White cucumbers in the garden

[SprigOfTheLivingDead]

So I was picking a bunch of overgrown cucumbers today and saw this guy amongst the bunch. I didn't plant any white cucs, so this was unexpected

 

[digitS']

Surprise!!!

I have grown white cucumbers, Sprig' ... from store-bought seed. Bet it's a recessive trait and saving seed from that plant will be a real roll of the dice.

Let's see what Fedco says about isolation distance for cukes ... 1,500 feet!

Well, at least it's not like corn and twice that.

Steve

 

[so lucky]

Hey, at least it's supposed to be white. Mine get that way from being sunburned and old.
What can you do with overgrown cucumbers? Besides feed them to the chickens?

 

[SprigOfTheLivingDead]

Hey, at least it's supposed to be white. Mine get that way from being sunburned and old.
What can you do with overgrown cucumbers? Besides feed them to the chickens?

Cut them up and pickle them I suppose.

 

[Pulsegleaner]

Or make cucumber soup (you only need the insides, so a tough skin isn't all that much of a problem. Since Dosaki cucumbers are also eaten when they are really really ripe, I imagine you could find some good ideas in Indian cookbooks as well.


BTW is that a Kaiser Alexander cuke on the bottom of the pile (the brown, cracked one)? It's just I thought that was the only kiva type cucumber that could take the cold I imagine you have (or is your part of Minnesota actually pretty warm?)

 

[SprigOfTheLivingDead]

BTW is that a Kaiser Alexander cuke on the bottom of the pile (the brown, cracked one)? It's just I thought that was the only kiva type cucumber that could take the cold I imagine you have (or is your part of Minnesota actually pretty warm?)

It's a Sikkim, but I'll absolutely look-up the Kaiser Alexander. Sikkims have easily become an absolute favorite of mine. The skin is tough, so get rid of that, but otherwise they're mighty tasty

 

[Pulsegleaner]

You''l get no argument from me on that score; I love them too. The main problem, (as I sort of insinuated) is that a lot of them are from places in India/southeast asia that are way warmer than most of us are, and so are adapted to a much warmer climate and longer season that I (or I imagine you) can provide

Around here, over the course of a year a few of the farmers market stands can get in the odd Sikkim, uzbeck, and a Hmong red from time to time, but they are very few and very undersized.

Technically there are also the ones that show up at one small stand in Chinatown that does southeast Asian veggies as well as Chinese ones. Those are most definitively NOT undersized (a lot of them are easily the same length and diameter as my whole forearm)

But those are presumably not grown locally and most likely cannot grow around me even if I could find one far enough gone to get mature seed from (which hasn't happened yet) Plus I think it's been a while since I actually saw those (the picture about was taken in August of 2011)

I THINK Amishland seeds carries Kaiser Alexander, but I am not sure. Oh one thing, because a lot of those places that do have it got it initially from La Boutique du Kokopelli it is still often sold with the French spelling, in which case it's Kaiser Alexandre.

Ironically, tomorrow amongst other things, I am planning to make a visit to an Indian grocery store across the bridge, so there is a chance that I will be getting a few more nice looking Dosaki cucumbers from which I can get seeds. At least assuming I can find ones that actually ARE cucumbers. In India there are both Dosaki cucumbers and Dosaki cucamelons (cucumbers that are genetically actually melons, like the Carosello types of Italy and the Armenian cucumber are) whose fruits look the same and are used the same, so are sold as the same thing. (there are about three ways to tell one from the other, but they are all a bit tricky. I'll give those later, if you wish)

 

[bills]

I find the odd huge yellow cuke hiding sometimes, which have badly overgrown. I find the seeds are to big and to tough, in addition to the skin being inedible. You could save the seeds from those ones, but otherwise its chicken feed..

 

[Pulsegleaner]

picture from this year of one of those giant brown cukes

Really should have put something in the photo for scale (that bluish black thing in the upper right corner is the edge of my wallet, with the watch attached to my keychain below it. That should give you some idea)

 

[SprigOfTheLivingDead]

picture from this year of one of those giant brown cukes

Really should have put something in the photo for scale (that bluish black thing in the upper right corner is the edge of my wallet, with the watch attached to my keychain below it. That should give you some idea)

Wow! What a cuke!! Yeah, mine produce, but they don't produce to that size