Heirloom cucumber in my organic garden.
I like surprises, so I always include a few things I’ve never grown before in my planting plan for the summer season. This year I’ve grown some heirloom tomatoes (my favourite is the Tigerella) and an heirloom cucumber that I grew from seed called “Armenian”.
The packet says the cucumbers can grow 60 – 90cm (2 – 3ft), with unusual pale green colour – stores well. Well, I reckon any cucumber that gets to that size is worth having a go! I sowed my seeds directly in the soil. Unfortunately there was no room left in my highly prepared and nourished main plot, so I included them where I’m growing my sauce tomatoes, capsicum (peppers) and basil – always companion planting. The soil is impoverished, sandy, not-wetting soil. Not really ideal, but the addition of monthly organic fertilizers and some layers of thick pea straw mulch helps.
They were slow starters, but now they’ve really started to take off. This cue above is about 30cm (12inches) long. I only noticed it about a week ago, so it’s really quite impressive. There are others coming on now. Can’t wait to taste it. And at this rate it won’t be long. 
So I’ll give the flavour taste test thumbs up or down in a later post.
My thoughts in the garden (and all aspects of life): Try new things!
Happy Organic Gardening,
Julie
Filed under: Heirloom, vegetables on February 4th, 2008
Hi, I planted watermelon for the first time this year and was wondering when do I know when to pick it. I recently picked one thinking it was ready and unfortunately had picked it to early. Your advice would be great.
Hi Shea,
it can be a bit tricky to know when to pick your watermelon. Two ways can help you decide.
One is when the glossy sheen of the skin becomes dull – no longer glossy. But the best way to tell is when the underneath section that sits on the ground (or mulch) turns yellow, or at least a different colour than the rest of the melon.
Watermelon doesn’t ripen after it’s picked, so it’s important to get it right. Also, watermelon ripens from the centre of the fruit and ripens outward to the skin. So if it’s paler on the outer areas than in the centre when you cut it in half, it wasn’t finished ripening.
I hope this helps a little
Kind regards,
Julie
Thankyou so much for your reply. I suppose it is going to be a bit of trial and error for a while. We have another four or so watermelons growing at the moment and I’m just going to let them go a bit longer this time and experiment a little with the picking. I will let you know how I go. Thanks so much for the advice- I love your blog.
[...] I talked about this Armenian cucumber (heirloom variety) I grew this season in a recent post and how I would give it a taste test [...]
hi there fm wisconsin, u. s. a. i want to ask u if u grow tomatoes in a 5 gallon bucket? i just tried it about 2 weeks ago for the first time(i found several gardeners and their websites with step-by-step instructioins…i had to try this as in the past i planted tomatoes in the ground(rotated crops every year and always had tomato blight)…this method seems to be working…just a thought,give me a shout out when u can…tks
A friend gave me some seed for this cucumber. I planted it in a new plowed garden with just a couple applications of turkey manure. I had just a very few seed and planted them in one hill. Just last week I picked the first long cucumber to our great joy! It tastes great and lasts a long time in the frig. Yesterday was showing my plants to my sister when I discovered another cucumber hidden in the grass. I thought the seeds were mature enough to keep but after drying them on a napkin they shriveled up to nothing. How long does a cucumber have to be to have mature enough seeds to keep?