[Success/Hugel] Barrel #2 (Lemon Cucumber!) (May 23, 2021)

[ERR0R1755]

Jul 15, 2021 18:13:43 GMT -5 Shawn said:

Pretty flowers.   Look how close to that bee you got.  Brave man.

Bees (including bumblebees) tend to be very friendly, I've had them drink out of my hand before. Wasps, on the other hand, tend to be very aggressive and will sting you if you look at them funny.

[maskedsonnet]

lol I've battled many a wasp-nest in this area, I HATE those guys. And dirt dobbers. Bees are sweeties!

[campingcorgis]

Stanley found an underground wasp nest...or was it yellow jackets?...near the fence, out back.  It actually was on both side of the fence.  Mikey saw Stan go running to the house, acting very strange.  The wasps were attacking him, getting up in his coat and just stinging and stinging and stinging.  Poor Stan!!!  I was in the shower.  Mikey had to battle them and get them out of his coat and stomp on them.  It was a horrible experience.  Vet said just give him Benadryl and see watch him for adverse reactions.  Fortunately, we do keep a kids dosage pack of Benadryl for doggie emergencies.  Stan did get past it, but he's never gone back to that part of the fence again!

Mikey wanted to deal with the nest himself.  I said, no way and called the exterminator (& our neighbor to warn them).  They said it was a good thing, as these guys are aggravated by footsteps on the ground.  They suited up and dealt with it.   

[maskedsonnet]

Yikes!! Poor puppy dog, glad you got an exterminator to take care of it! The bigger nests can be dangerous

[ERR0R1755]

When I was growing up, I remember there was a nest of ground hornets in our yard at one point - my dad solved the issue with a bottle of lighter fluid (into the nest) and a match. Wasps are nasty.

[ERR0R1755]

Most of the flowers have died back, but the lemon cucumber is growing strong now:

[Shawn]

It is time for the cuke to shine!

[Sher]

It looks like a decorative trailing plant in a planter.

[ERR0R1755]

I see a cucumber!

[Sher]

Yay! May it be the first of many!

[Shawn]

This is wonderful ERR0R1755.  All you hard word is paying off.  Now a cuke on the way..  Nice

[ERR0R1755]

That first cucumber is growing in size, the rest are still small:

[ERR0R1755]

I harvested and tried the first cucumber! It didn't taste any different from a regular cucumber in terms of flavor, although it might have been a bit sweeter.

[ERR0R1755]

I've harvested two more lemon cucumbers, and I've had some friends in this barrel:

[Shawn]

Are they tiny frogs?

[ERR0R1755]

Aug 31, 2021 8:54:57 GMT -5 Shawn said:

Are they tiny frogs?

They are! They are tree frogs, the biggest I have seen them get is around the size of a quarter.

[Shawn]

THey are adorable.

Every night or early morning when I take Piper out we hear frogs but I have no clue where they are.  I know they are next to my deck steps but I can not find them.

[campingcorgis]

Aug 31, 2021 10:44:46 GMT -5 Shawn said:

THey are adorable.

Every night or early morning when I take Piper out we hear frogs but I have no clue where they are.  I know they are next to my deck steps but I can not find them.

Check the house gutters.  We have tree frogs that live in them.  Many years ago, when Mikey found the first one, he thought it was a fluke.  Took him and put him on the ground and watched him climb back up there!  

[ERR0R1755]

I am considering this a success! My initial goal of creating a pollination station was successful, and I saw many bumblebees, honey bees, and leaf cutter bees throughout the year.

The lemon cucumber plant has completely died off by this point - I fermented the seeds from the second to last cucumber to save them for next year, and I have one last cucumber that I will try drying the seeds from normally, without fermentation. I really enjoyed the cucumbers, and unlike other varieties we've tried to grow outdoors here, it never succumbed to disease.

The fermented seeds, drying on a plate:

[Sher]

Disease free cucumbers is a major win!