Cool as a Cucumber | DALLAS GARDEN BUZZ
July 25, 2024
Have you learnt that not all cukes are created equal? To simplify, there are two basic sorts of cucumbers, American and English. Every could be utilized for pickling and slicing. This yr I decided to try the English choice in my raised yard mattress. Moreover, to keep away from losing space, I used a trellis variety assist system for rising it vertically. That proved to be a wonderful selection.
13 inch prolonged English cucumber capable of be harvested from my yard
After about two and a half months inside the flooring, my little cucumber transplant has lined the trellis and produced over a dozen cucumbers. English cucumbers usually develop thinner and straighter than their American counterparts and will develop inside the fluctuate of 12 to 24 inches prolonged. Thus far, I’ve been harvesting them at spherical 12 to 14 inches in dimension.
English cucumbers have a sweeter style and delicate pores and pores and skin that is a lot much less bitter than that of various cucumbers. Many sources say that English cucumbers are inclined to have only some seeds nevertheless, as you probably can see from the {photograph}, mine had a generous amount.
Seeding an English cucumber with a serrated grapefruit spoon
Concepts for rising:
*Plant in an house of the yard that receives a minimal 6 hours of sunshine day-after-day.
*Put collectively the soil by tilling correctly whereas together with aged compost to a depth of 6 inches.
*On widespread, cucumbers require: 1 inch of water per week in common circumstances, twice per day when temperatures exceed 90°F.
*Add a 4-inch layer of pure mulch spherical base, nevertheless not touching the stem.
One amongst my favorite cucumber recipes is from a spot inside the Texas hill nation the place my husband and I, for over 35 years, always cherished having lunch. It was a totally charming restaurant in Fredericksburg usually known as ‘The Peach Tree Tea Room’. The Pedregon family opened their new enterprise inside the fall of 1984. It launched in diners from in all places in america and internationally, as correctly. Sadly, it closed only a few years prior to now leaving a void inside the Fredericksburg culinary scene. Thankfully, by means of the years, I purchased all three of their unbelievable cookbooks. The recipe I’m sharing is from their first cookbook, printed in 1990. It is the recipe for ‘Chilled Creamy Cucumber Soup’.
Making the recipe over the weekend launched once more cherished recollections from these early days in Fredericksburg. It was significantly rewarding to utilize three of the elements often called for inside the recipe from my yard; English cucumbers, parsley and garlic that was curing in my pantry.
Chilled Creamy Cucumber Soup Garnished with Freshly Chopped Parsley and Tomatoes
Hope you could be impressed to take a cool and refreshing break with ‘Chilled Creamy Cucumber Soup’. Inside the meantime, sit again with these tasty, sliced cucumber appetizers.
English cucumber slices topped with Herbed Cream Cheese, Salad Burnet and Borage Blossoms
And, merely in case you might have been curious regarding the title…’Cool as a Cucumber’. I did a quick on-line search and found one factor new. First, the inside of cucumbers are roughly 20 ranges cooler than the floor air. And the phrase ‘cool as a cucumber’ first appeared in a poem by the English author John Gay in 1732. It expresses the narrator’s angst regarding a woman with unreturned love! As we converse, that phrase is used to clarify any person who tends to remain calm, assured and composed in any state of affairs.
Linda Alexander, Dallas County Grasp Gardener Class of 2008
Chilled Creamy Cucumber Soup
Cucumber Slices Topped With Herbed Cream Cheese
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July 25, 2024 Have you learnt that not all cukes are created equal? To simplify, there are two basic sorts of cucumbers, American and English. Every could be utilized for pickling and slicing. This yr I decided to try the English choice in my raised yard mattress. Moreover, to keep…