Square Foot Garden - Why Cucumbers Are Sometimes Bitter

I was very excited to pluck from my garden my first two New Mexico Big Jim chile peppers and my first cucumber!

While I have to figure out what to do with the chiles, the kids and I wanted to taste that cucumber right away.

So, I peeled it, sliced it and put a bit of salt on the slices (the way my parents served it to me as a kid).  I popped the first slice into my mouth and promptly spit it out.  BITTER!  Ugh!  My older son kindly and dutifully ate his slice without complaint.  The younger one handed it back to me without tasting it.

I took out my gardening books and investigated.  What can make cucumbers bitter?  STRESS.  Lack of regular water, extreme heat or lack of proper nutrients in the soil can cause stress, rendering the cucumbers practically inedible.

I've been watering regularly with drip hoses and have been supplementing the garden with compost, but we've been grappling with 100 degree weather for a week - the very week when the cucumber bulked up - so I have my answer.  To help my garden with the heat, I'll layer in some extra compost and see if that helps.