Vegetable Gardening (50 page)

Parthenocarpic:
This cucumber type is seedless, producing fruit without pollination. Varieties of this type produce only female flowers and need to be separated from other cucumber varieties. Otherwise, if they're pollinated, they may produce misshapen fruits and form fruits with seeds. (You can still eat them; they'll just look funny.) This cucumber type is often grown in greenhouses.

Surveying common cucumber varieties

After you know a bit of the language, take a look at some of my favorite cucumber varieties. Most of these varieties vine 4 to 5 feet unless I note otherwise. Regular production of cucumbers is about 12 pounds per 10-foot row (about 10 cukes per plant). Choose varieties based on disease resistance, size, productivity, and adaptability. The days to maturity are from seeding in the ground until first harvest. Consider these varieties:

‘Armenian':
This unique heirloom, which also is known as the snake cucumber or yard-long cucumber, actually is part of the melon family (
C. melo
). ‘Armenian' produces 5-foot-long vines and burpless, nonbitter, 12- to 15- inch-long ribbed slicing fruits in 60 days. It sets fruits even in high temperatures when cucumbers normally won't set fruit, making it a good choice for hot summer climates.

‘Bush Pickle':
This hybrid bush pickling variety produces 4-inch pickles all at once on 2- to 3-foot-diameter plants that mature in 45 days.

‘County Fair':
This hybrid pickling variety produces 3-inch-long cukes on 2- to 3-foot-long vines. It's best known for its disease resistance, especially to bacterial wilt (see "Controlling pests and diseases" later in this chapter). Choose this variety if cucumber beetles (which spread the disease) are a problem in your area. It matures in 50 days.

‘Diva':
This All-America Selections (AAS; see Chapter 4) winner is a hybrid bush slicing cucumber that has it all. It's parthenocarpic, nonbitter, mildew and scab resistant, and has a thin, no-peel skin. It produces 5-inch-long cukes in 58 days.

‘Fanfare':
This AAS winner is a hybrid slicing cucumber that grows on a
semi-bush plant
(bigger than a bush variety, but not as rambling as other slicers). It vines to 4 feet, has lots of disease resistance, and produces 8-inch fruits in 63 days.

‘Homemade Pickles':
This disease-resistant monoecious, open-pollinated pickler produces 5-foot-long vines and heavy yields of 6-inch-long fruits throughout the season. This variety matures in 55 days.

‘Lemon':
This unique monoecious, heirloom variety produces yellow, lemon-shaped fruits that are crisp and mild flavored. This slicer matures in 64 days.

‘Little Leaf':
This unique parthenocarpic, open-pollinated pickling variety has compact, multibranched vines that yield well even when stressed. The leaves are half the normal cucumber leaf size, making it easier to find and harvest the 3- to 4-inch-long fruits. This pickler matures 55 days from seeding.

‘Salad Bush':
This AAS winner is a hybrid, bush slicing variety that needs only 2 square feet to produce its 8-inch fruits. It matures in 57 days.