Let's talk about unusual cucumbers!

[veggiechicken]

Unusual as in, Not the Telegraphs and Marketmore, although all are welcome really. No cucumber should feel excluded from this thread.

I'll tell you mine if you'll tell me yours.

This year, I started Beit/Beth Alpha on 20th January and they've been amazing croppers so far this year. Picking one a day - nice, crisp, finger length, thin skinned cukes.

I've sown a few more Beth's but I've also had a rummage in the seed box and sown:-

Jordanian (HSL)
Armenian (HSL)
Armenian Yard Long (Pennard). May be the same as Armenian?
Boothby's Blonde (Pennard)
Poona Kheera.

Anyone else growing these or summat a bit different?

[Small pumpkin]

No, no, no. I'm not joining in .
I'm not even going to look up all those varieties I've never heard of . Just in case it leads to joining in

[SalfordWhite]

This is what I am growing this year. Good germination regardless of age of the seed- Crystal Lemon is sow by 2014 and still producing.

The HSL ones look interesting. Do you find them better quality than the regular seed catalogue varieties?

Marketmore 76
Diva
Delistar F1
Bella F1
Paris Pickling
Poona Kheera
Bolivian Giant -Achocha
Marketmore
Burpless tasty green
Crystal Lemon
Picolino

[Runtpuppy]

Poona Kheera.

In north India, summer lunches just weren't considered complete without a 'salad' which would consist of sliced tomatoes, onions sliced into rings, mooli batons, and kheera batons with a squeeze of lime juice over them.

It's different now with foods from all over the world available, but when I was a kid, kheera would almost always be bitter. The way to get rid of the bitterness would be to slice the ends and scour both the surfaces with a knife, in a criss-cross pattern. Then, you rubbed the 'caps' on the exposed cross-section until you got this thick foam.

That, according to legend, was the 'poison' that made a kheera bitter. Wash that off and throw the caps away. If you did it properly, the kheera would no longer be bitter. One of my earliest childhood memories is sitting in the kitchen, 'helping' mum by rubbing the kheera ends vigorously to get rid of the 'poison' while she sliced and diced the rest of the veggies for salad.

I am definitely trying to grow cucumber this year, but I can't remember the variety, and am too lazy to go and check! :|

[veggiechicken]

I tried the Jordanian in 2013 and seem to have liked it! https://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gr...ber_74125.html
Haven't grown it since. Same batch of seeds and at least one has germinated.
Boothby's Blonde I also grew in 2013 - can't remember much about it.
Never grown the Armenians before.

[veggiechicken]

Thank you runtpuppy - that's really interesting. I love knowing more about plants, especially food plants.
I hope these aren't going to be bitter. I was given the seeds but I think they're these https://hsl.gardenorganic.org.uk/see...ucumber/kheera

[Potstubsdustbins]

After last years great success with Mini Munch this is the year that will prove whether it was a fluke or not.

[Runtpuppy]

Thank you runtpuppy - that's really interesting. I love knowing more about plants, especially food plants.
I hope these aren't going to be bitter. I was given the seeds but I think they're these https://hsl.gardenorganic.org.uk/see...ucumber/kheera

The kheeras we had used to be dark green, so I think you'll be okay with these

Besides, I think they used to be bitter coz instead of picking baby cukes, they'd wait for the bloody things to mature. That's my guess, anyway. The younger, tender cukes tend to be sweeter.

That's the test with kheera, okra, and lauki (bottle gourd, I think?)... If the seeds are well-developed, the vegetable won't taste as good. Pick 'em young, while the seeds are still developing!

[veggiechicken]

Just goggled the HSL Armenian cucumber https://hsl.gardenorganic.org.uk/see...umber/armenian

and its completely different to the Armenian Yard Long Cucumber.............as it grows to, would you believe, a Yard Long!!

[nickdub]

just imagine the shame if some were only 35" long though :-)

I'm growing Cucumber 'Piccolo Di Parigi' - first time for me with a small type - I've picked 2 fruit so far and the plants appear to be growing on OK.