[Yabba]

I was given some "Heritage Ball Cucumbers" seeds and being the "if I've got seeds I'll grow some" type I promptly grew some .... unfortunately, I have no idea what they're meant to grow like and when I should pick them .... ohhhh, and I kinda expected them to be the shape of a tennis ball.

Now before all you scream "pictures yabba, pictures" ... and seeing as how I've managed to convince my server that sharing pictures isn't always a bad thing .... here's some pictures

This one kinda appeared out of nowhere, amazing how they can hide :


This one is about half the size of the above one :


These ones are babies :



Clicking any of the images should take you to a larger version of them if that helps.

So, my question : Anybody got any idea what these actually are, and any hints as to what they *should* look like when they're ripe would be cool

¥

[gobs]

Hard to say, but Boothy's blond looks similar, it is also an open pollinated heirloom.

[Yabba]

hmmmm. the only picture I've managed to find online is to tiny to tell anything from ... but you're far closer than I've managed to get, thanks

The bit that confuses me is that some of them seem to be green from the word go, and others appear to be yellow ( not entirely sure, but there's a possibility that all the green ones are from the same plant ) .. could this be a food / water / disease / variety thing ?

The good news is that my carrots are growing fine ... not that I actually like carrots, but anything that's growing without worry is cool with me

The next silly question ( I'm blonde, we have millions of them ) is, how the hell do I keep seeds for next year? ... answers in words one syllable or shorter appreciated

¥

[gobs]

I don't use long words, unless talking Hungarian, so you should be all right.

Pleased about the carrots.

Bad news is that I did not read your post well enough.

I thought they were diff cukes, sigh, most likely:

a) - not a ball shape is it? :twisted:  to seed
b) - if they start green they are green and should be harvested then for eating
c) - good news: can probably save seed from the big yellowish fellows

Basically - sorry about longish word -, start green, green cuke and most ripen to some shade of yellow, at which stage you can scoop the seeds out and let them dry on a piece of kitchen towel and keep it dark, dry and cool. All one syllables!

People do a lot of other things to seed, I don't , they work fine. Only make sure fruit's a bit overly ripe, sort of soft.

Never seen cukes that ripen to such pale colour though :? , hope you are certain, they are on the same plant.

[Yabba]

Hmmmm, so yer saying "keep growing them and become the expert"? Does this mean I get to give them a new name?

I'll keep an eye on the green ones and see if they all develop the same way, and if I can ever work my way through the tangle I'll see if they really are all on the same plant.

I'll try my hand at saving some seed though because I like the idea of free veg ... I mean, saving historic seed for future generations, of course :roll:

I'm slowly learning that I should write down the names of things that I grow instead of just "cucumbers, toms, carrots" ... it's all a learning curve

¥

[gobs]

Might as well. Even though they probably have one, would be really tricky to find out without genetic testing.

I only put the variety on, you can see it's a carrot, no point...  

PS: I don't think I heard before someone not liking carrots. :shock:

[Yabba]

Hmmmm, that's a good point ... gonna have to go dream up some fancy sounding latin name now like "cucmis yabbis"

I write "carrot, tom, leek" on, because they're all "small and green" when I come to plant out, and it's kinda useful to remember which "small and green" thing I'm holding ..... although it does look a tad stupid, later on in the year, having a label saying "toms" at the bottom of a 6ft plant covered in toms

I suppose this isn't the time to tell you that I don't like toms either? :roll:

¥

[Yabba]

*bows to the Almighty Gobs*

I told my better half about this thread (she's also blonde) and it must have closed a pathway somewhere in her brain because she said ... "ohhh yeah they're called" .... she went quiet for a tad so I put some ice cubes on her head ... they didn't half steam ... "boothy ....... something"

Close enough, you rock

The green ones are changing .... some in a frightening manner ... I can add some more pictures if you want to go for round 2? :roll:

¥

[gobs]

Close enough? You mean I didn't say Boothy something?    

By round 2 you mean you have another mystery cucumber to guess at, do you? Donno...  

Tasty green something?