Many gardeners do all they can to maximize their crop production over the summer. In order to do this, they will often begin early with transplants, utilize vertical space, make succession planting and end as late as possible. With each of these techniques, I am as guilty as any gardener in wanting to squeeze as much out of my summer garden as possible. In mid July of 2018 my Carosello Tondo Tarantino was still on the vine, but all the male flowers were withering away. I made quick work to plant out a few transplants of the Long Dark Armenian cucumber-melon.
Seeds from this cucumber-melon came from my 2016 grow-out. Although I have yet to produce a consistently long growout of this cucumber, I will continue my breeding work.
The plants grew pretty well, but by the time September came around, so did the cool humid nights. Along with the cool humid nights comes one thing every cucumber-melon grower dreads. Yep – powdery mildew. Though my theory is that the long dark Armenian came into existance as a cross between the striped Armenian and the long dark Armenian cucumbers, it seems that any of the powdery mildew resistence of the striped Armenian variety remained with its cultivar. During the majority of my growing season I am able to stay clear of this menace. However, I am beginning to feel that if I want to ever grow another cucumber-melon variety after Labor Day (near the beginning of September in the United States) then I’ll have to grow the Striped Armenian (AKA: Painted Serpent).
Unlike most other cucumber-melon varieties that I produce, the Painted Serpent grows excruciatingly slow in its development. However, its cold-tolerance and disease resistance is unmatched by other cucumber-melons – so it may be a very good variety to try as a end-of-season transplanted crop.
So – the harvest from this last attempt at cucumbers was pretty meager. Even with a meager harvest, its nothing to complain about. Though my final crop did not produce in the way I wanted, this was a long shot. Additionally, this dark Armenian cucumber was the third cucumber-melon variety I had grown in my garden during that summer.
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| One of the little harvests from my late Dark Armenian Cucumber crop. |
Seeds from this cucumber-melon came from my 2016 grow-out. Although I have yet to produce a consistently long growout of this cucumber, I will continue my breeding work.
The plants grew pretty well, but by the time September came around, so did the cool humid nights. Along with the cool humid nights comes one thing every cucumber-melon grower dreads. Yep – powdery mildew. Though my theory is that the long dark Armenian came into existance as a cross between the striped Armenian and the long dark Armenian cucumbers, it seems that any of the powdery mildew resistence of the striped Armenian variety remained with its cultivar. During the majority of my growing season I am able to stay clear of this menace. However, I am beginning to feel that if I want to ever grow another cucumber-melon variety after Labor Day (near the beginning of September in the United States) then I’ll have to grow the Striped Armenian (AKA: Painted Serpent).
Unlike most other cucumber-melon varieties that I produce, the Painted Serpent grows excruciatingly slow in its development. However, its cold-tolerance and disease resistance is unmatched by other cucumber-melons – so it may be a very good variety to try as a end-of-season transplanted crop.
So – the harvest from this last attempt at cucumbers was pretty meager. Even with a meager harvest, its nothing to complain about. Though my final crop did not produce in the way I wanted, this was a long shot. Additionally, this dark Armenian cucumber was the third cucumber-melon variety I had grown in my garden during that summer.
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