2023 Dark Armenian Cucumber

2023 provided me with much joy and excitement, but also much work and disappointment. With gardening, as with life, it seems that joy in one area is somehow interconnected with sorrow in another. In addition to constant pest pressure and disease, I experienced a lot of disappointment with growers this year. Early in 2023, I had asked a group of market growers if any of them was willing to grow specific cucumber varieties for me. Out of this group, I found five or six who were willing to do so. All but one grower backed out before growing out the varieties, either because they planted too late or because they were not ready to seriously try to grow out the variety. Preparing the seed agreements, communicating with growers and the work required to follow-up was so great, that by the end of the season I was feeling quite worn out. For all the work that was invested, I was left with little to no seed of multiple cucumber-melon varieties, including the Dark Armenian or Tortarello Barese.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

By late July I found out that I would not be receiving any additional seed of the Tortarello Barese or Dark Armenian Cucumber. So, I talked with my wife and placed a one-yard cubic bin in the only place in our yard that had enough sun to grow the Dark Armenian before the end of the season. Doing this, I had to make sure to pull any male flowers from the Speckled Carosello that was growing nearby. This did not require too much work as the vines of the Speckled Carosello were mostly winding down by the time the Dark Armenian began to flower.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Beginning cucumbers this late in the season is always challenging – but attempting to grow them for seed is even more difficult. Waning daylight, cooler nights and Powdery Mildew all take their toll on the crop. Knowing this, I made sure to fill my planting containers with some professional growing mix. I added a soaker hose and a timer to the one yard cubic bin and then watched the plants grow.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Given that I planted in late July, I was very happy to have been able to harvest anything by early October. While August and September are prime growing months when I gardened in Tucson, they are waning summer months in the Bay Area. Despite high daytime temperatures, Powdery Mildew often comes around in early August. I worked to fight it off with some new techniques, but it was still a bit of work to keep my little plot healthy.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Even with all the work it required, I was grateful that I grew out these Dark Armenian cucumbers. I did get a little bit of seed from the harvest and hopefully I will be able to grow out more this coming year. Growing cucumbers and cucumber-melons is not always easy, but I am always grateful for the opportunity to grow and help others to grow out delicious vegetables.

The Palestinian Faqous or Fakkous

For many years, I had been trying to source seeds of the Beit Sahour Faqous or Fakkous. While I have not been able to source that specific variety, I was able to source the general Palestinian Faqous from the Experimental Farm Network, which obtained the variety from Vivien Sansour of the Palestine Heirloom Seed Library.

So what is the Faqous? It is a muskmelon that is grown as a cucumber. Though it is likely listed as a Cucumis melo variety flexuous, it has some attributes of the chate variety too. When I say Cucumis melo variety flexuous, I am referring to the longer ‘snake melons’, while when I speak of C. melo variety chate or adzur, I am referring to round, oval or cylindrical varieties – like the carosello. Both the flexuous and chate varieties have very similar characteristics and flowers. The primary difference between the two has generally been the fruit length and texture. With these two characteristics, the Faqous or Fakkous is much more like a chate. My opinion is that the length and texture of the Palestinian Faqous may much more closely resemble the original cucumber-melons that were grown over a millennia ago rather than the long snake melons or some very short carosello varieties.

The Faqous exhibits a flesh color that is very light in color. While it starts out looking light green and very fuzzy, the color becomes lighter as it matures. The texture remains crisp, yet appealingly tender until the fruit becomes mature. Unlike the light snake melons known as the Armenian cucumber or Tortarello Abruzzese Bianco, the Faqous does not go from being tender yet dry to juicy but very hard. The length of the Faqous that I grew was also relatively consistent – around 8-10 inches at prime picking stage.

One of the things I did differently when I grew the Faqous was that I grew it in a 1-yard tote. The soil from a local organic soil supplier (Harmony Organics) comes with the tote, so I decided to just grow in the tote for a season. After the season, I replaced the tote with a 1 cubic yard macro grape harvest bin.

From starting the plant in May of 2022 to collecting the fruit, the plants grew well and produced quickly. Unlike a lot of other varieties I have grown, the Palestinian Faqous matured almost like clockwork. They all set fruit around the same time and were ready to harvest for seed all around the same time too. The flavor was appealing, but not my favorite. I would definitely consume it over the Armenian cucumber varieties that are sold by American seed companies, but it would probably not compete with some of my other carosello varieties. However, given the consistent growth pattern, maturity and fruiting shape – I could see this variety as being very marketable.