I grew cucumbers last year in my small vegetable garden. They did okay, we had enough to can, but my cukes weren’t happy cukes. That’s because I forced the little fellows up on trellises and lattice work. I thought they’d be happier if they climbed and went up. Turns out, my cukes don’t like to climb. They like to spread. This summer I have a special cucumber patch and the vines are doing famously. I fussed at my wife for recently slipping a trellis in the patch. Fortunately, my cukes ignored the trellis and sprawled around and under it. They are just beginning to bear and it looks like a bumper crop.
As a backyard gardener I have had better luck planting cucumbers from seeds rather than from plants. I think they adapt better, at least for me.
This year I took a chance and planted a variety of a slicing cucumber called greenhorn. The first few cukes have been perfect in size, sweet and firm.
Most people relegate cukes to a tossed salad, but we like them as a stand-alone vegetable. With a good slicing variety, I cut up my cukes, add sliced Vidalia onions, salt, pepper, vinegar, water and ice – to keep them cool and crisp. It’s easy to prepare, tasty and good for you.
Cucumbers are not particularly known as a health food, but they are! Cucumbers are full of cucurbitacins, lignans, and flavonoids. These three types of phytonutrients found in cucumbers provide valuable antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and anti-cancer benefits.
Keep your backyard cukes happy with a bed of their own, and let them sprawl as they see fit. You will enjoy the result.
