I have recently wondered if I wasn’t thinking clearly when I planted an entire row of cucumber plants this past spring. Last year, my harvest wasn’t all that great, so I thought a few more plants certainly wouldn’t hurt.I know you are thinking that you’ve heard this before. One would think that I have learned a few lessons by now. I was so excited when the first few new cukes arrived. Picked small and tender, they hardly needed peeling and we savored each bite. As I got a few more, I proudly shared the wealth of my little harvest, and at one point early in the season, picked enough for a batch of delicious refrigerator pickles. Then the real cucumber season started, and I was picking a bucket each day, making more pickles and giving more away. As they usually do, things got out of hand in the cucumber patch. They grew. They multiplied. I picked and I picked, but it seemed the more that I picked, the faster they grew. I made five gallons of refrigerator pickles. Five. Gallons. Those lovely green curcubits, lovingly picked and almost caressed early in July are now grabbed off the vine and if only a few inches too big or slightly blemished get unceremoniously tossed into the chicken bucket, which in non-chicken homes is known as a compost bin. If a friend asks for one they get a dozen. I bring sackfuls of them to work. We have eaten cucumbers in one way or another every day, and not to complain, but I think we both are getting a little tired of them. I estimate that I have had about 100 pounds of cucumbers so far, and they’re still coming. A cucumber can grow faster than a zucchini, I think. Sweet, tender little cukes can become huge, white and bloated if it rains overnight and a Farm Woman can’t get into her patch until after her day job . Lucky for me, chickens love cucumbers, especially the big bloated ones. I slice them into thick rings and they all eat them just the same way: Seedy middle part first and then the white part, but never the green skin. They leave the skins as wrinkled little green rings around their run. If I toss the whole cuke in without cutting it, they will eat the whole thing, skin and all. Chickens are strange birds sometimes.
“To see cucumbers in a dream denotes that you will speedily fall in love. Or, if you are in love, then you will marry the object of your affection.”
Richard Folkard in ‘Plant Lore’ (1884)
I must have dreamed of cucumbers in early September 1977 because that is when I married my best friend. Happy 35th wedding anniversary to my husband, who is known to my readers as HIM or HE. Thanks for taking it with good humor, Honey. I wouldn’t change a thing about our life together except for one thing: You have a rather strange lack of enthusiasm for my beloved zucchini. Couldn’t you at least PRETEND to like it?
Happy Anniversary, you two young lovebirds! (PS – I love zucchini! So that’s one more reason I wish we were land-neighbors instead of just cyber-neighbors.) Your posts always make me smile… 🙂
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Me you too!
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Im sure when winter comes, you will be happy for all your effort that your put in canning… What a blessing it must be to have such a plentiful garden. Happy Anniversary! ( I would like to know what else you planted ) Have a good day.
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This has been a bountiful year for sure. I plant a little of everything.
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Congratulations to you both!
As for cucumbers, well, I didn’t get any. In fact, I didn’t get anything at all except tomatoes this year. The weather was too hot and dry, the tomatoes got sucked dry by the squash bugs (who were lacking their favorite meal) and I was all set for peppers, but the geese decided they liked them more than me! Ever seen a goose on too many red hot chilies? It is not a pretty sight.
~ Lynda
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Sad. :o( I would share if you lived closer…..
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You’re sweet, thanks for the thought. ~ L
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Send some my way!
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Wish you lived closer…I know Amanda does, too!
Chris
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A new co-worker is having an explosion of squash similar to your experience. Sometimes Mother Nature can be quite prolific!
Happy anniversary to you and Him!
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Thanks from one Florida/Minnesota Woman to another.
Chris
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