Whether pickled, stir-fried or raw, cucumbers are a popular garden vegetable. And they can be started indoors to give you a jump start on your gardening season.

Can you start cucumbers indoors need warm soil and air to thrive, so it is important that you plan on starting them indoors about one to two weeks before the last frost date. Cucumbers are a monoecious plant, meaning that they have both male and female flowers that need to be pollinated for fruit production. Outdoors, this typically happens by bees and other insects, but if you are growing them indoors, you will need to hand pollinate the flowers.

To begin, you will need to read the seed package instructions and determine how many seeds per container. Then, use a pencil to make a hole in each Jiffy pellet and place a cucumber seed in the holes. Fill the rest of the tray with potting soil and firmly press down on the seed to bury it. Cover the tray with a plastic lid to act as an artificial humidity dome to ensure the seeds stay moist.

Growing Cucumbers from Seed: Tips and Tricks for Successful Indoor Starting

Once the seeds germinate, you will need to move the young plants to a larger container. Ideally, choose a container that can accommodate 2-4 cucumber plants and will allow them to vine around the edges. You can also try planting them in a large raised bed, working a bit of diolomite lime and compost or well-rotted manure into the soil before transplanting. Mulch around the plants to keep the soil moist and prevent weeds, then water slowly and deeply at least once a day, making sure not to get the leaves wet.