16 Ways to Use Excess Cucumbers from the Garden
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When the garden decides to put out cucumbers, it REALLY decides to put them out. You can end up with a ton of excess cucumbers and that can get overwhelming. Are you wondering what to do with excess cucumbers? And check this article out for ideas for other kinds of excess produce from your summer garden.
Using excess cucumbers
In a few weeks, there won’t be any available and you’ll be missing them like crazy. Check out some things you can do to get the most of them while they’re here.
Or for a complete guide on how to use even more produce, check out How to Use All the Garden Produce You Grow-Without Canning by clicking this link.
I LOVE cucumbers and I love making refrigerator pickles with my kids. It’s a fun memory we have had for years. I can remember back when my 27-year-old friend was young and here in the summers and we did a garden together. It was much smaller than what we are growing now, but it was fun and she still remembers it. If you want some spicy pickles, you can add a few chili peppers.
(That might be because of my irrational fear of snakes. One day we were out tending our little patch and she saw one and screamed and I pushed her down to get leverage to get in the house faster. Not one of my proudest moments, but she’s over it. I apologized for it again the other day and she said she thought it was funny. I digress)
Back to the excess cucumbers. When our little plant started putting on cucumbers, it went like crazy. Once the heat hits them, they explode with growth. We did a fun science experiment that year using water bottles. We took a tiny cucumber on the vine and placed it in an empty water bottle. Then we let it grow until it filled the bottle.
We then picked the cucumber off the vine and put the lid on the bottle. Then we asked all the daycare parents if they could figure out how we got that big cucumber in that bottle. It was really fun for the kids. I put pickling liquid in the bottle and stored it in the fridge for years so we could keep asking people. No one ever figured it out before we told them.
(check out my favorite seed brand here)
Do you want to get started gardening, but don’t know where to begin? For information on how to grow cucumbers vertically, click here. And what grows best with cucumbers? Check out companion plants for cucumbers here.
✔Here’s a link to a great vegetable garden planner you can print right out and use at home! So cute!
What to do with excess cucumbers in the garden
I love to just slice excess cucumbers and eat them. I like them plain, or with a sprinkle of dill. The kids eat bowls and bowls of freshly sliced cucumbers. They are a favorite here. I also love to make cucumber sandwiches with a toasted piece of bread, a schmear of cream cheese, and then slices of cucumber with a sprinkle of dill. Yum yum. It tastes amazing!
If you want to read the full story of how we got started growing our own food at Little Sprouts and get all the basics to start yourself, check this out. The Journey of the Little Sprouts: A Guide for Growing a Better Tomorrow.
Too many cucumbers, what to do
A favorite way to enjoy cucumbers around here is cucumber salad. I used to make it for myself, but the kids were always begging for it. I was like, kids are not going to eat cucumbers in a bowl of vinegar, but I let them try it. They loved it.
Over and over again we have made tons of cucumber salad with our excess cucumbers and the kids LOVE it!
What to do with cucumbers
I make a super refreshing spa water with cucumbers and slices of citrus fruits. Click here to check it out. Also, this cucumber mint water recipe is great as well.
We also love this cucumber tomato salad. And these pickled cucumbers and squash slices are bomb. It’s super refreshing. You can even make dressing from cucumbers.
Sharing excess cucumbers
After we eat all we can of our excess cucumbers, we love to share too. I love to set out piles of cucumbers for the kids to take home. I have several kids that will take a sack full and bite them before they even leave the house with their moms. They have the whole sack eaten before they get home. Cucumbers have many health benefits so I love hearing that.
We also like to share with our friends and family. We take excess cucumbers to the local homeless shelter and to families that can use them.
Sharing what you grow in the garden is one of the greatest pleasures of growing food. And when someone really enjoys what they get, it’s even better. Cucumbers make a wonderful gift!
Preserving cucumbers
Did you know you can freeze cucumbers? Check out how here. It even tells how to use them once you thaw them out.
You can also dehydrate them and make cucumber chips. They are really good and even kids like them. You can also learn more about how to preserve food with dehydration here.
What to make with cucumbers
We grow our cucumbers in a raised garden bed. It’s an easy way to be able to grow your own cucumbers and not have to get the yucky ones from the grocery store. If I can’t grow enough, I like to get a lot of cucumbers at the farmer’s market.
But when the growing season goes nuts on a good year, which is a great problem to have, the best thing to do is put them up for later use. There are so many easy recipes to make your own food last a long time. So check out some of the new recipes below.
Here are over 30 cucumber recipes that you can make today!
Want more ways to mix it up and figure out what to make with fresh cucumbers? Here are some more great cucumber recipes.
- Cucumber Cream Cheese Tuna Roll Ups
- Half Sour Fermented Pickles
- Watermelon, Orange and Cucumber Aqua Fresca
- Cucumber Cilantro Salad
- Shrimp Salad Bites
- Cucumber Mint Jam
- Cucumber Mousse
There are so many ways you can enjoy a yummy, bright crisp cucumber that having a ton of excess cucumbers is quite a blessing. There are one of my very favorites from the garden.
More information on how to build raised beds, build a trellis for your plants, and basic gardening information you need is available here in these beginning gardening videos. Click here for more information. You can even download a tour of what types of beds we have in our preschool gardens for free.
Check out these other food preservation articles for your garden produce.
- Preserving Peaches from the garden,
- Preserving Green Beans from the garden,
- Using Excess Hot Peppers from the garden,
- Using Excess Tomatoes from the garden.
- What to do with Excess Squash from the Garden
- What to do with Excess Fruit from the Garden
Storing garden produce to make it last as long as possible
