my cucumber experiment - cucumbers are not a fall crop

On August 7 (65 days before my average first frost), I planted several varieties of pickling cukes: Cucumber, Salt and Pepper (49 days), Cucumber, Miniature White (50 days), Cucumber, North Carolina Pickling (60-65 days). This experiment was a last ditch effort since wilt (carried by beetles) killed my summer cucumbers.

It seemed this experiment would work, going by the days. The rule of thumb for fall planting is to count back from the average first frost date by the days to harvest, and then add 2 weeks for the "fall factor": with less light plants grow slower. So those 49 and 50 day cukes had enough time. But it did not work.

August and September weather was great. Record heat - our first heat wave in September in 35 years. I kept the plants covered to keep beetles off, then removed covers when they bloomed. They bloomed well (bees loved them), but the plants never produced cucumbers.

My lesson: Cucumbers need mid summer light - they are not a fall crop.

bread and butter pickles

My cucumber harvest failed miserably this year (beetles), so I went by our farmer's market and bought a big bag of beautiful picking cukes. They smelled so good. Since I'm out of my garden onions already, I got onions. And some enormous red and orange peppers. I followed the recipe for Bread-and-Butter pickles in the book "Food in Jars" by Marisa McClellan (a really nice new canning book). They are delicious! Spicy and crunchy with a bit of sweetness.

seems like not a good year for cucumbers

Today I harvested a very nice cucumber. a pretty Corinto cuke. But Sadly, i don't think it'll be a great year (or even a good year) for cukes. Not sure what's going on but the leaves on most of my vines are shriveling and vines are dying. I have about 20 plants, 6 or 8 varieties, and they're in the back of three different beds, growing up the fence. A virus maybe? Some leaves have a lot of beetle-like damage, but I'm not seeing any beetles. I did see some grubs and wimpy roots when I pulled up one plant. I don't know. Last year, cucumbers were my over-and-above crop. I will look up when the farmers market is open and buy my picking cukes. Some other crop will have to excel this year.

pickles

I processed a dozen of my cucumbers (45 harvested in the past couple days!). I made deli half sour pickles using this recipe: Half sour pickles deli style. A little modification, I substituted coriander seed for black pepper since my husband is allergic to pepper. They'll be ready to start eating in 3 days.

today's harvest

Cucumbers! I love the crunch of lots of different varieties! I am also harvesting beans, chili peppers, lots of lettuce, and my first few tomatoes.

more 2012 crop reviews

Carrots. I didn't do a good job with carrots this year. Lots of room for improvement here next year. I've grown great carrots in the past, but for some reason, decided to experiment this year. I learned what not to do. Carrots sprout slowly and they need to stay moist. This is hard for me since I grow them at my community plot and don't have time to go water every day. So I sowed my carrots in pots and and transplanted the seedlings, like I do for nearly every other crop I grow. The results were terrible - short, badly misshapen, bi-, tri- and quadru-furcated roots. Next year, my plan is to dirext sow and use burlap the hold the moisture.

Chiles. Overall a very good year for chiles. I grew lots of NuMex Joe E Parker, poblanos,Thai hots and cayenne. Also a yellow bell that never turned yellow, but was very nice as a green bell pepper. I tried some other varieties also, but these did the best for me.

Cucumbers. It was a super cuke year! I had 6 or 8 varieties, long and short ones, white and green ones. I love to grow way too many cucumbers. Diva is still my favorite variety, but a close second is the long and crispy Sooyow Nishiki. Cucumbers do well in the very protected and slightly shady space my side yard.

Eggplant. My eggplants got shaded by my cucumbers this year. They eventually produced a nice crop, late in the season. I like the little bicolor Thai variety (Tiger) and a big purple oval one (Classic). I'll try to remember to give them more space next year.

Garlic. A bad garlic year. :-( I planted 100 cloves last fall, but at least half of it rotted in the ground. I think because I planted too late and did not mulch. We had a nearly snow free winter, and the soil in my garlic bed was like hardpan it was so dry. I havested about 40 nice big cloves. With so few, I didn't have enough to eat and plant next year. I bought some new seed garlic: The variety Music, which I am looking forward to trying. My current variety is Duganski.

Green beans.

help - do you have a cucumber recipe???

cucumbers!!

 
 Today's harvest included about 15 cucumbers, 5 varieties: Diva, North Carolina Pickling, Boston Pickling, Tokiwa and Sooyow Nishiki. We did a taste test and the conclusion was: we couldn't really tell any difference, they all taste like cucumbers!

Also in today's harvest is my first full size tomato. A New Girl. It needs to ripen inside a few days. In this dry weather, I was afraid the squirrels would eat it if I let it ripen on the vine.

pickles!!

My first try at making pickles! They are yummy. I made the recipe called Famous Back Eddy House Pickles from the book Quick Pickles by Chris Schlesinger and others. This book has lots of similar recipes and I'm hoping to try more of them soon. I like pickle recipes that use a mix of vegetables, in addition to cucumbers. I added beets (striped Chiogga's) to the recipe, which darkened my brine.

cucumbers

Still lots of cucumbers hiding under the leaves in my vine filled cold frame. It seems this is a good spot for them. I notice that most other cucumber patches around here have turned brown and stopped producing. I think the frame has sheltered them well in this hot dry summer. I'm starting to get a little mildew on the leaves now, but not too bad.

I can't even come close to eating them all. I meant to make pickles, and maybe I will soon, but I haven't had time to do this yet.

