Our cucumbers have produced so much this year that we can hardly keep them picked. Even with daily harvesting there’s always a few that hide from us and get big. They are still edible, but not near as good as the smaller ones because the seeds get rather large.
Betty Jean Hogan’s cucumber relish is a good thing to do with big cucumbers. Our chickens love the big ones too.
I’ve made pickles several times this summer and I’ve eaten my weight in cucumbers 🙂
Like Granny I love them sprinkled with salt. I can eat them by theirselves or with anything including a jelly sandwich. That used to be what I packed for my summer time lunch when I worked a public job.
We planted our usual Arkansas Little Leaf, Silver Slicers, and Boston Pickling cucumbers. A new variety we tried is called Sumter. It has done well so we might plant it again next year.
In the big garden we planted a few bush cucumbers (I can’t remember the variety) and they’ve pretty much taken over one end of the garden.
I have thoroughly enjoyed our abundance of cucumbers. The only bad thing is I can’t share them with Granny.
I can just see her sitting at her spot at the kitchen table with her little paring knife worn down from use and sharpening as she cut up a cucumber I just brought her and oohed and ahhed over how good it tasted.
Tipper
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Tipper, HELP!!
I too love cucumbers and pickles. Last fall I saw Justin Metcalf’s video on crispy dill pickles. I followed his recipe to a tee, and put the pickles on the shelf. Shortly afterward, I saw your video about making those pickles, and was happy—I thought, “If Tipper and Matt love those pickles they have to be good.” I opened a jar of them after a few months. They smelled so good, the crunch was amazing and then I ran for the sink to spit that bite out. They were soooo salty they were just awful. I’m new at canning, and was so disappointed. I thought I made some sort of mistake, but I didn’t—I followed the recipe faithfully. They would be delicious, but they were way too salty. I talked to a local canner and she said that a cup of salt can’t be right.
So what gives? Did I do something wrong? Do your pickles come out that salty?
I poured out the brine, ran some fresh water in them and let them sit in the fridge. I did that about three times and then I had a good pickle. I just don’t understand. I like a good briny, salty pickle, but these just turned my mouth inside out with salt. Advice?
P.S. I love y’all’s YouTube channel and blog posts! It gave me a connection to home (Eastern Kentucky) until I could move back there! Thank you!
Jo, I’m so sorry that happened! I’m not sure what caused it. I’ve continued to make the pickles like Justin and have never had that happen. I do them just like he said. I’m sorry the recipe didn’t work for you. We are so glad you enjoy what we do! Thank you 🙂
Hi Tipper and Acorns. I didn’t get to plant anything this year. I he enjoyed watching you in yours Tipper. I love the good harvest that you are having. I love cucumbers. I buy them now. I will have to try the jelly sandwich. I hope the winter squash is abundant as well. I keep everyone here and up Wilson Holler in my prayers. Please continue to remember me, Ed and Nancy in your prayers. Love y’all.
We are buried in them, too!
Are you eating cucumber sandwiches? Any kind of bread, slice your cukes, spread with cream cheese, salt and sprinkle some dill…heaven!
Miss y’all and hope to see you soon!
That sounds good! I will have to try it 🙂
Wendi, that sounds so yummy! I love cucumber sandwiches too. I slice them and put them on Italian or white bread with mayo, salt and pepper. I will have to try your cream cheese idea now.
Wendi-spread on club crackers for a great appetizer. So good!
I am so glad you guys are all ok. I saw on Ryan Halls you tube channel last evening that NC was getting severe thunderstorms. We live close to counties in WV that got flash floods last week. There is so much to clean up now. Speaking of cucumbers, we just picked our first two this morning. The grandkids came early, and were so excited that two cucumbers, big enough to pick, were hanging on the string trellis on our front porch. They are going to eat them with some pizza for lunch. We planted our porch garden late, but there are tiny cucumbers and tomatoes hanging everywhere.
hoping everything is alright with you and your family—no post today (Wednesday) and can not find anywhere (here or youtube) that mentions no post for today….perhaps another storm has come through knocking out power or internet. Hoping all went well yesterday (tuesday) with Mat and Paul pulling the well.
