Cucumbers

Last year, my mother-in-law gave us some cucumber seedlings to plant.  I am not a big fan of cucumbers but Pete is, so we planted a few of the seedlings in our garden.  But the weather wasn't so great last year.  After we planted the seedlings into the ground, the weather got too cold and the leaves got frost-bitten.  They shrivelled and turned white.  They took quite a long time to recover and by the time autumn came, we didn't have a single cucumber from the plants.

I didn't want to plant them again this year, but the seeds were cheap so we decided to try it again.  The first time I tried to sow three of the seeds, they didn't turn out well.  Maybe the balcony at that time was still too cold.  I had to sow three more and hope for warmer weather.  Finally, they grew after a few weeks.  I waited till I was sure the temperature outside is rising steadily and not going to dip before I dared to plant them in the garden.  I wasn't going to make the same mistake again.

Although I had three seedlings, one of them was still too thin and scrawny looking.  I decided to plant just the two healthier ones.  I planted them at one corner of the pumpkin patch.  They took a long time to grow, compared to the pumpkins.  Also, the pumpkin plants kept on growing wide with their tendrils growing each and every way.  The cucumber plants on the other hand, looked like they were shy.  Their tendrils are curled up and they look like they are shielding themselves from the wind and the other huge pumpkin plants.  

I didn't think they would give us any cucumbers again this year since I could hardly find any flowers, but how they surprised us.  When we looked carefully inside the curled up plants, there were several small cucumbers in there.  And a few days ago, they were big enough to be harvested.  We took two of the biggest and have already eaten them up.  They were great with nasi lemak!  I also served sliced cucumbers with nasi goreng mamak, with ketchup just like how they do in the hawker centres.

So, what of the third cucumber seedling? I planted it in our balcony.  I would examine the cucumber every day and when it started to flower, I got very excited.  There were many flowers and I thought I would get many cucumbers, but no.  I've learnt that they were male flowers and they greatly outnumber the female ones.  And only female flowers could potentially turn into cucumbers.  

Out of maybe 15 male flowers, there would only be one female flower.  And if the female flower is not properly pollinated, you will not get cucumber. Our balcony doesn't get much insects so I had to pollinate the female flowers by hand.  I used a paintbrush, dabbed it on the male flower and then dab that on the female. I have to do it several times to make sure they're properly pollinated. So far, out of three flowers, I only managed to pollinate one.  I have to keep on checking the plant to see if there are any more female flowers appearing so that I can keep on pollinating.

It's not so easy to be a gardener, is it?  But it is fun to see the plants that you care for grow and flourish. For me, it's ok if I don't get much harvest.  I just love to see the plants grow bigger and greener.  Also, through my failures, I learn to be better and I must say, from zero cucumber last year to at least seven this year, it is a huge improvement.  

A female flower - notice the baby cucumber under it

A male flower 

The fully-grown cucumber ready to be harvested