Last year, I let my step garden be my trellis. The vines just grew down the "stairs" of my garden. I didn't have nearly as many vegetables planted so I just let the cucumbers go crazy. They took up a LOT of space, and the chipmunks thought it was great that food was just lying there on the ground for them. They ate half of my cucumbers. Rather, they at half of each cucumber they touched and then moved on to the next one. In the end I may have gotten ten cucumbers from my four or five plants. This year my husband built me a lovely square trellis. (Click on link below to see pictures from two months ago), and somehow the chipmunks haven't figured up how to climb up it. The cucumber vines are still going crazy. The trellis is right next to the side of the house, so the vines grew up the siding and wrapped themselves around the satellite and cable TV wires that are no longer in use. (We use AT&T U-Verse now.) The end result is I have way more cucumbers than I know what to do with. I love all the recipes everyone posted. I will definitely try a few. Even my husband, who doesn't normally eat cucumbers, seems interested in a few of the recipes. This is a good thing because he is a much better cook than me. Here is a link that might be useful: Trellis

Would need to see the recipes your talking about to address any issues of safety. There is a standard recipe for Marinated Cucumbers and Onions in vinegar, sugar and salt & pepper. But it sure can't be stored in the fridge for "months", more like a week, and no the brine doesn't need to 'cover' the sliced vegetables. All the water in the cukes quickly dilutes the vinegar so the pH rises and bacteria becomes an issue. As to 2x the sugar to the amount of vinegar - you can't make a comparison there. It's like comparing apples to onions in terms of their purpose. :) It takes a great deal of sugar to offset the taste of the vinegar so many pickling recipes will call for more sugar. The ratio all depends on the recipe used. Dave

I typically do make a cucumber feta salad, and I add cherry tomatoes for mine and leave them out for Kevin. I guess I missed Grainlady's recipe because it was grayed out. Her recipe is similar to mine except that I add fresh dill to mine (I have plenty in the back yard) and use red onions instead of green onions. I have plenty of chives in my yard also, and so I might add some of those. It's getting to the time of year when I have to move the dill to shadier parts of the yard so that it will not go to flower so quickly. The same is true for parsley and cilantro, although cilantro can handle the sun better.

Here's a tomato and cucumber salad with a marinated character, good for buffets. If your husband has a hard time with onions, leave them out, mince a little scallion or sweet onion very fine or allow onion slices to marinate in the dressing for a while then remove them to eat on an Italian sandwich or something. I have a similar tendency to indigestion with green bell peppers, but I still love this salad. Tomatoes and cucumbers are added in about equal proportions, maybe heavier on tomatoes during tomato season. Onion and bell pepper are for flavor and color, in smaller amounts to taste: 1. Cover slices or chunks of sweet red ONION with Good Seasons Italian DRESSING, prepared according to package directions, in the bottom of a large bowl. Allow onions to marinate while preparing other ingredients. 2. Cut TOMATOES in bite-sized chunks, removing some of seedy, liquidish pulp (Roma and other low-moisture tomatoes work very well in this salad). If you're feeling very fancy, peel the tomatoes first. Peel and cut CUCUMBERS in slices or chunks and add to the bowl, along with the tomatoes. Add green BELL PEPPER chunks or slices, freshly ground black pepper and more salad dressing until there is 1/4 inch deep layer or more in the bottom of the bowl after tossing. Try some of those deep green Ancho chiles instead of green bell pepper for a touch of heat. Cover and marinate for up to two hours at room temperature or a few hours in the refrigerator, tossing occasionally. IN WINTER when it's hard to get good tomatoes and/or cucumbers: 1. Substitute extra vinegar for water when preparing dressing mix to marinate onions. Apple cider vinegar tastes best in the winter salad. If you can't find sweet onions, thinly slice a smaller amount of regular onion or scallions. 2. Substitute bite-sized BROCCOLI and CAULIFLOWER florets for tomatoes and cucumbers, heavy on the broccoli. 3. Substitute peeled, thinly sliced CARROTS (you may blanch carrots briefly if desired or use halved peeled baby carrots or carrots cut in matchsticks so they will be easier to get on a fork) and sliced BLACK OLIVES for green peppers. Cover and marinate for a little longer than the tomato and cucumber salad, tossing occasionally. Serve at room temperature, refrigerating leftovers. Even kids like this salad despite its strongly flavored ingredients, and it is perfectly suited to buffets, as it is served at room temperature. If you have cold leftovers the next day, toss in some shredded cabbage or mild Asian greens just before serving to take advantage of the surprisingly large quantity of salad dressing which is required for this salad. I have used up to four little bottles of prepared dressing in a very large bowl of salad for a buffet. The salad will be sweeter and milder the second day due to juices from the vegetables mixing with the dressing.