We are okay 🙂 Thank you! No damage right here but we did lose power, internet, and cell service. All are back now. Thank you for checking!! Matt and Paul did get the pump pulled before the storm arrived.
Praying yall are alright after these storms rolling through tonight. Please let us know how you all are??
CC, we are okay! A bad storm for sure, but no damage right here at our house. We did lose power and internet. Just got the internet and cell signal back 🙂
So grateful. Thank you for letting us know.
I thought my cucumbers and squash were winding down, but I just came in with a basket full of them. We nursed them through the drought and now we’ve had rain pretty regularly for the last three weeks. We planted pickling cukes and a new kind called (I think) Market Sizemore; sometimes they’re sold as “snacking cucumbers” in the stores. About 4 – 5 inches long, slender, smoother skins. I was okay reading your post until you mentioned Granny; that made me think of my mom. She loved tomatoes and cucumbers fresh from the garden and would make a tomato sandwich with cucumber on it. Today has been a little emotional a couple of times.
I love good garden cucumbers. Anyone who has eaten only from a grocery store has really missed out. We’ve had some sickness this summer, but next year Lord willing , I want to make some 14 day pickles. Praying for everyone a healing from anyone dealing with illness.
Hope you all feel better and that you get to make them 🙂
That is great that your cucumbers are producing so well this year. We did not plant a one this year. Maybe I could find one that would produce before frost. I have never made pickles but your pickle recipes are on my list to try, and now Laura’s mustard pickles sounds good too! But, the last two statements of your post really got me. Those are wonderful memories. Those wonderful memories are the kind that pull on our hearts and make our eyes “leak”, well for me at least. We did plant nine tomato plants though, three of which are Better Boy, plus have at least six volunteer tomato plants which have all produced such that we cannot eat them fast enough but we can give some away and I will get to put some up; we have not ever had that before. There was an older man who I got to know through volunteering at our church’s food pantry. He liked to put out Better Boy tomatoes in March. I always enjoyed talking gardening with him, among other things. The last two years I would show him pictures of my very meager tomato harvest. And my dad planted Better Boy tomatoes, I think he liked those best as well. My dad has been gone for 15 years and my mom 13 years. My friend from church passed on last Fall. We would have a great time talking about this year’s tomatoes : )
Sorry for the loss of your friend. Prayers for you.
for me there is nothing more refreshing than the smell and taste of a fresh cucumber right from the garden…speaks loudly of summer – and usually my noon meal is a ‘mater sandwich with cucumber on the side or sliced into it. Runner up for freshness in smell is celery. I remember my mom making many a variety of relishes and pickles from cucumber including mustard pickles that also had tiny whole onions and cauliflower in it. And pickled beets! Whatever we didn’t eat fresh, went into canning jars for us to enjoy through the winter months.
I put in two more 4’x8’ x32” high metal garden boxes next to my only other 4’x6’ one and filled them with old chopped logs and woods debris before adding new topsoil/mulch. Planted by the signs in April bush beans, zucchini, lettuce, marigolds, nasturtiums, and basil. The beans finally came up in my old box mid June and I got 3 pickings for 12 quarts before the aphids destroyed the bean plants in just a few days. I have never had aphids before. I have planted Provider bush beans for years because they are so prolific and delicious. Nothing came up in the rest of the boxes, and like some of yours, the few that did come up made it about 1-3” high before turning yellow and dying. Being just me here (79 yr old), I have not been able to dig out the bad soil and replace, and the time for a second planting has come and gone. Friends are busy with their own harvesting so I will need to wait til that’s over before they can help. I have been so disappointed this year with gardening. It has always given me such joy and I am so thankful for that. Like Ron, I can’t quit because it would be giving up on myself more than giving up on a garden.
