So next year, two cucumber plants?

[nes]

I seeded my cukes outdoors this year (didn't make a difference since it was so cold and rainy nothing grew until a few weeks ago), and I learned the hard way that cukes don't like it when you transplant them to thin them out . I was so disappointed that I only had 4 plants, only 2 of which were really anything to look at. Well that concern has since faded...

[img]https://i654.photobucket.com/albums/uu269/knitness/DSC_0017.jpg[/img]

This is just from today, and there are at least 2 or 3 more that will be ready for tomorrow, and I'm the only one in the house that eats cucumber!!! (Hubby doesn't eat things that are green and DS doesn't seem to like cukes, he keeps feeding his to the dogs...)

The funny looking one is because some really brilliant woman decided to stick one of the growing cukes through the fence because then I'd be able to find it easily when I wanted to harvest it... Yeah guess what happened when it got bigger then the fence hole! (Oh well, still delicious, I'm eating it right now!).

I love cukes, but I also go yelled at by the doctor because I'm not putting on enough weight (5 months pregs now) so I can't just eat cucumber all day long!! As much as I really want to!

Does anyone have any really good cucumber recipes? Maybe I can trick these silly boys into eating some cukes!

[jmoore]

Call me a psychic, but I can see some pickles in your future


I saw a recipe in one of cookbooks this weekend for a spicy cucumber relish. I'll dig it up when I get home and post it for you. It was from Stephan Pyles. All his stuff is fantastic.

[nes]

Want to know something really funny? I eat my cucumbers soaked in 50/50 vinegar & water (or a couple other ways) but I HATE pickles. HATE relish.

I know, I don't get it either...

But I'm sure I could find someone that would accept a jar of pickles! That's not a bad idea .

Does anyone have a suggestion for identifying ONE cucumber? I'd like to try growing some seeds but I'll need to hand-pollinate then put something on the cucumber that won't inhibit it's growth but so I remember which one it was.

[crobi13]

I've put skinned, diced cucumber into pasta salad & it tasted fabulous! That might help you not only get the family to eat them, it will allow you to eat them & get more calories (from the mayo).

[kgall]

If you need the calories just slice them up and dip them into a veggie dip or calorie rich dressing...slice them and make a sandwich or put them on crackers. You can eat cukes and gain weight...It's all in the pairing!

[gixxerific]

I kinda did what crobi13 did last night. I skinned and diced a cuc and put it in with some spaghetti. I actually cooked the cuc and some diced onion with the hamburger before adding sauce it was dang good. My wife didn't even know until I told here.

[nes]

The spaghetti sauce is a really good idea, normally I'd do that with zucchini but I'm sure cucumber will work. Now, what can I pretend it is when he asks? (normally I just make him eat first before answering questions ).

I think I'm just supposed to eat more in general instead of filling up with extra calories but it's hard with a toddler running around!

[ljcoolj]

Nes, too funny. I planted 8 cucumber plants in the spring and lost 4 of them. I thought 'well, there went my dreams of canning pickles in August'. WRONG! I can barely keep up with what we're hauling in. Canned 12 pints of pickles last weekend and am gearing up for another 12-24 pints this weekend. I couldn't eat plain cucumbers fast enough. Luckily, me and my 2 boys eat pickles like crazy. Goal is 52 pints, one for each week until next year. I think it'll happen. I have one plant with 15 cukes on it right now. LOVIN' MY CUKES!!!

[gixxerific]

I just pulled mine they were looking bad. I thought it was powdery mildew. But when cleaning up I found cuucmber beetles.

[nes]

My fridge is FULL of cucumbers I went through and trimmed them all back yesterday, tried to get some growing up the back fence too. Since I picked the cukes a little smaller then my first one they REALLY do taste gooood!

The bees have been hard at work, they are much faster at pollinating then I am at getting ride of the male flowers so I may give up that loosing battle. I also haven't noticed any bitter taste at all!

I'm going to try to let one or two of the ones at the back get to full size so I can have seeds for next year, but they are just so yummy!! DS still doesn't like them though... I've got to come up with some plan to get him to eat them! He even picked his own yesterday, but as soon as I gave him a slice, it went straight to the dog .

[applestar]

I described a few of my favorite ways to eat fresh cucumbers [url=https://www.helpfulgardener.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=18101&view=previous&sid=2a65a9f0bc5221b8fec4e85b8d0e70e0]here[/url].

Also have been making lacto-fermented jar pickles based on [url=https://www.helpfulgardener.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=16440]Duh_Vinci's recipe[/url] and Bread and Butter pickles loosely based on a recipe described as adapted from Ball Blue Book of Preserving. At our house, DD7 prefers the sweet B&B pickles, DD10 prefers the Russian Half-sours, and DH wants the B&B on his burgers and Russian Half-sours with his deli sandwiches. Oh, and one of our kitties likes fresh cukes -- I can't leave them out on the table during the night because she gets on the table (which she is NOT supposed to do) and takes bites out of them. The other kitty prefers green beans.

[kimbledawn]

Great cukes! I have been harvesting cukes since july and I am loving it! We amde 5 quarts of pickles but hubby opened 3, we gave some to the neighbors and we still have alot of female flowers and 5 that should be ready today.

[gixxerific]

I'm sorry to go off toipic but I cna't stand it no more. Applestar what the heck doe DH stand for? Or for that matter DD7 or DD10. I even looked it up on google I'm clueless. I have seen this and similar abbrev. around and it's killing me to know.

[applestar]

DH or DW - dear/darling hubby or wife
DD - dear/darling daughter (some people at 1 or 2 to indicate first or 2nd, I add their ages because so often age is pertinent to what they did or said)
DS - dear/darling son (some people use this as dear spouse)
I'm sure there are other abbrev's. Are you sure there isn't a website listing for them?

I have the impression that the letter D is prefixed in all to alleviate the fact that you're talking about them. I first came across the abbrev's in a parenting forum where the most often used one was DH -- as in "DH did this and Oh! DH thinks that "

[nes]

I had to ask once too .

SO - is also significant other.
Then you've got MIL - mother in law, etc. their are tons!

Anyway, I pawned off 3 cukes and a 1/2 dozen carrots on one of DH's buddies last night; muhahahahaha!!! (there are still 6 in my fridge and tons on the vine... )

[St. Louis gardener]

My cukes did well until recently. I went away for a week during which we had 3-1/2 inches of rain. A bunch got too big. I pulled them ASAP but now they have turned yellow altho they are still firm. Are they OK to eat?

[jal_ut]

Cukes? Ya, they are pretty prolific. I picked 74 pounds the other day. Still have most of them. I guess they will end up worm food. Next time I pick them, I will take them to the food bank. Anyone want cukes?

[Diane]

Maybe the food bank will pick them up? Or a church group?

[applestar]

A bunch got too big. I pulled them ASAP but now they have turned yellow altho they are still firm. Are they OK to eat?

When they get so big that they're completely smooth with skins like winter squash, they're more like gourds than cucumbers. They're not good to eat raw anymore, but are pretty tasty peeled, seeded, and cooked -- either in Asian stir-fry type dishes or in soups. Somebody mentioned cooking them in pasta sauce elsewhere, too. I have a feeling they might also be good used in pickled watermelon rind recipe, but that's just a guess.