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Cucamelon
Jason milly
Posts: 546
in Plants
Has anyone grown a cucamelon if so are they nice to eat , saw them in catalogue just wondering if they are worth growing .
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I've grown them with my daughter for a bit of fun, she saw them on allotment challenge a couple of years ago.
Pretty little scrambling vines with interesting looking fruits, the flavour was nothing to write home about in my opinion. Quite bland and the skin can be tough if not harvested at the right time. I believe grape sized is best.
More of a novelty I think, but you may like them.
Still have some leftover seeds you could have, if you fancy giving them a go. James Wong ones from Sutton's dated 2018.
Grew them last year. They're OK. Mine were in an unheated greenhouse and did have a distinct lime taste with the cucumberiness. Mine were 'melothria' sold as 'pickling cucurbits' by Real Seeds and I did indeed pickle them to make small crunchy gherkins.
Not growing them again this year. Interesting experiment, but not a staple. This year's experiment is sesame seeds. Previous ones have been rat tailed radishes and strawberry popcorn. None have been repeated
“It's still magic even if you know how it's done.”
Bought some seeds to try this year. Apparently the vines are so spindly that you can grow them through other crops such as tomatoes in the greenhouse i.e. rather than giving them their own individual strings to climb up which would be an inefficient use of space. There are some good youtube videos with advice on these. They're also perennial so when they die down in autumn you can save the roots for next year. I think they need a certain amount of heat so better in a greenhouse/polytunnel than outdoors.
Many thanks kitty2 I will give them a go I like to try growing different plants .
Hi Jason, send me a pm with your address and I'll pop them in the post this weekend
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Yes Onopordum, the vines are skinny, scrambly things. I started my seed off in the conservatory, then moved them out to a plastic grow house. They climbed up netting attached to the wall but I had some difficulty getting to some of the fruits which got trapped on the wrong side.
There are some photos of mine on this thread from last year...
http://www.gardenersworld.com/forum/fruit-and-veg/cucamelon/965297-2.html/
Big apologies to aym
I didn't see your question til now. August 2016 seems so very long ago. Sorry. I'll see you on "My Flowers" about the phlox seeds