You do have quite a beautiful bounty of cucumbers laying there, Tipper, if I do say so myself! I’ll reach right over and grab a few and a salt shaker too. Lol I’ve got about 150 tomatoes looking at me to be made into salsa today. I’m super excited about making salsa. I’ve always canned tomatoes, but I’m looking for “excitement” in something different, but good. My cucumbers did not do great, but I got ARMENIAN cukes meant to dazzle with an over 24 inch size. Well I think I’m up to 4 of those total. My neighbor gave me some nice cucumbers so I’m going to make macaroni salad. Murr’s mom made the best macaroni salad ever using a cucumber, sliced tomato, macaroni, mayonnaise and salt and pepper. Every time I’ve served it or made it, the big bowl comes home empty. In my years of cooking I have found simple beats sophisticated hands down. Murr “shot down” my coq au vin idea saying he ain’t eating my roosters. He’s such a poo poo on my platter. lol My chickens are giving eggs now, be they small and adorable eggs. I’m proud of my girls. You’d never guess but it’s RAINING out there. Yall have a good day. I took my morning siesta from 7 til 9 so I gotta bust a move and get to work. Have a good day, all, and I pray you’re BLESSED IN THE LORD and sassy!!! I had a friend who went through a whole lot and still persevered and he used to say “get busy living or get busy dying.” I’m going with option one. I’ve been blessed with good people in my life and many are gone, but they live on in words and sometimes I can remember their faces or gestures. It’s a good thing to have memories of the good…
I’ve never been much for raw cucumber, thinking that cukes are the reason God created pickling. But the average pickle relish can be spiced in different ways, so you’re not limited in how you’re going to do it. If you have THAT many cukes, and you’ve got potatoes, tomatoes, peppers, zucchini and maybe a stray eggplant (you know, from the neighbor who had too many of them), you can always make a ciambotta (“chom-BAWT-ta”), an Italian summer vegetable stew, and throw some cukes in. There are many recipes for it online, but basically it’s similar to ratatouille but with Italian herbs and spices instead of French Provencal. Almost any vegetable will do. It’s good served warm, and if it’s spiced right, it’s good at room temperature as a sandwich filling on some crusty bread.
Are the bush cucumbers producing well? I have never grown them, but I have some seed that I plan to plant in pots.
They have done very well 🙂
It took 3 plantings to finally have cucumbers this year. I don’t know what critter it was, but something got my cucumbers (the first 2 times) when they reached 2″-3″high. Finally, with liberal sprinkles of red pepper flakes and a deer alarm placed low to the ground, they were able to grow to maturity and are just lovely. So, while most folks are about done with their cucumbers, mine are just getting started. After much success and sweet, few seeds, not overly large cucumbers, I choice straight eight variety for a second year. Think they’ll be my forever cucumbers. Off to get my labwork done. Have a wonderful day all♡
Good morning Tipper and Matt,
If you all love sweet pickles I have a recipe that is well over 100 years old. A lady I grew up with and went to our little country church in Sevier County gave it to me. She has been long gone now, but she ate them everyday for dinner. They are Icicle Pickles. If I have large cucumbers I use these to make the pickles. Have a great day.
We’ve had more cucumbers than we know what to do with this year. I planted 2 new (to us) Japanese varieties on our cattle panel arch and along half of another trellis. I chose the seeds because the description mentioned no bitterness and that was a problem last year with the shorter pickling varieties. These are long and slender and even when one gets “too big” it tastes good. The skins are beginning to be a bit tougher now but still no bitterness. I have made 17 quarts of Meagan’s dill pickles from True Grit- Appalachian Ways and they are delicious and easy. I used to make the Metcalf Mills recipe, which is also so good, but not as easy.
We will definitely plant the same cucumbers next year- just not so many of them.
Our cucumbers did well but they are fading out fast. I always plant Boston Pickling. I trellised them this year and it helped a lot. I replanted using your “Planting by the Signs for July” post but they haven’t come up yet. Had never replanted for a second crop before. Also made second planting of okra and summer squash which I had not done before either. Overall it is very discouraging growing a garden here though. It must be that I can’t quit because it would be giving up on myself ore than giving up on a garden.
