Gardening : Better Pickles Stem From Correct Cucumbers : Garden: A number of cuke varieties, easily cultivated at home, have been bred for the brine.

With a little practice, you can make pickles that are as good as the ones at your favorite deli. A keys to successful pickling is to start with fresh, firm cucumbers, which is easy if you grow your own.

Although most types of cucumbers can be pickled, special varieties have been bred specifically for this purpose. They are smaller than slicing types, have a smaller seed cavity and their skins are more suitable for pickling.

In recent years, plant breeders have made giant strides in developing pickling varieties that are prolific and disease-resistant. Here is a sampling of some of the new, almost foolproof varieties, along with some of the old favorites.

Country Fair 87 Hybrid is a recent arrival on the gardening scene. It was developed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and produces small, crisp, bitter-free and almost seedless pickling cucumbers. A unique feature of Country Fair 87 Hybrid, and one that makes it popular with organic gardeners, is that it lacks the compound that attracts cucumber beetles, who ignore the plant.

Burpee Pickler is an old reliable pickling cuke. It produces heavy yields that may be harvested small or allowed to reach dill-pickle size. Since Burpee has been around a long time, seeds should be easy to find at local nurseries.

Anka Pickling is a new hybrid from Germany. It produces large flushes of small, crisp cucumbers that have an exceptionally tender skin. The fruit are never bitter and the plants are largely disease-resistant.

Pioneer Hybrid produces a huge crop of three-inch cucumbers in two weeks. This variety may be planted earlier than others, harvested and then replanted. Wisconsin SMR-18 is another old-fashioned pickling variety that has been popular with home gardeners for many years. It sets large crops of mild, crunchy cukes.

For those with limited garden space, Bush Pickle and Picklebush are two varieties that have dwarf plant habits suitable for containers.

Those who favor pate are probably familiar with cornichons, the tiny French pickles with the crisp, tart flavor. Cornichons are a miniature variety with the same growth requirements as other cucumbers.

The West Indian gherkin originated in Africa and is extensively grown in the West Indies and some southern states. It makes a rough, sprawling vine that bears huge crops of small, chubby, oval fruit covered with flexible spines. The gherkin has bright green skin and a splendid flavor when pickled.

Incidentally, except for West Indian gherkins and cornichons, all other pickling cucumbers mentioned here are delicious fresh. Their crunchy texture and small seeds make them useful for salads or a relish tray.

Pickling cucumbers are grown in exactly the same manner as other cucumbers. They are strictly warm-season vegetables that can be planted from April through June in most of Southern California.

Plant seeds an inch deep in groups or rows. If planting in groups, plant eight seeds in an area about 18 inches in diameter. Space the groups three feet apart. When the plants are three inches high, thin to four plants per group. If planting in rows, plant four seeds per foot of row and thin so there is 12 inches between plants.

The more compost or other organic material you add when preparing the soil, the better. Also add a multipurpose vegetable fertilizer. Feed again when the vines are six inches long.

You can save space and get cleaner fruit by training the vines up a trellis. Chicken wire is excellent for this purpose. However, cucumbers are not natural climbers, so you will have to tie them to the trellis.

Since cucumbers are 94% water, the plants need ample irrigation. But avoid overhead watering, as this has a tendency to promote mildew.

In addition to the dwarf varieties listed here, the rest of the pickling varieties may be grown in a large container to which a trellis has been added. Container-grown cucumbers need more frequent watering than those grown in the garden.

Pickling cukes are usually picked when they are small, but if you want giant dills, you can let a few get larger. However, don’t allow any to remain on the vine so long that they start to turn yellow. This will limit the plants’ production.

Seeds for Burpee Pickler, Pioneer Hybrid and Wisconsin SMR-18 cucumbers should be easy to locate at local nurseries, and seeds for Country Fair 87 Hybrid and Bush Pickle are available from Park Seeds, Cokesbury Rd., Greenwood, S.C. 29647.

Order seeds for Anka Pickling, cornichon and West Indian gherkin cucumbers from Nichols Garden Nursery, 1190 N. Pacific Hwy., Albany, Ore. 97321. Both Park and Nichols offer free catalogues.