A Tiny Cucumber and My Poor, Confused Neighbor

"It's so tiny! I mean, it definitely has some nice girth, but its not very long at all.  I suppose I'll just have to make due."


Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a very uncomfortable-looking neighbor trying very hard to look busy cleaning a tiny spot on the wall of his house.

I was reminded just how easy it is for someone to come to the wrong conclusion after hearing a partial conversation.  Oops.

I hung up the phone, and went over to the cucumber vines.

Before heading off to my grandparents' house this last weekend, I decided that it would be important to harvest my first cucumber from the vine.  It was still tiny, and I wasn't entirely sure it was ready to be picked,  but I realized that there was a very good chance that something could go terribly wrong while I was away for three days, and didn't want to lose the first cucumber I had ever grown.

It was, after all, growing at an extraordinary rate, and I was afraid that if left to its own devices it would grow too quickly in the time I was gone.  I walked over and clipped it from the vine.

It wasn't particularly large, but it was thicker than many cucumbers I had seen in the grocery stores in the past.  I placed it in the refrigerator and went about my business, getting ready for my weekend trip.  The harvest was important, but I could wait a while before I actually ate the fruits of my labor.

It turns out, I was very lucky that I had harvested this cucumber.  


When we returned, the ground was wet.  Talking with a few people, we discovered that there had been a rather nasty downpour of rain.  This, of course, is a very good thing, since it was only a short time ago that we were dealing with a huge heatwave that threatened to kill the crops in this area.

On the other hand, it rained so hard that upon my return, I discovered that a decent portion of the mounds my cucumbers were planted in got washed away.  This, of course, caused the topmost roots to become exposed.

The vines were not happy.


There was quite a bit of wilting, and some of the leaves had even started to go brown.

Not a pretty sight to return to, that's for sure!  Now, don't go panicking about the weed growth you see.  The creeping charlie and the grasses aren't a problem.  This wasn't a sudden upsurge of unwanted wildlife encroaching on my garden... although I did get some of that.  You have to remember that the cucumbers were planted in the wild area of my edible garden, so the extra plant life is supposed to be there.

It's all part of the master plan... or something like that, anyway.

The good news?  

If you look back at that photo just a little more closely, you'll notice that there is still quite a bit of growth happening, as evidenced by the two tiny cucumbers that are happily growing at the upper left corner of this image.

Yay!

Even with the slightly huge problem of exposed roots in the garden, my cucumbers have continued to grow and produce.

And due to the pre-planned harvest that I spoke about to a friend during my phone call, I have a very confused neighbor that I can giggle about for days to come.

Success!