Not many things in this world more refreshing than a cucumber!
The only plants that have done well in our little raised bed garden this year is cucumbers. I planted 5, but some critter, probably a deer, ate two of the plants. I covered the remaining plants with wide netting, which prevented them from eating the remaining plants. They have produced so many cucumbers. I have harvested every day a basket full. I hadn’t planned on canning this year, however I did make two half gallon jars of refrigerator dill pickles. I’ve made cucumber salad, both Italian vinegar based and mayonnaise based. My family has ate them just with salt too and have given bags upon bags of them away. I’ve peeled so many yesterday that my hands cramped up from my arthritis so bad that I had to stop. As thankful as I am we have had an amazing harvest of cucumbers this year, I was equally thankful that two of the plants got ate up. I can’t even imagine what two extra plants would have produced. I noticed one plant this morning looks like it’s starting to die back, so I’m sure the harvest will too. This morning was another reminder that I am to enjoy every remaining harvest because the bounty will be coming to an end sooner than later.
Hey Tipper, like you I miss not being able to share with Mom. After she was unable to can I did for her, I miss not counting out how many jars she would need for winter! I know the ache will always be there for Mom and Dad.
Yes ma’am. I’m 79 and miss my momma and daddy still and I guess I always will. I find solace in talking to them through prayers and thoughts. God bless y’all. Miss my daddy’s gardens. Not big but oh my so good. Best big ole tomatoes ever.
Enjoy those cucumbers, which I know you will!
Like you, I’m missing my dad, he’s been gone 1 month, 10 days, and doesn’t seem possible right now. He loved it when we brought over veggies from our garden.
How wonderful! I love cucumbers! It is happy and sad at the same time, I imagine, thinking of Granny and her love for them too. ❤️
We have four cucumber plants in our much smaller little garden this year. I was enjoying them so much, but I have started to get a rash now when I eat them. So I guess I am cucumber free for the rest of this pregnancy. Hopefully it is only a pregnancy issue and I can enjoy them again next year. I do love a salted cucumber. Our littlest son loves them too and calls them a-umbers. It is very cute!
My mother used to make pickles out of the big cucumbers. She would let then get almost orange and put them whole cucumber in one of her churns with salt and water like making kraut. After about 6 weeks she would take one out and split it open to get the seeds out. she called them granny cucumbers. The are mighty good with soup beans and fried taters and such. I haven’t eaten any in many years, but I’m going to give it a try this year.
I like cucumbers, my neighbor grew some white ones one time, they seem to be a small breed, I really enjoyed them, I never have liked big cucumbers, thank you for praying for me, God bless Papa Tony I hope everybody has a great day
You really should try mustard pickles. They are so yummy! Very easy to make too. I sent you the recipes a year or so ago. Now would be a great time with all your cucumbers.
I can send you the recipe I use if you want.
I still have it I just need to try them 🙂 Thank you!
You can use the big cucumbers because you scrape all the seeds out.
Laura, please write your recipe out on here so we all can give your mustard pickles a try. I’d like to give them a try. Thank you.
Have you ever tried Suyo cucumbers, Tipper? They grow long (I trellis them) without the seeds getting too big, the skin is genuinely not at all bitter so they don’t need to be peeled, and when you slice them they even have pretty little ridges around the edge. They have been my favorite slicing and fresh eating cucumber since the first year I planted them.
I haven’t 🙂 Thank you for the suggestion!
We’ve still yet to have any cucumbers. They’re a blooming so it won’t be long. I want to make a couple of runs of your 14 day pickles.
I’m going to make your squash and zucchini casserole. Sounds delicious.
Praying for all y’all! I try to read through each morning before I leave for work and pray for your requests and then I come in at night and see what I have missed. God is so good even when the answers are hard.
B’s platelets and phosphorus is low and they have given her a transfusion for both. We continue to pray for God’s will and pray it contains a miracle!
Have a beautiful day and may you find many blessings in it!