Monday, June 23, 2014

Armenian cucumber sprawl


My outdoor thermometer sensor says it's 109 in the shade, but the heat doesn't seem to faze this Armenian cucumber. Not only do the vines sprawl everywhere, but they also continue to set fruit. There's a foot-long cucumber hiding in those vines that wasn't there a few days ago.

Armenian cucumbers are actually in the melon family, but they taste like cucumbers and can be used as such in recipes. I like to chop them up and marinate with olive oil, basalmic vinegar, and fresh basil and/or oregano. Sometimes I add onions or tomatoes if I have some on hand. They don't need peeling and don't taste bitter when they get big.

That's my rescued basil plant cozying up to the Chardonnay bottle in the large pot. I have irrigation in the pot which comes on twice a day, but pots dry out quickly in our summer heat and I've found that wine bottles work well in allowing water to seep out slowly. The new foliage is coming in nice and green rather than mottled, so it apparently likes its new home.

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