off and eat as is.
My dog loves them also. I'm disappointed that they are sold out.
Yay for small white cucumbers!!
by Anne
I'm so happy to come across these online. I was born in Catawba County 65 years ago, and my family and all my relatives there and westward in NC grew small, white cucumbers, and saved seed for the next year. People here in Chapel Hill thought I was crazy, longing for WHITE cucumbers. Those heirloom seeds are not found in the stores! I lucked into finding a newer variety at a farmer's market, and located the seeds at Johnny's Selected Seeds online: 'Salt and Pepper.' If you are too far east into the heat of central NC to grow the heirlooms, try those! They are delicious, very prolific, and have small seeds. We grow them in our church community garden and donate them to families -- these are the perfect size for a cucumber sandwich, or a kid to eat a whole cuke, or for pickling. For the Salt and Pepper as well as the NC Heirloom cukes, don't let them get as yellow as the ones in the photo!! Those are overripe, and you'll just get bigger seeds!
Love These Yellow Cucumbers!
by Krista S.
I absolutely loved these. I live in East Texas where temperatures stay in the 90's all summer. These cucumbers produced all the way through August (although they did slow down this last month as temperatures stayed around 100). I would slice them and eat plain, dip them in hummus, or put them on a veggie sandwich. I planted them in a raised bed and added strong string for them to climb. I didn't have any issues with bugs or disease.