Cucumbers

[Pulsegleaner]

I plant in ground normally but I have transplanted before. You just have to be very careful of the stems when transplanting. I direct sow but that’s because I have a very long growing season and grow quick producing pickling cucumbers. I’ve actually gotten harvests off of seeds sown in August here.

I usually start inside because I have a very short season (or at least have had one since the weather went kooky and spring more or less disappeared) In fact, I lost my whole cucumber crop (including some I still haven't been able to replace) last year because I put them out at the appropriate time, only to have a late season cold dip.

I doesn't help much that my cucumbers of preference tend to be kiva types (like Poona Keera and Sikkim, with the crackly brown skins) most of which hail from India or Southeast Asia and have a fondness for warm conditions.

 

[heirloomgal]

cucumbers of preference tend to be kiva types (like Poona Keera

Poona Keera. That's a great cucumber isn't it @Pulsegleaner. I like that one because you get a beautiful, delicious white cucumber, my favourite colour for this vegetable, and also those neat potato looking cucumbers at season's end. It's a package deal.

 

[digitS']

We were supposed to eat Poona Keera when they were white?

I don't even remember them as white, only brown, during that one season about 12 years ago when they were in my garden.

Something like lemon cucumbers, if I was thinking that the harvest was at the wrong time. The lemon variety is edible when it looks like a lemon but much tastier harvested just as the yellow color begins to show up - IMO.

There were cucamelons in the 2020 garden. Despite that summer's abundant sunshine and daytime heat, the vines grew little and produced only about 4 fruit.

Steve

 

[Zeedman]

There were cucamelons in the 2020 garden. Despite that summer's abundant sunshine and daytime heat, the vines grew little and produced only about 4 fruit.

Not surprising, since the vines require both heat & a long season.

Melothria scabra (a.k.a. cucamelons, mouse melons, Mexican sour gherkins) are slow-growing plants. I grew them for a few years; and found that unlike other members of the gourd family, they had to be started early indoors - about 30 days early. This was easier than expected, since the seedlings were surprisingly tolerant of artificial light. These were slow growing, but eventually grew into pretty ivy-like vines with diminutive leaves, that only climbed to 4-5' max.

In mid-summer, the heavily-branched vines began to produce a single fruit at each new leaf node. These would become 1" watermelon-like "cukes" if allowed to mature, but I liked them best harvested at just over pencil width, for use in salads. My hope was to use them to make miniature canned pickles, but that attempt was a catastrophic failure. When it came time to test them, they were not crispy, they were almost gelatinous. When bitten, they didn't crunch, they popped. I can't properly describe how unpleasant an experience that was. I never grew them again. IMO their limited usefulness makes them only worth growing as a novelty.

 

[digitS']

Ah but @Zeedman ,

they are tasty at the immature, fresh-from-the-garden stage.

Steve

 

[heirloomgal]

We were supposed to eat Poona Keera when they were white?

I don't even remember them as white, only brown, during that one season about 12 years ago when they were in my garden.

Something like lemon cucumbers, if I was thinking that the harvest was at the wrong time. The lemon variety is edible when it looks like a lemon but much tastier harvested just as the yellow color begins to show up - IMO.

There were cucamelons in the 2020 garden. Despite that summer's abundant sunshine and daytime heat, the vines grew little and produced only about 4 fruit.

Steve

Yup they're white at the eating stage, and crackly brown at the seed collecting stage. I was actually a bit disappointed when I realised this the first time round, because I thought they'd start out looking like mini-russet potatoes. I thought 'raw potatoes' in a salad would result in at least a few quizzical looks.

 

[Marie2020]

Yup they're white at the eating stage, and crackly brown at the seed collecting stage. I was actually a bit disappointed when I realised this the first time round, because I thought they'd start out looking like mini-russet potatoes. I thought 'raw potatoes' in a salad would result in at least a few quizzical looks.

You have just reminded I have potatoes sprouting. They'll have to be planted tomorrow. Thank you for this reminder