My cucumbers are planted along the south side of my house, below a couple of old rose trellises which I have leaning against the side of the house. The cucumber vines are growing up them (with only a little help from me – most started this on their own). When they start producing, the cucumbers hang down from the vines on the trellis. They avoid the problem of rot or mold from lying on the ground, and are very easy to pick.
My mother has done this for several years, using the A-frame from an old swing set, with fencing panels wired to each side. To harvest cukes, she just goes inside the A-frame and chooses from the cucumbers that are hanging down. Very easy!
A setup like this keeps the cucumbers from taking over excessive amounts of garden space, and also makes harvesting easier.
I planted the cukes next to a chain link fence, which is providing excellent support. However, I underestimated the amount of space they’d take up, hence the battle between beans and cukes currently raging in the back yard (the beans are crawling up the fence, too)
Shake a good sprinkling into the palm of your hand, wet the cucumber and then rub it hard all over and the salt will take the prickles off. Then just give it a quick rinse and use it as normal.
You can also use them in stir fries. I like to cut a couple of small cucumbers into chunks, skin on, then stir fry them with sesame oil (just a tiny bit) and any other veg you have on hand, maybe a bit of sliced ham in strips or a can of tuna fish, then put a good drizzle of soy sauce on and serve hot!
I might do that today, having written about it!
Or how about something so English? Cucumber sandwiches. You need to slice the cucumber wafer thin, have very thin preferably wholemeal bread and fresh butter. Then layer the cukes in with a grind of nice salt and pepper and slice into small triangles. Lovely with a cup of hot tea! Yum!