My cucumbers, which looked so wimpy when I planted  the seedlings, have grown great.  I grew Burpee Sweet Burpless Hybrid for no other reason than the description sounded good in the catalogue. I do seem to have a lot more squash plants than cucumber, and unfortunately, I like cukes better than squash. Oh well, I guess I’ll be needing some creative squash recipes.

In any case, the cucumber and squash plants are co-existing nicely on my large cucumber trellises from Gardeners Supply Company.

Cucumber plants naturally are climbers and use tendrils to attach themselves to anything it can–the trellis, the brick wall, the tomato plant next to it.

The nice thing about using a trellis is that the cucumbers hang off the back, are easy to find, and don’t lay in the dirt where they can potentially get rotten spots.

When they are ready to harvest, it’s a good idea to hold onto the spot the cucumber attaches to the plant while pulling it off.  It’ll be pretty stuck on the vine and I’ve pulled whole sections of the plant (with other immature cucumbers) with the ripe vegetable when I’ve tried to pick them.  Also, if this is your first time growing cucumbers, don’t be surprised that the cucumber is covered in little spines.  When I get them in the house, I just use the kitchen scrubber sponge and rub them off and you then have the normal smooth cucumber you’ll find in the store.  Enjoy them in your favorite cucumber salad recipe!

One of my favorite cucumber recipes is a Sweet and Sour Cucumber Salad.  This is an easy recipe that can be made with thinly sliced or chopped cucumbers and makes a great side-dish for almost any summer dinner. It can easily be jazzed up with tomatoes, green peppers, kohlrabi- whatever is available in your garden that day.

Start with your favorite cucumber and either slice it thinly, spiralize it or dice it. All make for a tasty salad. For making wafer thin slices, I love my Kyocera ceramic slicer. But be careful where you store it, it is REALLY sharp.