Best Cucumber Varieties for Scotland

Cucumbers come in two kinds that do different jobs: greenhouse types bred to crop smooth and sweet under glass, and hardier ridge types for open ground. In Scotland, choosing the right kind for your setup matters more than the exact variety, and growing the wrong one is a common reason for bitter fruit or plants that flower without cropping.

Greenhouse or ridge: why it matters

Most greenhouse varieties are all-female: nearly every flower has a tiny cucumber behind it. Those flowers must not be pollinated, or the fruit may turn out bitter, so pick off any male flower that appears. Ridge varieties work the opposite way. They carry male and female flowers and need insects to pollinate them, so a poor year for pollinators is the likely cause if an outdoor plant flowers but never fruits. Greenhouse types also crop for longer, from midsummer into early autumn; ridge types start later and finish earlier.

What Scotland means for the choice

Cucumbers need warmth. Outdoors they can't go out until your local temperatures are reliably above 12°C, from early June at the earliest, and frost is only the first hurdle. That's why a greenhouse or polytunnel is the more reliable route here, and why most of the varieties below are greenhouse types; a ridge type such as Marketmore is the one to choose for open ground. Most are rated H1CThe RHS's H1a–H7 scale for how much cold a plant can survive outdoors, H1a being tender indoor-only and H7 hardy anywhere in the UK. Full definition →, meaning they won't survive below about 5°C; Lili and Delistar are H2, a few degrees tougher but still killed by frost. The cucumber growing guide covers sowing times, training, feeding and harvesting.

The varieties

The RHS recommends six varieties with its Award of Garden Merit (AGMThe RHS's Award of Garden Merit: a UK-wide trials award for reliable performance, not a Scotland-specific recommendation. Full definition →), a UK-wide award rather than a Scottish one. Bella is also well suited to unheated glass.

Carmen

Carmen crops heavily, with long, straight, mild fruit up to 40cm under glass, and has good general disease resistance, including to powdery mildew, a common greenhouse problem. It's rated H1C.

Marketmore

Marketmore is a ridge cucumber with dark green fruit up to 20cm and good flavour. It's the one to grow outdoors, and it also crops well under glass. It's rated H1C, so it still goes out only after frost and once nights are warm.

Lili

Lili grows under glass or outdoors in warmer areas, with mostly female flowers and a reliable crop of large fruit. It resists downy mildew, stores better than most cucumbers, which otherwise last only a few days in the fridge, and is rated H2. In most of Scotland, treat it as a greenhouse or polytunnel variety rather than one for open ground.

Mini Munch

Mini Munch is an all-female, heavy-cropping greenhouse variety with small, snack-sized fruit around 7cm, cropping from June to October. Pick them at about 8cm.

Emilie

Emilie has almost entirely female flowers and gives a large crop of medium, smooth-skinned fruit from July to October, with general disease resistance. It's rated H1C.

Delistar

Delistar has small, aromatic fruit around 16–18cm, with thin, sweet skins that need no peeling. It's rated H2.

Bella

Bella is an all-female variety with long fruit up to 35cm. It tolerates unheated-greenhouse conditions and powdery mildew, which suits an unheated Scottish greenhouse or polytunnel.

Bush Champion is a compact variety for small gardens or containers if space is your main limit.

Variety comparison

Which one for your situation

• Heated or unheated greenhouse, want one reliable choice: Carmen.
• Open ground, no glass at all: Marketmore, the one here bred for ridge growing. Watch for slugs on young plants outdoors.
• Unheated greenhouse or polytunnel: Bella for its tolerance of unheated conditions, or Lili for downy mildew resistance and better storage.
• Small cucumbers for snacking: Mini Munch.
• No peeling: Delistar.

Common questions

Sources