23,594 Garden Web Discussions | Vegetable Gardening

It smells like a cucumber, the inside LOOKS like a cucumber, heck, if I taste it...u get the point.

So I was a tad disappointed that it wasn't really anything more than a strange variety of cucumber that fell in the packet. I'll probably throw this one in a salad or something. Same day I sliced it, the guy who has "The Scientific Gardener" blog said this:

"Hi there Andrew,
Thank you so much for the question. Those are some pretty cool looking cucumbers you have there. Unfortunately they are not cucumber-melons. The leaves, flowers, and fruit are all very much Cucumis sativus (cucumbers) and not Cucumis melo (melons and melon-cucumbers). Many of the American cucumber varieties of the C. sativus are bred for distinct spines - which your picture so beautifully portrays. My experience with many seed companies is that often the pictures on the package don't exactly match what the fruit looks like. If your cucumber variety turns out to be good for you - I would definitely keep growing it. "

Woulda been cool to have a cucumber-melon, lol *shrugs*

I'm totally blessed to have fruit nonetheless! :)

So what did it taste like Drewski?

KEFCO:

Yes. Totally safe and organic. Probably one of the safest. And will not harm any other beneficial insects. Insecticidal soap will do nothing for caterpillars. If you see larger ones, pick them off--- Bt isn't nearly as effective on "older" caterpillars.

Available at ANY garden center. Just ask for BT, caterpillar killer or thuricide.

Kevin

Got some today. Thank you for your help!

Pat, I don't grow corn here, you need big space, is too much work and the battle of the bugs. When in season the locally owned farms are a good place to get fresh corn.
My favorite beans are romano type and they do well in my garden. Like you said sweet potatoes are the easiest to grow here.

My garden last October.

Silvia

Your experience agrees with my supposition that maize in general and sweet corn in particular is poorly-adapted to the florida climate and soil. Sweet corn is most likely non-sustainable in that context, requiring irrigation, large inputs of off-site NPK and extreme measures for pest control.

More experimentation with likely maize cultivars might turn up one that could provide sustainable grain production for florida.

"Then there's the BOT fly!" MMQ ewww eww eww! My SIL got the BOT! In Belize!
She kept going to the Dr who thought she was crazy! Worms coming in and out of her scalp!Tried all sorts of self methods! There's a blog about it.....yuk yuk yuk!
When the aspy Dr finally saw the worm coming in and out of her scalp, he got all excited! LOL Finally got rid of it! YUK! Nancy

I have gotten less squeamish about bugs over the years. They are pretty interesting creatures really. I am vegetarian and if I were starving would probably rather eat bugs than mammals. They are supposedly quite rich in protein.

I didn't bother washing the mesclun mix from the garden (organic of course) this year. Just picked some leaves and threw them in the bowl. Figure if there is a little dirt or a bug in there, they are extra minerals and protein. :)

Only the spineless ones. Even the spiny varieties cook down to being somewhat edible, although I find the texture unpleasant in that case.

Not the cap, but the pat under it is the tastier part bu take longer to cook.

The main will probably grow laterals.
The broken part is a history, unless it had previously grown roots. Then you could cover them, water them, fertilize them ..

I feel for you. Today I was caging the last of the peppers and broke the top (flowering) of a jalapeno plant off just b/c I had 1 little branch under the bottom ring when I pushed down, though I was supporting the top of the plant to guide it through the ring. Should have done them when they were smaller, but some of the cages were in an old trailer I couldn't get open, needed DH to open the door.

I'm in zone 9 and it says I can plant broccoli through August.

I bought burpless hybrid II cukes.

Sorry, I meant it was too late for me in zone 5, I should have started the broccoli in July. By the time I finished that sentence, I had forgotten where you were. I'm very distracted these days. I'm saving broccoli seed I bought this year for next, don't think I'll plant spinach this fall (may do lettuce) if I ever catch up with everything else around here (still haven't renovated the strawberries or pruned the raspberries).

I've never tried the burpless cukes.

Agree with the above posters that dusting/spraying the stem with Sevin has contributed most towards deterring the SVB. I have used this practice for several years with great success... being careful to dust ONLY the stem. However, after a rain the dust or spray needs to be reapplied. Also, after the stem reaches about 18 inches, I typically let the SVB's have the plant.

I believe the dust works more of a deterrent -- keeping the moth from laying an egg on the stem. For those who do not like Sevin, I am sure there are alternatives, perhaps some which are organic alternatives. I have not tried the (non-organic) synthetic pyrethrins type dusting powders yet but I would guess that these would work just fine. (Check the label.)

zackey: I slice mine open as far up the stem as they are hollow and as far down as the roots allow - usually 5 or so inches, depending on the size of the plant. The cut needs to be straight in the direction of growth so that it doesn't cut across at all. Then I pry it apart and kill whatever I see inside and generally scrub around with the razor blade, again, in the direction of growth, until I am satisfied that nothing could have survived. Then I wash out the insides and cover everything with dirt. Then I water every day. It seems to work as long as you plan on losing half of your plants.

This post was edited by Creek-side on Fri, Aug 16, 13 at 21:56

well, its midday and pretty hot, I dont wanna make a sauna right there.

The corn wasn't healthy. It's probably very hard to raise good corn in pots. Some people have done better in containers designed for that.

Most flowering alliums are frown from bulbs but it is possible to grow them from seed.

Hybrids will not come true from seed of course. Sow ripe seeds as soon as possible or store in a fridge and sow in spring or indoors. Without cold storage the shelf life of the seeds is very short. Most will germinate within 12 weeks. It will take several years for plants grown from seed to reach the flowering size.

There are many 'how-to' discussions on the Allium forum that the search will pull up as well as into on the Bulbs forum and the Perennials forum.

Dave

Thank you gentlemen.

Allium flowers and seed pod are very much like onion(Round globe formation). I thought that it should not require refrigeration fo dormancy purpose.

I will try to germinate some right away and will refrigerate the rest for spring.

ronjason, I'd be saving the seed and planting it in the spring. Lettuce seeds are usually true to the parent unless there's a lot of sow's thistle weed (wild lettuce) growing nearby. Really, you have nothing to lose if you sow it as soon as it is ready, you may have some young lettuce before freeze up.

ronjason, I'd be saving the seed and planting it in the spring. Lettuce seeds are usually true to the parent unless there's a lot of sow's thistle weed (wild lettuce) growing nearby. Really, you have nothing to lose if you sow it as soon as it is ready, you may have some young lettuce before freeze up.

Ah okay, the instantly word is the exact one that I wanted! Thank you for the ease of mind!

Some ants do eat pollen. They are eating the pollen of my male zucchini flowers. I've put down ant traps but they are not interested in them. I need a way to get rid of the ants without insecticides that with kill bees.

I never knew that, thank you both!

They may or may not be 'pickling' cukes. Possible? Sure, but there is no way to tell for sure as they are all deformed due to poor growing conditions. The ones in the picture all suffered from inconsistent soil moisture - mostly too dry - levels while developing.

Dave

Here is a link that might be useful: Pictures of normal pickling cucumbers