Posted on 08/05/2011 5:38:05 AM PDT by Red_Devil 232
I remember when my great uncle fell out of a cherry tree when he was picking cherries. He was not hurt but he was sure mad as a wet hen- he had climbed that tree for as long as it was big enough to hold him and it had no right for the branch to break. He was pushing 90 and the cherry tree would have been that in tree years.
The garden is finally starting to recover from the big hail storm. Leaves got sshredded pretty good.
Thats for the medical update and our Prayers she improves sooner rather than later so she can start rebuilding her strength. Keep us posted...
call from the lab people...she has cryptosporidium...*shudder*
Well, I had a disappointment today. I cut up one of my beautiful cucumbers for lunch and it is BITTER. The bitterness is mostly in the skin, but even the flesh carries some of it.
Any suggestions? Does anyone have a recipe to counter that? Like maybe soaking them in sugar and water (or Splenda, etc.) and serving them sliced, peeled and slathered in sour cream?
I’ve never encountered bitter cucumbers before. I don’t think I let them get too large. They are smaller than what I buy in the store, nice and fat, and a lovely dark green. I was shocked. Shocked, I tell you...
Any idea where she got it? That’s what was in the Milwaukee water system about 5 years ago. Where has she been eating.
Sounds like your cukes got stressed during growing - lack of water? Cukes tend to turn bitter most frequently at the end of the summer - when it’s good and hot and there’s a drought drying out your plants. The solution? Water, water, water.
I have my 1st red tomatoes and they are delicious. Right now I can handle harvesting them as there are only a couple here and there, but I'm hoping I get enough to can later this season. My cukes are out of control and I am now giving them away. I did my last batch of dill pickles for canning earlier today and I seriously don't even want to look at a pickle anytime soon as I have 22 jars done and not to mention 8 jars of cucumber relish.
Now I have to get my raised bed ready for fall leafy greens with most of it being lettuce. This is the first time I am trying fall planting so not sure when I should put my lettuce out as it's still hot here in Massachusetts and I don't want to kill the seedlings while they are young from the heat.
Miss Green Genes Bender wants to know if they are picklers or salad cukes? She says picklers are naturally a little bitter and you can argue with her but I don’t dare due to my advanced age...
Yeah that’s bad! A friend got it on a hiking trip when he drank water out of a pond. I had Campylobacter and ended up in ER getting a couple of bags Miracle Grow or something similar several years ago...
not yet. we’re trying to recall everywhere she’s been in the 10 days before last week saturday. it’s a long list.
Bitter cukes are generally a lack of water. You can’t fix the ones that are already matured on the vine, but some water will certainly get you back to tasty cukes. I have never found anything that counters a bitter cuke. If you figure it out, please let me know.
I’ve just returned from the County Fair where I ran into one of the old German farmers who lives near me. That was his assessment too — not enough water.
Lord help me, I thought that I certainly had given them enough water, but we’ve had a lot of heat too. Also, since I’ve been watering them with a “ratchet type” spinkler (over head) I think that a lot of the water falls on the leaves and not on the roots.
I hope that doesn’t ruin my other crops.
I don’t know if they are picklers or salad cukes. I was hoping that they are salad cukes because they are a little big to pickle. Frankly, I don’t remember and their tag is burie dunder lots of green leaves.
My potatoes are still green, but they are all flopped over. Is it too late to add more soil on them? Each branch is about 18”.
It’s probably a little difficult to add soil now? Just keep a eye on them and if any become exposed to the sun you should add soil to cover them as you don’t want green potatoes...
I’m not a cuke eater, but basic stuff may help — it sounds like either too much heat, not enough water, or too long on the vine. And check soil ph.
Not so difficult now since they “flopped”. I have 4 more bags of compost and soil that I could put on them, if it would help grow more potatoes.
Any suggestions?
Yes. Try a different variety of cucumber. I often had some bitter ones the first few years I gardened. I never could figure out why. Tried all kinds of “remedies”. Nothing worked. Started growing a different variety of cucumber.
Have not had a bitter cucumber in five years. Have had hot, cool, wet, dry weather and everything in between. Have harvested them large, small, early, late. Nothing makes this cucumber produce a bitter cucumber (for me, anyway).
Here’s a link. Seems they will be okay for pickling.
http://cru.cahe.wsu.edu/CEPublications/eb1250/eb1250.html
Isn’t that a parasite? Exposure comes from contaminated water or food? Flies? Any clues on how she was exposed?
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