Hi Carolina, very nice seeing you here. I'd like to trade Cucumbers- Armenian, Lemon and Straight8, plus other veggies, herbs and flowers you may need, check my list, let's talk in email? Would like your Carrots- both kinds, Alaska peas and Lilliput Zinnia. GB-Bea

Hi, Beck. I grew Straight Eight this season up here in Eagle River, and wow! Best kind I ever grew. I made Linda Lou's sweet chunks, dill spears, and even resorted to making sweet baby gherkins so that I wouldn't have to deal with any more grown up cukes. I gave away dozens, and my entry won the blue ribbon at the Vilas County Fair! How's that for a glowing recommendation? Anyway, if you want to try them, they're cheap and easy to find, or I can send you some; I have plenty leftover to plant next year and to share as well. LMK~~

Off season, if I want cukes, I always look for the pickers in stores. You would be surprised at how many people turn up their noses to the picklers, and buy those dark green greasy skinned ones. I used to also by the long English ones, but they are still lacking the character of a pickler cuke. I know someone who peeled the picklers. Thats where most of teh goodness is. Now, they realize what they were missing all this time. I would think a freezer pickle would be mush. Some people don't mind mushy canned items. I prefer the firmness of the vegetables, and will go out of my way to make something that isn't exposed to a lot of heat, as thats the first thing that can cause a jar of mush. Non burpless cukes will not cause burps after they are fermented or pickled in a vinegar brine. I grow maybe 4 differnent types of picklers. They all look similar, but some mature much earlier than others. You can see a 2 inch cuke today, and tomorrow its grown to 4 inches long. Suitable for picking. If you let it go another day, it gets even longer, but also bigger around. Once the 4-5 day occurs, the rest of the cukes on that same plant will slow down and stop growing. While I was in the hospital, my cuke plants all died, and had a few big huge yellow monsters that were just squished under the wheels of my tractor.

I like sour. & I have thought of the french cornichon. However, it is kind of small and will take a ton of cucs to fill a jar. Have you grow the french cornichon? what is your esperience growing and pickling it. Oregon is very different from New England. I have bad news to report. In my test grow of cucumbers they are doing terrible this year. They get too dry and turn bitter. This is terrible because now I see that watering the plants properly is going to be more important than the variety of cuc. Next year I will have to trellis the cucs. I am having a good time with this hobby. It is fun to tackle these problems and solve them. I figure I will need a truck load of manure for next year also. so the soil does not dry out so fast.