Grow Crystal Apple Cucumbers Outdoors
Crystal apple cucumbers are mild-flavored and tender. They are shaped like small apples, are creamy white and are native to New Zealand. The cucumbers are a gardener's favorite because they are so easy to grow. The crystal apple cucumber is a vine cucumber and produces a prolific crop. They love to grow on trellises and form a green leafy canopy with the fruit dangling down. The fruit of the cucumber vine is best eaten when small. They are excellent in salads and make delicious pickles.
Instructions
1. Prepare the soil for the crystal apple cucumber after the last frost. Blend fresh compost and 5-10-10 fertilizer into the garden for a rich, well-drained soil. Get a soil test done at the county extension service if you're not sure about the acid.
2. Make several small mounds in the garden soil. Mix 2 tsp. gardening lime per mound in areas that have a lot of acid in the earth. Water the mounds the day before you plant the cucumbers. Have mounds moist but not dripping wet when you sow the seed.
3. Sow six to eight crystal apple cucumber seeds in the top of each mound by placing the seed in a small hole about 3 inches deep. Fill in hole with dirt. After the seeds germinate, remove the weakest. You want three or four of the strongest plants on top of each mound.
4. Place a trellis on each mound for the crystal apple cucumber vine to climb or let the vine grow along the ground. If the vines grows on the ground, put down a layer of hay for them to grow over. The hay provides some air circulation and discourages fungi and mildew disease.
5. Fertilize with a flower and fruit fertilizer (available at a plant nursery) when the plant begins to bloom. Do not remove any flowers. The crystal apple cucumber must have both male and female flowers to produce fruit.
6. Water the plants on days that it doesn't rain. Water until the soil is wet to a depth of 3 inches. Do not get the leaves wet because this encourages plant disease.
7. Pick the cucumber before it fully matures for the best flavor. If the crystal apple cucumber gets to a golden orange it will become seedy and bitter.
Tags: apple cucumber, crystal apple cucumber, cucumber vine, each mound, apple cucumber vine