Been picking lots of cucumbers the last couple of days, our plants are really pumping them out now, with tons of blooms being visited by the bumblebees. We planted them next to the corn and beans, and they’re starting to infiltrate them. That part of the garden is just a mass of cuke leaves now. Some have already got too big and yellow, so we had to pitch those, too bitter and pithy, so we’re going to have to keep a keen eye on them.
We picked a out a dozen this evening, as our niece who lives down in our old house down tne hill wanted to make some simple salt pickles. We’ll probably have to can some regular dill pickles next week.
Some of the corn is tasseling, and the beans are just now forming. Tne okra plants are about knee high, and have quite a few little sprouts on them. We’ve also picked a few green bells and some jalapenos. Afe Habanero plants are loaded witn little green peppers on them as well. Most of our cabbage plants were shredded by insects, but a few of them have formed some nice soctball sized heads. Our 3 zucchini plants have become huge, and have a few 4-5" fruit on them as well.
So, in a very short time we should be buried in all kinds of veggies. The ole canner will be busy soon. This will help take the sting out of not getting any fruit this fall.
I’m growing pickeling cukes and cornichon this summer… I am growing them in pots this year as the cukes are small to tiny. My plants are also loaded with blooms! I hope the bumbles and bees find them. I have a spiral armiture for them to climb. Should be decorative as well.
H19 (aka Little Leaf) cuke does not require pollination to make fruit, I grow it in a greenhouse but it also does well outside I hear. Might be useful if pollination is a problem for you. We use it for both pickling and slicing since it seems to stay non-bitter better than other varieties.
Deer infiltrated my fence again and removed all but one of my Yongi Asian pears. About 2 dozen total. One limb was completely ripped off. There were 5 pears still left on the ground that appeared to be untouched. Luckily they are just about ripe. I gave e them a good washing and the kids and I each ate one. It was very good. I’ll be rethinking a lot of my orchard protection next year.
Chef buddy of mine served me these cucumbers and now there is always a bowl full of them in my fridge during the season. Peel the cucumber then split and seed it. Depending on the diameter you can cut it into fourths. Use a mandolin and slice the half’s very thin. Salt the slices liberally and put in a colander to drain overnight. Put the drained slice in a bowl and add juice from one lemon, salt, a tablespoon of chopped garlic, 2-3 tablespoons of fresh dill, and 1/2 cup of sour cream and 1/2 cup of plain yougurt. I usually do 5 large cucumbers and we eat it with most meals in the summer. My wife sliced these so they are neither halted or seeded but it makes a difference.
Thanks for the recipe, looks good. Sometimes my wife will make up some kind of cuke dip out of sour cream or yogurt but this also looks like something we could try.
I should mention what varieties we’re growing, as others had mentioned theirs. Last year we tried Picklebush, SMR 58, and Straight Eight varieties. The latter two were very prolific, so we’re giving those another try this year. We’ve had some deer browsing on the leaves, but there’s so many of them, I doubt it’ll slow their production down that much.
I have a little more than a dozen Redhavens netted and ripening. 3 were cracked so I picked them today. The ugly peaches and the nice looking ones are the same 3 peaches, just turned over. This is the first time I had a peach hit 17+ brix. Taste was excellent, A+. I keep the net up with 2 stacks of 3 ceramic disc magnets for each side. This tree has 2 sides held, but 4 would be ideal. I put a layer of Tyvek tape around each magnet to help with separating them.
