In the world of plants frost is a particularly dangerous phenomenon. Destructive effect of frost on plants is both direct and secondary. The amount of damage done by frost depends on its intensity, frequency, a season of its occurrence and a plant species. The aim of the work was to find spatial and temporal distribution of ground frost in Poland and to determine effect of minimum air temperature at the ground level on the dates of phenological phases and harvesting and duration of development stages and also on the quantity of cucumber yield of pickling cultivars at the turn of the 20^th and 21^st centuries. Source materials used in the present study were collected from 28 experimental stations of COBORU and from 51 meteorological stations of IMGW in the years 1966–2005. Ground frost was characterised, e.g., by means of average dates of last spring and first autumn frost, duration of the period without frost and also intensity and frequency of its occurrence and a linear trend. Effect of minimum air temperature at the ground level on the growth, development and crop productivity of cucumber was determined with the use of linear and curvilinear regression analysis and the linear trend of occurrence of last spring and first autumn frost and duration of the period without frost with the use of linear regression analysis. Ground frost poses high potential risk for field cultivation of cucumber in Poland not only because of the fact that it significantly determines the rate of growth, development and yield quantity of the plant but also because of its high spatial and temporal variability; the highest cultivation risk occurs in north-eastern Poland where significant shortening, year by year, of the period without frost was proved and where the highest frequency of frost occurrence both at the beginning and at the end of the cucumber growing season is recorded.

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