A Gardeners Forum Forums General Discussion The Food Garden Forum Vegetable Gardening ouch! cucumbers are prickly!!

This is my first summer in my house (instead of an apartment) and I planted veggies (yay, veggies!) So i have 2 cucumber plants that are crazy busy blooming and producing baby cucumbers ( and big cucumbers too)! Which is wonderful! BUT, I don't think i realized that cucumbers got so prickly
I can no longer find the labels (they are buried under the growth somewhere), and I was not on top of things with my garden journal (didn't write down what kind they are). When I purchased them they were labeled as a bush variety, but they are definitely climbing and vining their way up my fence and along my walkway, so maybe they were mislabeled.
Anyway, my main question is, should i wait for them to become smoother before picking them, or do the little spines not really matter? i don't want them to get too big and get bitter.
Any help would be appreciated!

Thanks!

It really depends on the type you planted. First all 'bush' types of cukes and peas will climb if given something to climb on. Your cukes sound like pickling cukes with the bumps. That does not mean they won't be good fresh in a salad though. So put your gloves on and pick one. Scrub off the prickles or peel. And try it out! Try for the largest.If it tastes like cucumbers you know and love, it is ready and ripe.
If you do not keep the fruit picked as it ripens your plants will stop producing new.

Thank you So much! Sorry it has taken forever to respond. I have cukes growing out of my ears : ) it's fantastic. The biggest one so far has been about 5 inches wide and over a foot long. I am definitely going to try to pickle some, but for now, eating them constantly seems to keep them coming- and giving them away to anyone who wants one, of course.
thanks again for the advice!

Same story here.
I wear gloves to pick mine.
Making lots of relish an pickles of all sorts.
We love them.

dodge

My first time growing Armenian cukes this year, thick skins have to be peeled of with a paring knife, but the "innards" are sweet, tasty, drier than the vining or pickling types I've grown before.
I recall some kind of cuke my father grew that had really obnoxious spines, sort of like spiny okra, but I don't know the variety...there are probably any number of cukes like that.
Not as big a deal when it comes to eating as picking, to me at least, as I don't like the skins of most, but some asian cukes have nice mild, spineless skins that don't need peeling.
Sorry for the gabbing, I'm too tired to be writing, but this topic got my tastebuds working...

Never did those, but did plant bush cukes this time.. Oh my heaven the cukes.
Sweet an juicy canning them like crazy.

dodge

My boyfriend and I did our first batch of pickling this weekend! i've never pickled anything before, so we tried multiple "flavors". We used pickling spices in one jar, dill (also from my garden)/garlic in another, hot peppers (from his garden) /garlic in another....but the cukes were so massive and the jars weren't super huge, so it took 3 jars just for one cucumber. We may have to pickle again this coming weekend. *darn* ; )
So excited for those to be ready- i hope they are crispy : )
Hoo-ray for gardens and all that i eat out of them!!

liltu

You can cut the cuke is different sizes to fit the jars.
My milllion dollar ones are sliced.
cut long ways for my dills.

cubed on others...Oh my if they turn out , you will do it every year.
Today we froze corn, an apples an apple sauce.

dodge

good luck

I do the same Dodge, that way I don't have to mark the jars..I know what they are by just looking at them.