Grow Your Own Magazine

I've just noticed a little cucumber about 4 or 5 inches long on my Marketmore cucumber plant outdoors, it's very prickly & quite fat. I've not grown this particular variety before & wondered what is the right size to pick them & do you need to peel them before use (due to the prickles or do they smooth out if the cuke gets bigger?) ?

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Into every life a little rain must fall.

Forgot I was going to add it's mugshot to show you the size & shape.

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Into every life a little rain must fall.

I grew them last year Sue and got some great cucumbers. I remember them as having a smooth skin - I don't remember them being prickly. They were lovely and fat and juicy and I let them grow to a fair size. But if they grow too big they split inside. I did peel them but only because I have been told that all outdoor cucumbers have a bitter skin.

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Thanks Lesley, I'll let it grow then & it might smooth out a bit with luck!

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Into every life a little rain must fall.

Maybe you've got a ringer there Sue?

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Manda.

"Wouldn't it be nice
For maybe an hour
To not have a care."

Hi Sue
I'm growing these this year too and they seem to smoothe out as they get bigger. I have had one really good size one so far which somehow I nearly missed. Very crisp and flavourful, a bit drier than the supermarket ones and I didn't notice any bitterness from the skin. Even my daughter was happy to eat it. Have since picked some slightly smaller that are still a little prickly but they rubbed of nicely.
Hope that helps

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Bright Blessings
Earthbabe
If at first you don't succeed, open a bottle of wine.

Hi SueA, i too am growing these this year, and yes, they do have a very prickly skin. If you rub your hand over it the prickles will rub off. Mine have grown 8 to 10 inches and are lovely.

Gabrielle.

I got the seeds in a swap with Acorn on the vine & she got them from a named packet as Marketmore so I'm pretty sure that's what it is. I think it probably is just very prickly because it is young & hopefully it will get longer & smoother, there are a few other tiny cucumbers on the same plant & on another I have next to it so I'm hoping to get at least a couple to eat before the slugs/snails/weather/disease gets to them! I grew some outdoor cucumbers years ago, can't remember the variety but they were mini ones so I wasn't sure how big Marketmore are supposed to get. Thanks.

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Into every life a little rain must fall.

Hi, I have also grown marketmore for the first time this year. So far I have had half a dozen lovely 8 - 9" cucumbers, loved by daughter and husband alike. So much more taste that shop bought! I rub the spines off with my teatowel as I am rinsing the skin before using them. They have got some powdery stuff on the leaves at the mo, same as my courgettes will have to try and sort it out as another flush of babies are growing near the top of the plant. Hope they work too!

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Sherbet, possibly the smallest rabbit in the world....