I harvested another monster cucumber yesterday. In the attached photo, The cucumber I harvested near the end of July was the one in front. I don't remember the size of it, but I posted the dimensions of it in another post. The cucumber I harvested yesterday was the one hanging at the back of the trellis. I purposely let it grow and mature even more to see how much an Armenian cucumber would grow and mature to resemble a melon in taste and texture. I also wanted to give the seed extra time to mature.
Yesterdays cuke was about three inches longer and two inches larger in diameter than the previous cuke. When I sliced it open, the seed cavity was bright orange while the flesh was still greenish white. The odor was almost as fragrant as a ripe musk melon. The flesh was still crisp but had developed a slightly sweet flavor. It retained the overall flavor of cucumber. I think if it had stayed on the vine another two weeks, it would have become a melon very much like a musk melon. My problem is the fact that not having grown melons, I have no idea how to judge its ripeness while still on the vine. It was so large, I was afraid it was going to break the vine and burst on the ground.
We have been eating some fruits at about 8" long and they are strictly mild cucumber flavored and can be used in any way a normal cucumber is used. We will be using some of this cucumber/melon this evening in a Cottage Cheese, cucumber, and mango salad. The ripe mango should give it a special sweetness. I have three more of the large versions on the vines and the vines continue to bloom way past the time my normal cucumbers gave up the ghost and died. As the weather is cooling, the Armenians are exhibiting their normal tendency to produce long, narrow, heavily ridged fruit instead of the oversized melon fruit.
The plants are amazing because they were planted the first week of April along with my normal cucumbers. Now we are in late August and they continue to get larger and seem healthier than anything in my garden. If you happen to plant some of the Armenian cucumbers next spring, don't be concerned if they germinate slowly, grow slowly, and have thin wimpy looking vines at first. When all the conditions are right, they suddenly turn the thin wimpy vines into vines double the thickness of the normal cucumbers. They also send out side vines which cover everything. They seem to have an abundance of male blossoms and just enough female blossoms to produce a very nice crop.
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Ted