The Cretan Cucumber Keeps going!

If the grower had any questions about the vigor of the Cretan cucumbermelon, it was started in March in the greenhouse and, after acclimating to the girl’s garden, it continued producing fruit all the way through August. Starting out as an early variety and producing until very late in the season is quite a feat for any cucumber variety.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The fruit itself is a light green well scalloped, mildly fuzzy fruit. Very similar to the Mezzo Lungo varieties from Italy, but with a much juicier flesh and much less fuzz. Besides that, the fruit shape and length were very consistent. This is not too common in otherwise unknown varieties. The fact that both vigor and consistency were present in this one variety was very positive. Even the seed that I harvested was of very high quality. With everything going for it, I hope that the Cretan cucumbermelon will be one that I will continue growing well into the future!

The Cretan Greek Cucumbermelon

In stark contrast with the Xylangouro cucumber that I grew in the greenhouse, the Cretan cucumbermelon was an amazing and delicious variety of Cucumis melo var. chate or adzur.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The plants were vigorous, the flowers were uniform, the fruit had a nice texture and were just a joy to grow. They did so good in the greenhouse and had so much life to them, that soon after the first couple of fruit went to seed, I decided to find a place to plant them out in the garden.

The Xylangouro Greek Cucumber

What can I say about the Xylangouro? I watched a video once that touted it as better than the regular Armenian cucumber. While this may be true, I’m not too impressed with this Greek landrace variety. It did alright in the greenhouse for me, but the flowers were all different and the shape of the fruit was a bit irregular.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Despite being sold by a well-known company, I’m not sure if I will be growing the Xylangouro to offer to others for a while. Why is that, you ask? The texture of the fruit that I tried, along with the variable flower type tells me that this is a variety that promises more work than reward. Though it may sound selfish, I prefer to grow the more promising varieties first and save the less rewarding varieties until later. Over time I usually get around to the others.

English Telegraph Experiment – One More!

Everyone, including myself, will inevitably makes some mistakes. The mistake that I happened to make with my recent English Telegraph experiment was that I left seed of one seed supplier out. The seed supplier in question was Stokes Seed, from Canada. Unfortunately, Stokes seed is unwilling to sell to anyone outside of Canada, so I had to work with some Canadian friends of mine to acquire the variety.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As the greenhouse was full, I started a few more seeds in some soil blocks and transplanted them into a friend’s plot that I refer to as “the fertile garden”. The plants did alright, but struggled for most of the season due to overhead watering.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When I was finally able to harvest the mature fruit, they were seedless. It looks like finding an English Telegraph cucumber variety that will work for me will take quite a while.