Last year, Rebecca K. gave me a Suyo Long seedling. It took me a year to admit that I killed it. She laughed at me and confided that she had killed hers, too.
Rebecca vowed to test her luck again and this year, to my shock and delight, she trusted me with yet another seedling. . .
Evidently my family are creatures of habit. Just as festivals and holidays are celebrated at the same time each year, I now declare the first weekend of August as Pickle Days!
Without realizing it we made our garden fresh pickles on the same weekend this year as we did last year. Last year we were beginners and broke a couple of jars adding them to the hot water. This year we felt like pros since we didn't break any jars and unlike last year, we actually had the tools you are supposed to have for canning. . . .
reBlogged
to cucumbers recipes
Posted by Marc Reblogged by Old Roses to cucumbers, recipes on 2007-08-07, 18:33:53
There is the perception amongst some gardeners that home grown cucumbers don't taste that much different from store bought, so what's the point in growing them?. . .
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Posted by Carol Reblogged by Old Roses to cucumbers on 2007-07-12, 18:40:36
Cucumber's are so quick and easy to start from seedI planted these seeds directly into this container with soil. Just be sure to poke holes in the bottom of your container for drainage. I kept them indoors on a windowsill until they germinated, then I moved them outdoors since the weather was warm enough. 5 out of the 6 seeds I sowed, germinated. They should be ready to transplant in about 3 or 4 weeks from the start date. I'll then start a another flat, for a continuous harvest throughout the fall. . . .
I ate the first few of these, standing in the garden after a day of yardwork. Mmmmm. I fear, though, that I managed to kill the one Cucino plant I had when I decided it was a good idea to move the plant from where it was growing on a tomato cage to my new vertical gardening frame... Hopefully not. . .
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to cucumbers vegetables
on Dec 13, 2006, 6:44PM
When I pulled the second cucumber plant out of the ground to make way for a bed of arugula, I clipped one last cucumber from the vine. It was a good-sized vegetable, probably the biggest I’d harvested yet because I hadn’t noticed it growing. By the time I’d discovered its stealthy development, it was hale and hearty. . .
So, I'm pretty sure I have a bacterial wilt on the cucumbers. :( Very sad. They are spread by cucumber beetles so I need to be vigiliant and figure out how to get rid of 'em. It just burns my hide!!! I threw more seeds in the pot in hopes of them getting going again, but if I have beetles visiting the plants I need to get rid of the beetles. I hestitate to use poisons but I guess that may be the only thing. :( Sad. . . .
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to cucumbers trees
on Oct 14, 2006, 12:00AM
Posted by Reblogged by Old Roses to cucumbers, trees on 2006-10-15, 16:26:16
Lisa, from northern Quebec, Canada, who has made several comments already on this blog, recently sent me this recipe for making pickled cucumbers. She inherited it from her mother, and it’s a favorite of everyone who has ever tried them. I haven’t tried this recipe yet, but it looks great!
Lisa says the amount of cucumbers needed depends on how small you cut them up, smaller pieces will fit more densely into the jars. With a little practice, you should be able to estimate the number of cucumbers needed. Lisa also says she usually triples this recipe to make 6 1-quart jars. . .
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on Aug 28, 2006, 2:17PM
The cucumbers are ripe in Oregon, prompting Linda Ziedrich to share her recipe for pickles with the Portland daily. Her instructions, calling for “1 fresh head and 1 frond of dill,” sent us off on the scent of this marvelous herb. You may not be familiar with dill as a cut flower, but it’s a beauty—its lacy umbels yellow as devilled eggs (we feel another recipe coming on...). On the taste-o-meter, chefs locate dill between anise and caraway, but we surely prefer it to either one. The flavor is much more pleasingly green, plus the feathery foliage looks good in or on whatever it touches (whereas caraway seeds, we find, bear an unhappy resemblance to fleas).
As I mentioned a few posts ago, the cucumbers I planted were not Straight Eight, which is what I ordered, but some sort of pickler. They were starting to stack up in the fridge, so it was time to do something besides eat yet another cucumber salad. Yep, it was time to pickle.
For the cukes, I used a recipe I found on the web for kosher dill pickles. It was a lower salt recipe, which both Spouse and I prefer. The only ingredients were vinegar, water, pickling salt, dill and garlic. We'll give them 6-8 weeks then see how they turn out. . .
