Apple Cucumber

Cucumis sativus

Also known as: Crystal Apple, White Apple Cucumber


The classic pale apple cucumber — round fruit around 10cm across, coloured a soft creamy pale green that reads almost white against the leaves. Skin is thin and dotted with fine soft spikes that rub off with a wipe of the thumb. Inside, the flesh is crisp, cool, and juicy with a mild, sweet flavour that eats out of the crisper as easily as an apple. Prolific, forgiving, and a favourite in Australian home gardens for close to a century. Kept picked, a single plant will crop steadily through the warm months. Vine — grows well trailing on the ground or trained up a trellis.

Days to harvest 60–70 days from sowing
Fruit size Round, apple-shaped, around 10cm across
Sowing depth 10mm
Germination 4–10 days at soil temperature 18–35°C
Spacing 40cm between plants, rows 120cm apart
Aspect Full sun; moist, well-drained soil
Frost tolerance Frost-tender annual — sow after last frost only

Growing notes

A warm, sunny position suits it best. Apple cucumber rewards steady moisture, regular picking, and a light hand with the fertiliser.

Soil preparation: Rich, well-drained soil worked with well-rotted compost before sowing. Cucumbers dislike heavy nitrogen and respond better to a moderate, well-balanced feed than to a heavy compost hit.

Sowing method: Sow direct into warm soil at 10mm deep, or start in large pots and transplant with care — cucumbers have shallow roots that resent disturbance, so use larger pots and handle the root ball intact.

Support: Either left to trail on the ground or trained up a sturdy trellis. Trellised fruit hangs cleanly and is easier to spot at picking size; ground-grown plants do just as well if given room to sprawl.

Containers: Suits a large pot of 40L or more with a trellis for support. Keep water consistent, as pots dry out faster than beds and cucumbers need steady moisture through fruit set.

Watering & feeding: Deep, consistent watering at the base. Overhead watering invites mildew, which cucumbers are prone to in humid weather. Side-dress lightly with a balanced liquid feed once flowering starts, but avoid heavy nitrogen.

Harvest: Pick every two to three days once fruiting begins, cutting fruit at 10cm across for the tenderest eating. Wipe the fine soft spikes off with a thumb or a cloth before slicing. Larger fruit turn tough and seedy, and slow the plant down, so pick even the ones you don't need. Fresh use only.

Timing: First fruit ready 60–70 days from sowing.

Key features

  • Round, apple-shaped fruit with pale creamy-green skin
  • Crisp, cool, sweet-mild flesh
  • Prolific through the warm months
  • Excellent for fresh eating out of hand
  • Grows equally well on ground or up a trellis
  • One of the most-loved home-garden cucumbers in Australia and New Zealand

Short season tips


Direct sow into warm ground from mid-spring to early summer once frost risk has passed. In Coonabarabran and similar inland zones, that means mid-November onwards. If time is tight, start seed indoors in large pots 3–5 weeks before transplanting — cucumbers resent root disturbance, so handle carefully and move on with the root ball intact. A staggered sowing three to four weeks after the first extends the picking window into autumn.

  • Spring
  • Summer

Annual

  • Corn, climbing beans, nasturtium, borage, marigold, dill, radish
  • Potatoes, sage, other cucumber varieties within cross-pollination distance if saving seed



An heirloom apple cucumber that came into wide cultivation across Australia and New Zealand in the 1930s — most often traced back to New Zealand, though the exact provenance isn't firmly documented. Made popular by Yates, the trans-Tasman seed company that distributed it into home gardens on both sides of the Tasman early on, and kept in continuous cultivation ever since — carried forward for its dependable cropping, its clean flavour, and the sheer pleasure of pulling a small round cucumber off the vine and eating it whole in the garden.

More photos

Apple Cucumber