Inside The New York Botanical Garden
cucumber
Posted in Gardening Tips on March 8 2011, by Sonia Uyterhoeven
Many of you may be asking yourself; ‘what do plant breeders do in their spare time’? This thought never crossed my mind until I attended an in-house lecture at NYBG by an Israeli plant breeder. The plant breeder in question, Harry Paris, was born and raised in Brooklyn and has spent the past 30 years working and living in Israel.
He opened the lecture by explaining his interest in history; as a plant breeder he maintained that it is easier to know where you are going if you know where you have come from. That’s food for thought whether you are discussing Curcurbit or life in general.
What is a Curcurbit? I was once named one of my home gardening demonstrations ‘Curcurbit Crafts’ and was asked to change the title due to the concern that the public would not know what they were in for. I tamed the title to ‘Autumnal Centerpieces’ and ‘Groovy Gourds’. Curcurbitaceae is the botanical family that includes cucumbers, squashes, gourds, pumpkins and melons.
Dr. Paris proceeded to explain how you investigate the history of a Curcurbit. He used an interdisciplinary approach where he drew information from botany, horticulture, food use, archeology, history, linguistics and iconography.
As the talk unfolded it became apparent that Dr. Paris was the Sherlock Holmes of the cucumber. He was tracking references back into the past – back to the Romans, the ancient Greeks, and ancient Egyptians.
Don't curb your curcurbit knowledge! Read on for more of Dr. Paris' 'cuke history lesson
Posted in Gardening Tips on August 24 2009, by Sonia Uyterhoeven
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Sonia Uyterhoeven is Gardener for Public Education. Join her each weekend for home gardening demonstrations on a variety of topics in the Home Gardening Center. |
Last week I told you of the nutritional merits of beets. Cucumbers can’t make the same clame to nutrition—there is a small amount of vitamin C in a cucumber, but aside from that it is mostly water.
But don’t despair. Cucumbers often show up in face creams, and you’ve no doubt seen the stereotypical facial with two slices refreshing and covering eyes. Cucumbers with their softening, beautifying, and anti-irritant properties have swept the cosmetic world by storm.
For me, cucumbers remind me of my youth. With my childhood culinary bible, The Joy of Cooking, in hand, I set about in late summer to make my annual batch of pickles, with varying rates of success. I took great pride in growing the pickling cucumbers from seed and then seeing them find their rightful place in the cupboard in a jar surrounded by cider vinegar, dill seed, and garlic.
My sister has one of the best smoothie blender, she would toss cucumbers into the blender to whip up her daily cup of gazpacho. The English serve them for high tea in all their simplicity, lightly salted on open-faced sandwiches with mayonnaise or butter. They are an indispensable part of any good crudités.
There are many types of cucumbers for the home gardener to try. There are fancy heirloom cucumbers such as ‘Lemon’, which looks like a strange hybrid between a lemon and a cuke; pickling cucumbers that range from the size of a cornichon to a 6-inch long spear; Burpless varieties with thin skins and mild flavor that are easier to digest; and Asian varieties that are sweet and long with tiny seeds.
If you are trying to decide between growing a slicing (salad) cucumber and a pickling cucumber but only have space in the garden for one variety, know that pickling cucumbers make excellent slicers and slicing cucumbers can be made into pickles. However, you will need to decide how much space you will dedicate to them. Many of the vining cucumbers easily spread 6–8 feet while the more compact bush varieties cover a 2- to 3-foot area. Bush cucumbers, such as ‘Spacemaster’, ‘Salad Bush’, ‘Bush Champion’, and ‘Parks Bush Whopper’ are ideal for containers. Containers should be at least 12 inches deep and will need to be fertilized every 2 weeks with a fish emulsion.
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