As per title, is anyone here from Aotearoa or living there homesteading? I'm looking to connect with like-minded people here.

Hello,

this is an update to my last post on storage cucumbers. The variety i am growing is called 'Sikkim cucumber'. I wanted to update you on how they are doing:

1. I harvested a few immature cucumbers, already well past normal harvest size and with their skin getting a little dry, rusty, but still with some patches of green. Honestly, even if this cucumber ends up not storing very long, it might become my main cucumber variety... absolutely no bitterness in any part of the fruit despite its size and the warm weather. ZERO.
2. The vines have now died back due to downy and powdery mildew (very bad end of season for cucumbers where I live this year I'v heard) but have managed to produce mature fruit.
3. I unfortunately did had have much info on when to harvest these cucumbers for storing. Thusly, I waited past the moment in which the skin got that characteristic dry texture and look - I plucked them off the vine only after the pedicels fully dried up. At that point I figured the fruit will not get any riper.
4. After harvesting, I let the fruits 'cure' in a sunny, dry place with good air circulation. Kindah tried to copy what one would do with a winter squash...
5. After curing I made sure there were no diseased fruits. At this step I excluded a few fruits that had part of the skin not fully dry and 'crusty' but still slightly green. They were disformed due to either K deficiency or bad pollination. From what I understand, part of the fruit was underdeveloped and therefore also did not get the characteristic textured skin. One of these cucumbers was also getting shriveled (loss of moisture?) - starting exactly from the part without the textured skin.
6. The fruits went into a cardboard box into a garage (ideally I would like it to be a cellar, but oh well). No light. Ideally could have been a little bit colder.
7. The fruits in the cellar have survived 2 weeks already, without any signs of mold, discoloration, shriveling. In fact, some of the cucumbers were ready to pick earlier, so in a way those have already survived 3 weeks. (see photo of the cucumbers in the box)
8. I tried one of the disformed cucumbers from step #5 which was fine apart from the shape. I removed the skin with a potato peeler. In terms of culinary value:

• the central part with the seeds is not my favorite. I would compare it to the insides of a kiwano(horned melon)... or a over-ripe cucumber saved for seed... which theis cucumber basicly was :-). The seed capsules were quite acidic. I do, however know people like lemon cucumbers which, if I understand correctly, are characterized by this.
• the most edible part is the outer part closer to the skin. Had a strong, cucumber-y taste, good, crisp texture, quite a lot of sweetness. Again, NO BITTERNESS !!!

1. I will update later!

One thing I noticed is that the seeds I managed to save from a few of the ripe cucumbers were not perfectly fully formed/mature... the seeds I got were not fully mature themselves... not sure if its a characteristic of the variety.

Sincerely,

PA

https://preview.redd.it/a6hb749mimnd1.jpg?width=697&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=5af5eaaf5c98322ad6a1a5bf11229477c5932d11

I am wanting to start very slow with this sort of thing, and am teaching myself! Anyway, how could I make Rise garden work with veganic gardening methods? I could ask over at that subreddit, but I think you all might be able to help me more! I looked over at this thread. https://www.reddit.com/r/veganhomesteading/comments/y1mjdo/diy_vegan_hydroponic_fertilizers/ But I am curious since more time has passed since than if there are alternatives I could buy for these things from Rise gardens.

Seedless pods https://risegardens.com/products/seedless-pods-pouch (Not sure if this diy would work with Rise, but I thought I should share it here!) https://www.instructables.com/Aerogarden-Grow-Pods-Using-Old-Coffee-K-Cups/

Blossom Dry Nutrient (Is there a good plant based fertilizer I could buy in place of this? I have found a few on the market, but I really don't know the difference between them.) https://risegardens.com/products/blossom-dry-nutrient

Sprout Dry Nutrient (Is there a good plant based fertilizer I could buy in place of this?) https://risegardens.com/products/sprout-dry-nutrient

pH Balance (Someone linked this in the thread I mentioned above https://www.youtube.com/shorts/QQtFeE_mLLw , but it was also mentioned that cannibis growers might know about this subject and a possible product, but that product itself wasn't mentioned from what I saw) https://risegardens.com/products/ph-balance

Contadino

In cerca di lavoro in una fattoria italiana Ciao a tutti, Mi chiamo oussama e sono alla ricerca di un'opportunità di lavoro in una fattoria in Italia. Ho una vasta esperienza nel settore agricolo e desidero mettere a frutto le mie competenze in un nuovo ambiente e conoscere una nuova cultura. Competenze ed esperienze: Esperienza agricola: Ho lavorato per diversi anni in diverse fattorie, dove mi sono occupato della coltivazione e cura di vari raccolti come frutta, verdura ed erbe aromatiche. Cura degli animali: Ho esperienza nella cura degli animali da fattoria come mucche, pecore e pollame, compresa l'alimentazione e la cura sanitaria. Adattabilità e flessibilità: Ho un'alta capacità di adattamento a diversi ambienti e di lavorare sotto diverse condizioni, sia da solo che in squadra. Lingua: Parlo bene l'inglese e attualmente sto imparando l'italiano per facilitare la comunicazione quotidiana e lavorare in modo più efficace. Cosa sto cercando:

Un'opportunità di lavoro a tempo pieno o part-time in una fattoria in Italia. Un ambiente di lavoro positivo che favorisca lo sviluppo professionale e personale.

Se avete bisogno di un lavoratore affidabile e diligente per la vostra fattoria, sarò felice di entrare in contatto con voi. Potete contattarmi qui o via email a (amaa68143@gmail.com) per ulteriori informazioni

Hello!

Does anyone here have experience with storage cucumbers? I realize this is not a commonly used term - by this I mean varieties which fruit's are meant to be left to mature completely on the vine, have a dry, tough skin and can be stored in a cellar for a longer period of time.

So, as I see it, these storage cucumbers are to normal cucumbers what winter squashes are to summer squashes... (Perhaps 'winter cucumber' would be a better term? ha-ha)

I have two plants of Sikkim cucumber this year, a type with the above mentioned characteristics. (No fruits yet, just started to bloom.) I've read that this type can remain fresh one month, with some sources giving it even a bit more.

It would be really nice to have fresh cucumbers in the late fall/early winter without having to operate a glasshouse. When my Sikkim cucumbers will start rolling in this year I will definitely try to push them to their limits. We will see how long they will last in storage...

I have not found much info on these 'storage cucumbers', tho I know a friend's grandparent used to leave cucumbers on the vine quite long and stored them in a cellar for a considerable time - unfortunately I do not know weather said grandparent had a special variety.

Coming back to my question... to your knowledge, do these storage cucumbers actually store well? Or is it bullocks?

The Sikkim cucumber I mentioned look more or less like this:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cucumber#/media/File:Hmong_cucumber.jpg

Sincerely,

~P. A.

Literally what the title says. So many of my plants have fallen victim to those hungry bois. I will absolutely not use any type of poison and I just cannot kill them.

They even ate the flowers I planted that are supposed to repel them! (Tagetes)

Does anyone have any ideas on what to do?

Hi everyone,I am the co-founder of Ganddee, a sustainable lifestyle app. Think of it as the Google Maps for sustainable places. While other platforms promote new green products, we believe that sustainable consumption should also include vegan shops, second-hand shops, charity shops, rental places, etc., in addition to sustainable new products. We feature around 2,000 physical stores and hundreds of online businesses in UK, some offering special discounts.

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If you are a owner of a vegan store, I would love to connect and explore how I can help you reach a wider audience.

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I'm passionate about gardening and self sufficiency and I'm also a long term vegetarian.

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Any advice?

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