Cucumbers, What are you growing

[mathfed]

Originally Posted by duajones

Had my first PK last night with a store bought tomato, vinegar and oil with a touch of tabasco, salt and pepper. Very Good! The plant is loading up with fruit.

Since seeing your picture of PK, I have done a bit of digging on the web to find out more about them. I am now planning to also grow a PK this summer. I'll fit it in somwhere dangit. I may just have to forego the Burpee pickler this summer since I am growing County Fair to pickle anyways. The PK sounds interesting - a cucumber from India with russet skin that turns brown. I am trying a lot of things this summer I haven't grown before. I just wanted to let you know that your pic of PK made me research that variety, and now I am going to grow it. Thanks for posting!!

[johno]

I've heard people rave about the PKs, they're just kinda' ugly... I guess I'll have to try one.

[mdvpc]

Johno-You will forget about what they look like when you taste one.

[celestina]

Are Poona Kheera's suitable to trellis? Trying to figure out how much space I would need to grow these. Would love to be able to trellis---but perhaps this cuke is not sutible for this?

[feldon30]

I think all cucumbers, even so-called bush varieties, can benefit from a trellis. The pictures I've seen of PK were definitely trellised. Trellising is necessary to reduce fungal exposure in Houston. I realize humidity in New Mexico is just a fraction of here, so you could let the sprawl if you wanted.

I am trellising my PK this year as well as Lemon Cucumber and Straight Eight.

[celestina]

Thanks Feldon! Good to know.

[duajones]

Here is my PK in a container with makeshift trellis. I picked my 5th fruit off of it yesterday and there are more close.



And here is Lemon, growing fast



followed by Boothbys Blonde

[celestina]

Wow! They look great! Very robust. I'm still about 5 weeks from planting

[celestina]

Just out of curiousity--do you have a special mixture that you use in containers to grow cukes?

[duajones]

The container with the PK is mostly leftover soil from the fall. It was just a good potting mix that i mixed some peat and vermiculite in with. Before planting, I removed the top 6 or 8 inches and mixed in some compost and cow manure, few heaping handfulls of each maybe. I worked some tomato tone into the soil once the buds started forming and have kept well watered.

[soil_lover]

I grew spacemaster cucumbers last year. They reminded me of straight eight, except the plants were not as productive.

[spyfferoni]

I found some Diva seeds at a nursery, so I'm excited to try it, as everyone seems to really like it.

Tyff

[duajones]

I am a few days from eating my first diva of the year, looking forward to it. On the other hand, lemon and boothbys blonde were hard hit by the cold snap and seem to be slow to recover. I will give them a little more time before deciding whether to pull them and resow. Poona Kheera also seems to be in a funk, but I have already harvested 15 or so fruit.

[Elayne]

I am growing "Sweet Success" again this year. Last year I had an unbelievable amount of cucumbers with 10 plants. Every day my husband picked two big bags and walked around town trying to give them away. People started walking the other way when they saw him.

[barkeater]

Don't wait too long. Diva is best when picked small, and like most veggies, picking the first ones young stimulates the plant to produce more quickly. The first Divas are practically seedless regardless the size, but as the season goes on picking at the size of a large pickle is best. I put up about 15-20 quarts of refrigerator dills using Diva and nothing else compares!