You can make pickles out of any cucumber. I just made a batch of fresh fridge pickles for the weekend. An hour ago.

Some varieties are tiny and picked small... what you have seen as cornichons. I found in my climate that the lemon cukes do well and have such thin skins and small seeds i can pickle without much prep. I don't like sweet at all but like sour/vinegar and garlicy. Very crisp. Nice thing about growing and making your own is that you can make what you like.

You need to do a bit of research and study to get exactly what you want. A bit of trial and error.

A pic of your cukes will help with harvest timing.

Try a fresh pickle that you can eat and snack on tomorrow if made tonight. Lots of easy recipes by googling 'fresh fridge pickle'. Get a taste you want before starting a canning process. Fridge pickles are good for a week or more but mine will not last this holiday weekend.

If you have never canned for storage you need to study that a bit and follow proper procedures.

Pickling cukes make better pickles than "eating" cukes, though you can make sliced pickles from either. For whole pickles, definitely use picklers. Picklers are also terrific for eating--firmer, tastier.

If you are growing straight 8s or some other types that get big seeds/sour you don't want them to go too long especially if you have warm weather.

I grow Sweeter Yet cucumbers as they have very small seed cavities and do not go sour; they cannot be used as gurkins however but I use them in all other types of pickles and relish. I got my plants in late because of the rains but have already but up a few gallons of pickles and have eaten numerous others (sweeter yet are sweet and crisp, better than any other type).

What size you want them depends on how big the seed cavities are. If they have large seeds then you will want to pick on the smaller side; some experimentation may be needed.

Good luck! :)

The term "bush" just refers to the size of the plant itself - small and compact - not the size of the cukes/pickles. Plus the production from bush types is much lower than from regular vining varieties.

One issue that frequently comes up on the Harvest Forum here - the food preservation forum - is how to get enough cukes ready to pickle all at one time since they don't keep for long at all. The answer to that question is that you have to plant many plants so that many of them are ready to pickle all at the same time. If you only grow 1 or 2 plants you end up having to store the cukes for days waiting for more. That results in soft mushy pickles.

So if you want to make lots of gherkins then ideally you will need to plant some of the Cornichon varieties like Parisian Pickling and plant several plants all at the same time. If you use other pickle varieties like national or Boston then be sure to pick them while still quite small.

Dave

edited to add - be sure to check out the pickling info available on the Harvest Forum here as it will help you avoid many of the common mistakes made when first making pickles.

Also read up on good growing practices for your cucumbers so they don't become bitter. I don't know if pickles would taste any different but I find bitter cucumbers inedible.