Conquering The Cukes!

  Cucumbers...one of the staples of the vegetable garden...and they are my nemesis....The cukes and myself go back a long way.  When I first attempted gardening a few years back, I had to make sure to throw in a few cucumber plants....spaced 6 inches or so apart...because that's what beginning gardeners do, ya know!  I watched them grow and "vine" in every direction as well as take over the poor, young dogwood tree and grow taller than myself!  Unfortunately, although I had a huge plant, my cukes were light in color, bitter, and quite frankly, gross tasting.
   So, the next year, I tried to grow them in a container....WELL, no one told me I had to "thin" the plant! I later discovered I was trying to grow about 40 plants in a 3 inch circumference!  Needless to say they bolted on the first hot day, dried out, and produced like 3 of the most retarded looking cucumbers!  I admit, I was a little disheartened to see this...

I mean WTF is this ugly, shriveled, yellow thing? To much water? Not enough? I was perplexed...So I snipped off all the yellow ones (about 4-5 on each plant) and waited....and waited...and then

DOES MY EYES DESIEVE ME? Is that a cucumber? Is it green? Is it normal shaped? YES! YES! AND YES! Oh my gosh! SUCCESS!  1 successful cucumber after many-a-plants later:) SEE!!!

Now, I know this won't break any records but for me this cuke took 5+ years to grow! A nice looking plant, with green cucumbers, that tasted good! It was the 1st "official edible" cucumber ever home grown by me:)  It was de-lish!



SUCCESS!