June 17, 2017 – Cool . . . ahhhh . . . Cool mornings

        We have been enjoying the bounty of this lovely rain we have had almost daily for several weeks now.  Alas the lovely rain, but alas the luxuriant weeds that come from it as well.  But, today I want to boast about cool cumbers.

        This morning’s wet-grass stroll to the garden netted seven (7) pickling size cucumbers.   My Boston picklers have started to come in.  [Note to self:  Get some canning jars out of shed and the Ice Box pickle recipe ready.]

I noticed that the bees were abundant on one particular cucumber trellis as I have a blue Salvia planted directly in front of it.  [This is the fourth year on having this flowering plant beside a cucumber trellis.] I can think of no other reason except the flowers must be enticing the pollinating bees to that location which are giving me success.  Less than 12 feet away, the bees are not pollinating the cornichon cucumbers that are on - what else, but the fleur de lis trellis? [My brother sent me seeds of the French cornichon last year and they were planted near a blue Salvia and I had amazing production last year.]

        I intend on taking a soft watercolor mop brush and pollinating those cornichon cucumber flowers by hand to see if I can get some cucumbers.

Previously I had always thought that the cucumbers were not getting enough water and they were misshapen due to lack of moisture. BUT, once I attended a Bee Keeper’s class – yes it was absolutely fascinating, and I did pass the test – I realized you had to be braver than I could possibly manage.  I now have an even greater respect for the bees.  But, one of the many excellent instructors pointed out that cucumbers need to be pollinated 12 times in order for the cucumber to fill out completely.

        Daily I remove from my vines any small misshapen cucumbers that are just starting to form and will never fill out properly due to lack of bee pollination in order that the vine puts its energy into properly pollinated vines.  I notice I get a much better and longer crop production from my cucumber vines.

        The real key to success I now believe is nothing more than how to entice the bees to your garden.  I will be planting more blue Salvia next year.

Now that the cucumbers are “coming in” I can slip back into my favorite routine of daily slipping cucumbers off the vine with the soft snip of my thumb nail so that in moments I can slice them into spears and crunch them with my morning coffee. One of my favorite country pleasures is fresh picked produce that cannot be duplicated by anyone except by the resident gardener.  One moment the cucumbers are living organisms and the next moment their arrested aliveness is on your tongue.

        These cool morning cucumbers are a glorious testament to one of God’s most interesting creations – the Bee.