I planted it twice this year, from fresh seed from Baker's Creek, and nada. Maybe four sprouted out of two entire packets and none of them are more than a couple of inches high.

Keep us posted on how yours do over the year. I need to be convinced to give them another chance. LOL

Diane

AKA Armenian Cucumber mine have been producing for several weeks. They have overgrown the trellis, climbed across the bush beans and up on to the fence. How is the bee activity in the morning ?? Are they on a trellis? Try to take them when about the diamater of a half dollar. They can be pithy at larger diameter. As long as they get pleanty of water they should not get bitter. ( I haved had that problem with real cucs, about half seem bitter even from the same plants. I do a taste test before putting them in anything now.)

Have you ever "soaped" your cukes to get rid of the bitter? It is a trick my stepmother taught me years ago, you cut the end of you cuke at about 1/2 inch and rub it briskly in a circular motion both cut ends together a "soap" looking stuff will form, repeat w/ the other end and wash off all the soap, it really helps w/ the bitter.

Kassaundra, yes that good way to remove bitterness from summer cucumbers... we always do that before eating fresh cucumbers!

I started these indoors in late winter from Baker Creek and took several to the Spring Fling. They germinated really fast but took awhile to grow to any size. They are on a sort of trellis (wire strung between U-posts) which they are outgrowing. They usually have some kind of tiny tiny bee in the the flowers, not a honeybee.

Thanks for the tip on size. IF I ever get any fruit I'll remember that.

And I've never heard of the "soaping" but will definitely give it a try!

I had never heard of an Armenian cucumber before this year.
I ordered a pack of seeds, plus our preachers wife gave me some seed she called yard long cucumber, I planted both and they appear to be the same thing. So far, for fresh eating I like them better than any cucumber I have ever eaten. I even took one I was planning to toss in the compost and cut it lengthwise, scrapped out the seeds and ate part of it. It was about 2.5" in Dia. and 20" long and it was still good.

I did not trellis mine. I built a trellis for it but it was so hot and dry I decided to let it sprawl to shade the ground.

Larry

Love the Armenian cucumber, the melon that tastes like a cucumber. Unfortunately of the 6 seeds I planted this year only 3 came up and 2 met with an untimely demise--one was accidentally pulled up while moving the hose and another just up and died. The third was disturbed while moving the hose so is stunted, but does have one small fruit. That and the Poona Keera, a small yellow cucumber from Baker's are my favorites.

Our May planted Armenian cucumber are bearing 8 small cucumbers ranging to from 2-8". I have started second crop mid June along with Poona kheera.

Poona Kheera is my favorite too, they produce heavily and never get bitter. -Chandra

Is Poona Kheera good for pickling? That's what we use the bulk of our cukes for. I see a couple of references to pickling them in the comments at BC but am curious if either of you have ever pickled them.

Diane

Diane, no I have never pickled Poona Keera, but eat them fresh. Don't know why they wouldn't pickle though as they look a lot like a small pickler only yellow. I like not only the flavor, but the vines are really tough, productive and heat resistant.

Diane,
Priya pickled them last year by slicing into think rounds, they were tasty, even little better than green cucumber.
-Chandra

Good to know. Thanks, gang! I'm adding them to my gotta-buys for next year. While I no longer live in the weather hell that is Oklahoma, I'm still trying to tweak my seed lists to tougher varieties whenever possible.

Garden smarter, not harder!

Diane