Cucumbers

Cucumbers ©Janet AllenNice straight cucumbers, fully pollinated by our bees!

We've grown a number of varieties of cucumbers. We're lucky to have a bee-friendly yard since it takes more than a dozen visits to produce a straight cucumber!

Poona kheera cuke ©Janet Allen
Both are poona kheeras!

We've enjoyed the small, yellow, round Lemon cucumbers. They're very prolific and very tasty and somewhat resistant to pests.

If given free rein they do spread through adjacent garden beds.

Poona kheeras are interesting. They can be eaten when they're young (the yellow one in the photo), but as they mature, they become brown, and they're equally delicious.

Cuke sprawl ©Janet Allen
Our cucumber sprawling out, not up

We have rarely been successful at getting cucumbers to grow vertically—it might take more consistent training to keep the vines on a trellis or fence.

With our increased demand for garden space we need to work on this.

Cucumber blossom ©Janet AllenCucumber blossom

Cucumber blossoms are much smaller than most squash blossoms, but they have the same basic structure—and they must be pollinated.

Cucumber beetle(Enlarge) ©Janet Allen
Cucumber beetle

This cucumber beetle is a sucking insect. Although it's called a cucumber beetle, it also attack other cucurbits, such as this squash it's investigating.

Harvest record

YR LB Notes
15
14 21
13 33 We had some success using the kaolin clay to deter beetles that cause wilt
12 7
11 65
10 47