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on Aug 22, 2006, 5:35PM
Posted by Talbin Reblogged by Old Roses to cucumbers on 2006-08-23, 15:19:05
These were supposed to be Straight Eight cucumbers, a variety I've grown for several years now. They are most decidedly NOT Straight Eight cucumbers - I'm pretty sure they're a pickling variety. You can eat them, although they're very seedy, but I don't think they're nearly as good as Straight Eight. I ordered them from Veseys, which must have had a mix-up at the sorting plant.
I guess it's time to make some pickles.
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to cucumbers
on Aug 11, 2006, 10:56AM
Posted by Talbin Reblogged by Old Roses to cucumbers on 2006-08-11, 23:30:16
The cucumber farmers in Michigan are being devastated by a major attack by downy mildew. Michigan grows 30% of all the cucumbers grown in the U.S. This dreaded disease is most common when in July and August the weather is very hot and very wet; exactly our weather for the past month. We ourselves got caught with our pants down and have lost our own cucumbers to that disease.
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on Aug 9, 2006, 10:24AM
Look at mama's sweet juicy cucumbers- I just plucked them from the vine a few days ago! Very exciting. Last year I grew lemon cucumbers, but as per usual, I always overcrowd things out of enthusiasm to have a crazy jumble jungle of veggies, and the the plants end up suffering because some really want their space. (I always do that and am starting to mend my ways) So my 2005 lemon cucumber crop was limited to 2 cukes, and then the plant eventually succumbed to powdery mildew becaue the light and air circulation was drowned out by it's sunflower neighbors. But on this years cucumber plants I did notice some aphid colonies (this can't be happening to me, why me God, why me, I've always been a so-so, kinda, almost halfway good girl) being tended to by the ants running up and down the plant. Overall, the plant looks green and healthy, but I foresaw doom, doom in it's future! Plus I've only harvested 2 stinkin' cucumbers and my gardening ego demands more. I cut off some of the unhealthy, sucked dry leaves, and rinsed the plants well. . . .
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to cucumbers pests
on Aug 1, 2006, 1:10PM
Posted by Loretta Reblogged by Old Roses to cucumbers, pests on 2006-08-02, 17:00:53
My cukes have lots of both male and female flowers. Unlike my squash, I think both came out at the same time. In this set of pictures, the females are on the left and the males on the right. There is even a difference between the two from the top of the flower. Center stuctures are different and petals look different. At the bottom, there is a little bee in a male flower. I hope he goes to the female one soon.
The lemon cucumbers are turning out to be one of my more prolific vegetables this season. The skin of the lemon cucumber is varied. Sometimes they are very yellow; other times a pale yellow.
I’ve waited for our first cucumber, watching it closely, trying to decide how long to let it grow before we clipped it off the vine and ate it. On Sunday, I’d waited long enough.
Things I have learned include that cucumbers are spiky little buggers. By the time I picked our first Marketmore, it was probably half as spiky as it had been just a couple of days ago, but it still had little pin-pricky thorns sticking from the skin. . .
Sometimes when I look at this cucmber plant and wonder if maybe the aliens have already been here and cucumber plants are what they left behind. I know this probably sounds like I've been in the sun gardening too long but look at this photo. This is the leading tip of my cucumber vine. First of all its green. Everyone knows the aliens are always green, right? Look at its unearthly actions. The vine meanders around and attaches itself to anything in its path with its magical tendrils. The tendrils are super strong and curl mysteriously tight. Doesn't it look/sound a little extraterrestrial?
More produce of the garden made its debut on the dinner table last night. The eggplant did a duet with the zucchini as grilled marinated vegetables. Lemon cucumber appeared in a cameo role.
The lemon cucumber experiment continues. The fruit is ripe when it is the size of a large lemon. I estimate this cucumber to be three-fourths of the way there. I cannot believe how fabulously prickly it looks. Sort of reminds me of my husband's beard after a long holiday weekend without shaving!
It's a been a great week for the vegetable garden. These are Big Burpless Hybrids and are supposed to grow to 12" long. Right now it's about one inch long so its got 11 inches to go. YUM!
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to cucumbers
on Jun 30, 2006, 11:12AM
Posted by Anthony Reblogged by Old Roses to cucumbers on 2006-07-01, 16:02:34
More flowers are starting to bloom in the garden (of course, the flowers in the photo are on the patio). I have a few crocus and some anemones. I am still waiting for the hyacinth to bloom, but we are getting closer. We also planted seeds for our vegetable garden (tomatoes, squash, cucumbers, peppers and melons), and have the starters inside downstairs.
I’ve waited for our first cucumber, watching it closely, trying to decide how long to let it grow before we clipped it off 
