The Polish Monastery Cucumber

So – I purchased this variety because it was supposed to be some kind of regular striped cucumber that originated in a Polish monastery. Between the name and origin and the hope that it would have stripes, I was interested.

Starting out the plants was easy. They grew a lot faster in the cool spring soil then my Carosello cucumbers did. This is to be expected because Cucumis sativus is much more tolerant to cool temperatures than Cucumis melo (or regular melon) is.

Over time the plants became big enough to flower. I was very excited to see what they might become. However, as the fruit began to mature I noticed something – there were no stripes. Not even a bit of stripes. As is the case with many of the cucumber and melon varieties that I grow, the picture and/or description does not always match what I experience in growing out the plant – especially when it comes to the appearance of the fruit.

 

 

Once I saw that there were no stripes, I decided to taste the fruit to see if it had any redemptive qualities. The fruit had a moderately pleasant texture, but had some slight bitterness. This was not a variety that I was willing to grow for harvest – so I decided that it was time to pull them in order to leave enough room for my other plants.

 Though I love most cucumber plants, not every cucumber variety is worth perpetuating. In some cases, it is important to determine if the number of positive qualities that the cucumber variety possesses outweighs its negative qualities.

I have a very difficult time encouraging anyone to invest their time and attention in growing out anything that I wouldn’t like to eat – and I generally will not recommend growing anything that I personally don’t enjoy.