The Armenian Cucumber

2022-03-08T08:00:00Z
[From Thinkific Community]
It started with a miraculous success I had amongst ‘Cucumis’ last season. At first, I thought it was a cucumber. Well, it is called a cucumber, commonly. ‘Armenian cucumber’, to be precise.

It was a miracle fruit. I had planted (direct sown) some 5-6 varieties of ‘sativus’ - all failed miserably - and some 50-60 seeds overall if I recall. The frosts here and the proximity to forest’s edge - they just didn’t oblige. BUT, alas, this ONE fruit really really put forth some moxy. She was beautiful. She was transcendent. She was flavorful. She produced seed. She brought me to tears for Her resilience and strength. I remember the day I was ‘cleaning’ the garden bed and literally and audibly gasped when I saw Her hiding behind the dying leaves atop the green coated trellis. What a moment!

And, then, today, I sent an email to Julia with a random ask: 'Hey, do you think I can cross this ‘pepo’ named ‘Armenian cucumber’ with a ‘sativus’? 'Probably not, I muttered to myself. AND, I got to thinking: Why do we call this an ‘Armenian cucumber’ anyway?

Well, it led me to this wonderful article written by Liana Aghajanian. I also found my Armenian cucumber by accident. OR, perhaps the Armenian cucumber has found me. I don’t know. But, I certainly am captivated and I certainly am following this road wherever it leads:

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Alma
Armenian cucumbers are C. Melo like musk melons and honeydew, so l would separate it from those because they will cross. Unless you want sweeter cucumbers… I don’t think they will cross with C. Sativus. That said there is plenty of diversity in the C. Melo cucumbers from all over Europe. Check out this: Cucumber Melons (C. melo) – Cucumber Shop
I haven’t bought from them but they show the diversity in “cucumber melons”.

joseph
Whoa! THAT is an awesome link. I’m going to peruse and try and mix and match after I speak with that outfit. Thank you SO much for the share
@Alma Naylor
very very appreciated.

I just reached out and emailed the founder of that site. Seems like a lovely little project. Again, thank you SO much!

Alma
I’m glad you found it as interesting as I did! You could get some crazy diversity into a c. melo cucumber landrace. If I had two gardens, I would get started on one. Unfortunately I don’t have the room for them AND melons. Maybe my mom will want to do the grow out for me.
Anyway, I am excited to see where this goes, keep me in the loop.

joseph
I definitely will. I am expanding my breeding fields some time in the next year. It probably won’t happen this year, honestly, as I have a wedding to plan for around Solstice but it will happen before next season. I am doing this all by myself as well and have 40 acres of diverse upland conifer forest to manage; I breed animals; and I’m a dad. LOL. BUT, once I get the area fenced off and rows contoured I’ll have a substantially larger area to work my crops. As is, I have a large fenced garden but that is a work in progress and I am tilting that to perennials. I’ll still mix things in this season. Anyhow, all a work in progress. I’ll definitely keep you posted. I will attempt to grow several species of C. melo this year and I’ll report back.

Alma
Awesome! Hopefully by next year I’ll have some space figured out for them( and flour corn, winter squash, ect.) Are you getting married or a relative? We got married a couple of years ago in late may. (Around here that’s early summer) I think that early summer is the best time for weddings.

joseph
If you want to dive deeper:

https://cucumbershop.com/interact/

What I find fascinating is Jay is still isolating his C. melo - ie growing true to type. Whereas, what we would do (well, I’ll speak for myself), is grow a grex and start selecting for a Land Race.

Jay also has a blog here: https://scientificgardener.blogspot.com/

Amazing he is still using blogspot !!! Gotta love the Science nerds.

Greenie
I’m getting interested in this only now. I wonder if my climate has enough heat to support these?

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