sphinxeyes
gardener
Suburbia, small garden in side yard, containers on larger back deck. Hot humid summers.
Posts: 154
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Post by sphinxeyes on May 29, 2009 16:07:52 GMT -5
My dad just bought a pack of "pickling cucumbers". He planted half of them in the back garden of his office building in hills and then gave the rest to me. I've never planted any sort of cucumber before, but I would only have space here to plant them in containers. Can I treat them like melons and train them up a trellis? Or do they do better to trail along the ground. The tags on the plants don't say much regarding how big they'll get, only that they are vigorous producers with heavy yields. I have 5 cells of plants and there are about 3 in each cell. Should these be planted together as they are or do I need to split apart each plant?
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Post by bluelacedredhead on May 29, 2009 21:26:57 GMT -5
Cukes love being trellised. It won't be as noticeable with the short stubby pickling types, but with Japanese or English cucumbers, it helps keep the fruit long and straight instead of curled up and distorted. Or, because they are short pickling types, you can plant them three plants to a hill, or in a row...whichever you have the room for. It all works.
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Post by mnjrutherford on May 30, 2009 3:32:22 GMT -5
How do you "coax" the vines up the trellis? My experience is that squash/melon type plants are very delicate and if you damage a piece of the vine, the whole plant gives up the ghost! Lost a pumpkin plant to puppy play just this week. Past years I lost all my plants not realizing that it was because I was over aggressive with bug catching. On the other hand, some plants you couldn't help but walk all over just getting to the fruits and they did just fine. Like the amazing "Giant Cucumber" plant I grew last year. I had cukes that weighed in at more than 5 lbs each! Delicate, crisp texture and flavor... They were hands down the best cukes I had EVER had! It wasn't until the end of the season I realized, they were "Old Time Tennessee" MELONS! They weren't cukes at all. That thing had more fruit than you could shake a stick at. By the time we figured it out, we had never tried a fully ripened fruit and the 1 or 2 that started ripening were not all that great.
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Post by bluelacedredhead on May 30, 2009 7:08:57 GMT -5
Putting labels with your plants and making a map of your garden plantings helps to identify those 5 lb cucumbers
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Post by mnjrutherford on May 30, 2009 8:15:57 GMT -5
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sphinxeyes
gardener
Suburbia, small garden in side yard, containers on larger back deck. Hot humid summers.
Posts: 154
|
Post by sphinxeyes on Jul 1, 2009 22:15:56 GMT -5
My cucumbers are doing marvelously! I have two in containers that are trellising up a net and three others that are in the ground and growing a little more slowly. My question is, what is the best way to keep cucumbers until I have enough that I can pickle a whole batch? At the moment there are 2 or 3 that are about 2 inches long and I know I need to pick them soon so that others will continue to grow. They also have little spines on them. Do you pick them with the spines or do you wait until they go away?
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Post by mnjrutherford on Jul 2, 2009 7:36:57 GMT -5
I have the same storage question as Sphinx. I ended up tossing all my little cukelettes because they got limp. Conjured up all kinds of sarcastic things to say to my husband! ANYway... the spines get washed off Sphinx, similar to the fuzz on summer squashes. Good luck with the pickling process. The "Blue Ball Book" (more sarcasm races to mind here) is an excellent resource for the basics of pickling and as I read it I was sort of turned off of the process for the moment. I would like to acquire some nice deep clay crocks for this purpose. ::sigh::
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Post by bunkie on Jul 2, 2009 8:46:20 GMT -5
if you like crunchy dill pickles, this is the recipe i use and they taste great... Dill Pickles allrecipes.com/Recipe/Dill-Pickles/Detail.aspx "This recipe for Kosher style dills was given to me 25 years ago by a farmers wife who grew cucumbers and it has never let me down. The two things I have found critical to crisp dill pickles are soaking the cukes in ice water for at least 2 hours and ensuring the brine is at a full boil when poured over the dills." Original recipe yield: 8 - 1 quart jars INGREDIENTS 8 pounds 3 to 4 inch long pickling cucumbers 4 cups white vinegar 12 cups water 2/3 cup pickling salt 16 cloves garlic, peeled and halved 8 sprigs fresh dill weed 8 heads fresh dill weed DIRECTIONS Wash cucumbers, and place in the sink ( I use the bathtub!) with cold water and lots of ice cubes. Soak in ice water for at least 2 hours but no more than 8 hours. Refresh ice as required. Sterilize 8 (1 quart ) canning jars and lids in boiling water for at least 10 minutes. In a large pot over medium-high heat, combine the vinegar, water, and pickling salt. Bring the brine to a rapid boil. In each jar, place 2 half-cloves of garlic, one head of dill, then enough cucumbers to fill the jar (about 1 pound). Then add 2 more garlic halves, and 1 sprig of dill. Fill jars with hot brine. Seal jars, making sure you have cleaned the jar's rims of any residue. Process sealed jars in a boiling water bath. Process quart jars for 15 minutes. Store pickles for a minimum of 8 weeks before eating. Refrigerate after opening. Pickles will keep for up to 2 years if stored in a cool dry place.
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sphinxeyes
gardener
Suburbia, small garden in side yard, containers on larger back deck. Hot humid summers.
Posts: 154
|
Post by sphinxeyes on Jul 2, 2009 18:27:50 GMT -5
I'll be making bread and butter pickles and the method that seems the easiest is to make the brine first and refrigerate it. Then pick the cucumbers as they come, wash and slice them and add them to the jar in the fridge. No cooking and this way you don't have to risk losing any cukes while waiting for a full harvest to come in! I'm still searching for a good recipe, but I'll be ready to start picking cukes by this weekend.
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Post by canadamike on Jul 2, 2009 21:53:37 GMT -5
I totally second bunkie with the ice thing and the boiled syrup. Around here we add coarse salt to the ice mix. Never tried without it
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Post by mnjrutherford on Jul 3, 2009 7:40:11 GMT -5
I'm saving that recipe for next year. What about sauerkraut?
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