High tunnel cucumbers Asian, Mandurian, and white

Trellised high tunnel Asian cucumbers.

 Mandurian round and Asian cucumbers.

Asian cucumbers grow straight when they trellised. If they are grown on the ground they are curved.

Asian cucumbers are large, but not seedy, even when it gets hot.

Asian cucumbers have spines that are easily wiped off with a paper towel.

Mandurian rounds are fuzzy but the fuzz washes off easily.

The Mandurian round is thin skinned and not seedy.

Standard Burpless soon to be trellised.

It is spring, but feels more like summer. I thought about putting pictures of our first tomatoes, but they did not last long enough to take pictures of. We will have to settle for cucumbers. We have several varieties of cucumbers. The three we have now are White Snacking, Mandurian, and Asian cucumbers. In a few weeks we will see a standard burpless. The high tunnel has really moved up the production time. The cucumber plants that are producing now were started in the green house and moved to the high tunnels just after the tomatoes. Cucumbers require a higher temperature than tomatoes, so are planted later. This year is starting off well with the warm spring temperatures. We are seeing accelerated production.

The White Snacking cumbers are no more then 4 to 5 inches long, and are one of the few sweet white cucumbers. They are pretty in salads or just right for a small snack. They can be used for pickling as well. The Mandurian Round is a fuzzy cucumber best picked at baseball size. They are fuzzy when you pick them but the fuzz washes off. They have a very thin peel so it is not necessary to peel these cucumbers.  The Mandurian Round is one of the sweetest cucumbers. Mandurians are in  a different family then most cucumbers, they are in the cucumis melo or the melon family. That means they are naturally burpless as well as sweet. The long cucumbers you see are Asian cucumbers. If you trellis the vines the cucumbers grow straight. If you let the vines cover the ground the fruit is curved. We like the Asian cucumbers because they are thin skinned like an English cucumber and never bitter. English cucumbers tend to go to seed when it gets hot. In Kansas we have very hot summers so we find this cucumber a better choice. Asian cucumbers do not get seedy nor do they get bitter in the heat. You do have to wrap them after harvesting, like an English cucumber, or they will go soft due to the thin skin.

We eat our cucumbers plain, but sometimes it 's nice to dress them up a little. Here is a easy recipe to try.

Slice cucumber into rounds
Slice an onion either sweet or a red
Balsamic vinaigrette
2 tablespoons vinegar mix into vinaigrette
1 teaspoon sugar mix into vinaigrette
Toss cucumber and onion till they are well coated with the dressing
Let sit for 30 to 45 minutes (this allows the vinegar to take the bitterness out of the onion)