The Armenian Cucumber is botanically a melon (Cucumis melo). I like their taste better than the standard cucumber (Cucumis sativus), but the Armenian Cucumbers don’t tend to grow very well here.
A few years back when I had a larger plot, I grew melons that I got from @Joseph_Lofthouse. They grew very impressively.
So now I’m wondering; what if I crossed the Armenian Cucumbers with the muskmelons? Over time, could I develop a landrace in which the fruits were good as a cucumber when they were young, and still produce a delicious melon when left to mature? Or are these two goals somehow at odds? People online seem to report mixed results in trying to eat immature muskmelons and cantaloupes.
Similarly, could I grow pepo squash landrace that produced both great zucchini and great winter squash (ideally, a Delecata type?)
This is a fascinating idea!! I am really interested in whether this is possible.
I know that I’ve read in carol deppes the resilient gardener book that she dries mature summer squash pieces for winter storage and says its good, although I haven’t personally tried it. I plan on experimenting with that this upcoming year.
And actually, i also have seen that row 7 seed company has a squash that is bred for eating immature and mature fruits as well, so its definitely possible for squash.
I really like the Maxima Zapallo del Tronco Squash I planted last year and we had a very tough growing season. It is very tasty, smells just a hint fruity when young and did actually mature in our short season high desert Northern Nevada climate. The cooked young fruit has a much better texture than zucchini. Tender but firm. We had smoke from the fires in CA and very hot consecutive days early last summer and it did well. Even with an early frost in Sept I got half a dozen mature fruits too. The ones that matured after being harvested did produce a viable seed crop though not as many as the vine ripened did. I just cooked the last mature one this week. I only had 2 plants due to having to travel to help my parents in another state but they did just fine while I was gone. The squash is very dark orange and not at all sweet but made a great pie. I saved seed from several to try this coming summer. The pressure cooked squash had a very tough shell that felt waxy after cooking.
I think as far as a melon being suited to fresh and ripened use you’d have to taste a lot of immature melons to find favorites and then select for a ripe melon. Sounds like a good challenge. I prefer Armenian also.
Have you tried immature muskmelons? I have, and they taste exactly like cucumbers to me. So you may have that already, just by planting a muskmelon variety.
If it’s only some muskmelons that taste like cucumbers immature, my Israeli melons (which are green-fleshed when ripe, and have thin, soft rinds) definitely do.
One thing that is giving me pause is that some people are saying that unripe melons are very hard on the digestive system.
I wonder if there is a distinction between “immature” and “unripe”; I’m guessing that beyond a certain point, unripe melons should be allowed to ripen.
Huh. I don’t know. I haven’t experienced that, but then, I haven’t harvested any melons very unripe, either. I’ve just been forced to harvest some before they were ripe because the first frost was due. So they were probably only a week or two away from being ripe when I ate them.
The Armenian cucumbers and melons have failed due to cold wet weather, but I tried an immature delecata squash, and it made a good summer squash, though pretty small. And the seeds developed faster than in a zucchini. I crossed it with a Costata Romanesco zucchini and will grow out the resulting cross next year, and then incorporate it into my summer squash landrace.
I don’t really have room for winter squash in my home garden, but we grow a lot of summer squash. Maintaining a landrace will mean allowing many fruit to mature—so why not make those fruit high-quality winter squash?