But maybe I won't have extras now, because I've discovered a nice way to use them: tiny baby cucumbers in a martini! A perfect way to eat a whole cuke in one bite.

cucumbers and melons in the cold frame

My cold frame is overflowing with summer vines. Four cucumber varieties, four melons, one pretty little acorn squash plant. I'm admiring the mix of similar leaves that have all gotten mixed up together.

I didn't do good planning where to plant. No space to walk between trellises and difficult to search the centers of green rows for hidden green cucumbers.

I've been comparing leaves of the three curcurbits. All the same size and color. But cucumbers are pointed and star-like, melons are rounded and wide, and acorn squash has deep round lobes.

The flowers are also similar but different. Cucumbers a little bigger and bright yellow. Melon flowers paler, more delicate, and tending to look ragged from bee traffic. I'm looking forward to seeing acorn squash flowers - none yet.

cheers to cucumber season!

My first cukes are in. Yippy! I love to make cucumber martinis. Of course, they're nice in salads too. My earliest varieties are blocky white North Carolina pickling cucumbers and Burpee's Sweet Success.

This year I am growing my cucumbers (and melons) on trellises in my cold frame (with covers removed). I have an automatic sprinkler set up to give them 10 minutes of water every evening. They seem to like this.

baby cucumber

baby cucumber plants

They are always the cutest little things. The baby cukes are growing up. I planted many this year. Diva (my favorite), Boston Pickling (a new one for me), North Carolina Pickling, Sweet Success and Tonikawa. I'm looking forward to fresh summer cukes.

I started the seeds inside under lights and today moved them outside to the cold frame (which I am now calling the hot house). In this hot weather, they can go right out. Today we had temps in the 80's. More like July.

cucumber taste test

I have a bumper crop of cucumbers this year!

Four varieties from the left are: Tokiwa, Sweet Success, North Carolina Pickling, and Diva. In our taste test last evening the unanimous winner (two tasters) was Diva. I've tried for years to grow Diva and this is the first year I have gotten nice vines and big pretty Diva cukes. Nice and crisp, mild and just overall delicious.

Next were a tie: Tokiwa (delicious and crisp, but large seeds) and Sweet Success (not quite as good taste as Diva and Tokiwa, but nice and crisp). The pickler (which is still fantastic - I love the blocky white fruits with tiny green seeds) was the least crisp and flavorful of the four.

my 1st cuke: a NC heirloom pickling cucumber

What a FANTASTIC cucumber! My first of the season and probably the best cuke I've ever tasted. Its a North Carolina Heirloom Pickling Cucumber (seed from from Sand Hill Preservation Center). They describe it as "a wonderful 2" to 3", blocky, creamy white cucumber. Makes superb dill pickles. Stay crisp when pickled." I could add: a fantastic fresh lemony flavor and incredibly crisp fresh off the vine! I can't wait for more.

Cheers to the first of the season!

today's seed sowing list

My planting calendar says to plant zinnias, cucumbers and pumpkins this week. I started some extra greens too.

Spinach, Bloomsdale, 1 6-pack
Lettuce, Valentine mix, 1 6-pack
Lettuce, Merveille 4 seasons, 1 6-pack
Zinnia, White Star, 4-pack
Zinnia, Bernary's Giant Purple 2 6-packs
Winter Squash, Lakota, 3 seeds
Pumpkin, Baby Pam, 6 seeds
Pumpkin, Big Rock, 3 seeds
Pumpkin, Jarrahdale, 3 seeds
Cucumber, North Carolina Pickling, 6-pack

I didn't finish, but will plant the following soon:
Cucumber, Diva, 6-pack
Cucumber, Straight 8, 6-pack
Cucumber, Tokiwa, 6-pack
Cucumber, Sweet Success, 6-pack

2009 sow-what-and-when

cucumbers

I have been picking two types of cucumbers this year. A few beautiful long cukes and a lot of small round and very seedy cukes. I'm trying to figure out which variety they are, so I don't grow the round ones again. My cucumber vines have all grown together and I'm not sure which is what.

This year I planted:
Cucumber, Rocky (1 6-pack, planted April 21)
Cucumber, Striped Armenian (1 6-pack, planted April 21)
Cucumber, Sumter Pickling (1 6-pack, planted May 3)
Cucumber, Straight Eight (1 6-pack, planted May 10)

I can't figure out which of these varieties would produce fat round fruit. Maybe a package had the wrong seed?

I think its more likely that the ugly cukes are Sumters and/or Straight Eights that are misshaped because of poor soil conditions. I had run out of prepared garden space when planting the cukes, so I quickly dug a new bed and planted them without any soil additions. The soil pH was 5.5 and the phosphorus and nitrogen levels were very low. I remembered this after a few weeks, and fertilized and limed then. Probably too little, too late.

Note added: It looks like the problem is AGAIN the lack of honeybees! see comments...

Here's a website that posts the latest news on honeybee decline around the world (HoneyBeeQuiet.com).

bees (Hymenoptera)

honey bee in flight

Cucumis sativus

cheers! the cukes are here!

My first cucumbers are ready for harvest! This is a variety called Rocky. A very nice slicing cucumber. Also nice in a summer martini.

I hesitated to post this photo of my hand. It is too brown this year. And my nails are dirty and ragged. One of the consequences of gardening I suppose.

In any case, cheers! I hope you too are enjoying a good summer harvest.

Topic: martini!
harvests from my vegetable gardens