Thursday, August 11, 2011

CUKES!

It is a proud day at the Gulag Garden. After nursing a pot of lemon cucumber seedlings, purchased at a local nursery I am proud to announce: CUKES!

I am beside myself with Lemon Cuke Joy

Yes, you grow armloads of lemon cukes, tomatoes and zuchinni by the bushel basket, but hey, this is the Gulag here. Last year's crops was beyond pathetic, and as I again largely insisted on Heritage type crops, the yield was predictably low overall. But lemon cukes? I grew 'em, I got 'um! What I love most about the crisp little mites is they are each a single serving - no leftovers wilting and softening in the fridge.

At the farmer's market lemon cukes are usually that lovely pale green color, but I have stalled on removing the first cukes and a couple were yellowish like the one shown below. Might be overly ripe or I might not even notice it's difference from the paler cukes. Oh well! Tomorrow I will dig into my first home grown cuke salad. Yum... Any extra cukes will be dropped into a brine and pickled for consumption when-I-get-to-them.

This yellow-ish cuke may have been left on the vine too long

The amazing bit is the cucumber plant looks like it was dragged through the depths of hell - if its container isn't watered daily, the plant wilts and its leaves go brown. The plant also doesn't like direct sun so its leaves are overall spotted with yellow which I think is caused by sun damage. Oh well! As long as it keeps producing those tasty mini-cucumbers, I'm a happy camper.

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