Congrats! I was wondering how you were making out. That's great!!

I'm so pleased .

Everything is going well. I have jalapenos popping out everywhere, onions with stalks standing up, and tomatoes heavy on the vine.

It has been a great thing for me to start gardening - I love it, and I CAN actually grow stuff!

NRaleighLiberal sent me a plant or two and get this - Bhut Jolokia Ghost Pepper, and it is flourishing . I have my own and a fall crop.

I couldn't stop smiling over finding that cucumber this morning before I went to work

Take care not to overwater, which often happens when someone decides to start a garden.

and believe me, I can't water much, and we have a big rainstorm coming. I'm doing my best to keep from wetting them down too much, but it is pure joy to watch them grow. I've never successfully grown anything before, but my father is helping me and he has grown a bunch of things.

I'm so excited every time I see something bud and start to form a vegetable

My cucumbers haven't set on yet, but I've got lots of tomatoes and squash ripening, with purple pole beans on the way.

I haven't even eaten anything out of my garden yet, but I'm just so pleased to watch what they do!

at an almost spiritual level for me. I love to garden both vegetables and ornamental stuff.
I've made a pretty well landscaped yard, and sitting out on the porch on a hot California evening, after everyone has had their evening drink, is extremely satisfying.

I took a 14-day road trip through Virginia and the Carolina's two years ago (with a quick detour to Savannah). The South is beautiful to my eye, so lush and green.

doing something that is meaningful and beautiful; also I get to see the results every day. That's what I love about it.

Cucumbers plants seem to put a lot of energy into that very first one. I tend to pick mine when they are small. Just enough for a salad or two. I love the fact that I don't have to peel them or deal with a wax coating I sometime see at the grocery store.

You think I should pick it so that others will grow?

but did you have lots of flowers? If they got pollinated, you should wind up with a cuc anywhere you had a female flower.

(If you google cucumber female flower, you'll find more info than you ever wanted to know about cucumber sex

Last edited Fri Jun 13, 2014, 05:17 PM - Edit history (1)

big yellow flowers.

Oh and we have a bumble bee or two - don't those help pollination? I haven't seen the honey bee type in forever but we do have bumble bees.

But it's fairly easy to hand pollinate cucs as well, if need be.

Sadly, we're running low on honey bees as well, although I finally saw a half dozen or so out around the white clover in the lawn last week. I've been holding off on mowing as much as possible to give them as much flower time as I can.

Cukes are best when they are small and green. They grow quickly and then get full of seeds. By tomorrow that baby could be double in size! LOL

It's a nice sized cuke. I can't wait for more to grow!

I'll let everyone know how it tastes - I bet it tastes 10x better than those from the store. It even smells nice

I have not ever eaten a finer cucumber. It was sweet, diced up it had a buttery texture and it wasn't really all that juicy, just delicious. It was like tzatziki sauce has that lingering taste that makes it so delicious on gyros. I'm getting some pita bread, some greek yogurt and some lamb to slice up and make a gyro from heaven at some point.

If you're not getting rain, you need to make sure cuc's stay watered at least a bit daily (not soaked). We didn't do that last year, and apparently the cucumbers turn bitter if they don't get enough water.

and we get a lot of rain. We had about 3 inches today while I was at work, so no need to water my garden.

I did pick the first cuke. I'm so excited - it smells nice, and I'm going to dice it up in a salad for dinner tonight!

Same thing happened to me last year. I had a few small cucumbers (it was a pickling variety) and I was a bit sad I wasn't getting much out of my plant. One day, I moved the plant around a bit and wow, there was a ginormous cuke underneath the leaves. Like 3 inches in circumference and about 8-9 inches long. I was worried as I heard they taste bitter if they are overgrown, but I picked it and made a cucumber salad (with one cucumber, LOL) and it was the sweetest cucumber I've ever tasted. After I picked that one it produced quite a few more. There wasn't enough for me to do any pickling, so I let them all grow huge and they were all delicious, LOL. I planted the same variety again this year and crossing my fingers, since I put them in the garden this year instead of a container...hoping they produce the same way

and it SMELLS delicious. I'm going to dice it up in a salad for dinner tonight .

You will find that they all hide under and behind leaves. It is like playing hide-and-seek with them. It was good that you picked it, since cukes get seedy and I don't think that they are as good when they get too big....but you might want to try letting one get big to see for yourself if you feel the same way.

You make me smile at your enthusiasm.....we should all be that excited every year!

I even posted pics of my little garden and my "helper"

I can go out one day and think I've picked all of them, and the next day there will be giant ones.