In a continuing endeavor to warn you children about things good to eat, I strongly once again suggest you to have started figuring out what grows in your neck of the levee before you are stuck just eating weeds. Now weeds are quite good in lambsquarters and pig weed, but baby sis will tell you that you will really be unhappy stuck eating fodder........man needs the Word of God, but one needs variety as much as salt and pepper to not make you a 3rd world sheep.
Ever seen those sullen peoples in the isolated areas? You have no idea how turning radio, tv and internet off, no bright pictures and eating only taters and turnips would crash America........am surprised the elite's have not done it as that would have conquered America 30 years ago.
The subject is cucumbers, and American hybrids make people sick. It is odd in this, that I have attempted growing different cucumbers from Phoona Kheera from India to Chicoms..........the Chicoms are too long season, and the Indian for me, do not produce well..........like the white Bootheby Blonde.
It is a hell of a thing to try and grow something when you need it, and find out it is not producing, and leaving you hungry.
My favorite cucumber as a slicer is an Australasian round yellow one called Lemon. They have flaws in needing to be eating smallish, produce seeds too many when large and yet those seeds seem to disappear when you need them for next season's crop, and are a bit late, but the redeeming factor is I can eat these without any problems.
It does no good to have a pile of cabbage like the Tetons making you ill, when you can have something with a few redeemable flaws feed you.
Lemon does produce very well for me...........black plastic and water. I have made pickles from them in a pinch too.
The cucumber I tried this seasons was uzbekski cucumber. It is of the Slavic varieties and for me I seem to be able to eat Russian Slavic varieties of anything without problems. Europe bred for flavor first, and Russia bred for not starving, so you start noticing that sometimes these foods are not "pretty", but they taste different and might not look so pretty.
This uzbeksi is really different in flavor of cucumbers compared to Americans. It tastes like a cucumber, but..........it just is different. Nothing to bother a soul, but it is most interesting to find that cucumbers do indeed taste different.
I was given 3 by God.........that is very bad. The one I harvest made me pleased that if I received a dozen, I would have a few quarts of sweet dill pickles and that would be enough.
Oh, I dislike dills really, but my Auntie being lazy served me one day a sweet dill. I said to Auntie, "You know these are really good".
She replied, "Oh I had some dills and some sweet pickles and just dumped them together to save space".
So that sold me on sweet dills and I like bread and butter too........sweet pickles just take too long to make.
In my region, I seem to have problems most days with varieties the first year, and if I can glean some seed, then all goes pretty well.
For example, I had Improved Golden Bantam last year....really a bust, but I saved the one large ear for seed, planted the best seeds, and this year my 8 inch ears listed in the catalogue were 14 inches and very good.......with 12 foot stalks and they are not supposed to grow that large.
That stated, I have hopes that now I have seeds from this Russian cucumber, it will behave better next year. That again satan influenced a hen chicken to eat half my seeds from one cuke, but then that is the way it goes sometimes, as I can raise things all summer, and bam just when I need them, there comes a woodchuck chewing on things.
I will though do better than survive.
Am tempted next year on trying maybe some more cukes, but have not settled on this, as in finding the melons I will grow in good quantity with God's blessings, this is always the variable of what one invests in as seeds are getting more expensive now........have my bean trials about finished and for pole beans that old Kentucky Wonder produced 5 times the dry seed than any other.........do not know if it will behave in soups and dishes, but that ancient thing is how all these other wonder crops should be producing.
The uzbekski though does live up to billing in it stays crisp even when brown and holds quite well on the vine...........main point is no reactions to eating it, and if it will just decide to be productive, I will see how my Volga girl behaves or if she will be replaced with something ...I don't know, maybe should try that Chicom cuke.......never know until another year is wasted.
agtG
