Armenian Cucumbers are the most popular cucumbers on our farm. Easy to grow, heat tolerant and disease resistant, and never bitter. But here’s a secret – although they look and taste just like cucumbers, they are not really cucumbers at all. They actually belong to the muskmelon family
I love cucumbers! I love the taste of a fresh, young cucumber just picked from the garden.
For all the growing we do around here, I like to choose the perfect time to pick and harvest. I like to wait until the tomatoes are really red and the sugar is high. Because they don’t need to be packaged and trucked, there’s no need to pick them early. We prefer to really let the flavor develop and the sugars express themselves.
With American and English cucumbers, however, if you wait too long to harvest them, they will become bitter. The longer you wait, the more bitter they become. So bitter, in fact, that they become inedible. They don’t even taste good as pickles.
Several years ago, I started growing Armenian cucumbers, and I have never looked back. Not only do Armenian cucumbers never get bitter, but they will keep growing larger and stay just as sweet like a tender young cucumber.
What is an Armenian Cucumber, Anyway?
Also called snake cucumber or the cucumber-melon, the Armenian cucumber (Cucumis melo var. flexuosus) is botanically a variety of Muskmelon. The family is generally defined by its ribbed skin. Cantaloupes are muskmelons, but honeydews and watermelons are not.
But don’t let that confuse you, because the armenian cucumber tastes almost exactly like a regular slicing cucumber. The reason we grow them, though, is because they are both disease resistant and heat tolerant, are are great to plant if you want cucumbers through the dog days of summer. Originating in the south caucuses / middle east, the armenian cucumber is a fabulous alternative for gardeners in Florida and Las Vegas.
Another benefit, as I mentioned, is that even when left on the vine past the immature stage, they do not go bitter like a regular cucumber does. Even when they start getting fat, you can still harvest and not notice much degradation in flavor.
Ok, I’m not saying you should wait to harvest these guys. It’s best to harvest them when they are anywhere between 12-15 inches long, and before they start getting too fat. But if one is hiding under a swath of green leaves and you don’t find it until it is as fat as a spaghetti squash, it’s totally OK!! Do keep in mind that the bigger it gets, the seeds also get bigger and tougher. However, I always scoop out the seeds of my cucumbers anyway, so this isn’t a problem for me.
Once the mucilage (the gel around the seeds) becomes a bit orange, it is fully mature and no longer tastes like a cucumber. While this is not the best time for eating, it is the best time to save seeds.
Types of Armenian Cucumber
There are two main types of Armenian cucumber: the regular and the striped variety. The most widely available variety has light green skin with ribs, true to its family. They grow very long first, and then fatten up as they mature. The striped Armenian cucumber looks very similar in shape, but as per its name, has striking lengthwise stripes alternating dark and light green along the ridge lines.
Do not confuse the striped Armenian cucumber with the snake gourd or serpent gourd (Trichosanthes cucumerina). This is a different. It is extra confusing because the Armenian cucumber is sometimes called the snake cucumber. But the snake gourd, while resembling the skin of the striped Armenian cucumber, is very different both on the inside and botanically.
There is another type of Armenian cucumber which is dark green all over. It of course sports the same lengthwise ridges. This variety is quite rare and I have only seen seeds available from a few sources. I have never seen starts.
How to Grow Armenian Cucumbers
Seed starting: Generally you can start these guys from seed pretty easily. They definitely prefer warm soil, so make sure to direct sow after the weather has turned and the soil is warm. Days should be consistently above 65 degrees, and 75 is better. Or if starting indoors, use a heat mat to speed things up. They are not picky about their soil, but I always suggest amending the bed with compost, some rabbit pellets, or organic fish meal.
Location: Choose a sunny spot with plenty of room to grow. They will want something to scramble onto, and you probably do not want that to be your tomato plants (only because they could get heavy). You can use a tomato cage, an arch or a true trellis, but make sure it is pretty sturdy and you are not crowding the plants in. If growing vertically, give them 10-12 inches room. If growing on the ground, you’ll need to give them much more room.
Growing Vertically: When growing on a tall trellis or arch, the fruit will stretch to the ground and will tend to be straighter. Plus they look super cool when hanging down. Their tendrils are quite strong so you don’t need to worry about them supporting themselves. When you grow vertically you save so much space in your garden bed. When grown on or closer to the ground, once they touch something they will tend to curl or bend more.
Water: As with most vegetables, you want to keep it evenly moist. you don’t want the soil soggy but you also don’t want it dry for long periods. The most important thing is consistency. Drip irrigation can help tremendously.
Fertilization: While Armenian Cucumbers grow in a variety of soils, using a balanced fertilizer will maximize fruit production. I prefer a granular, slower release fertilizer applied monthly. They aren’t very finicky so you don’t need to get fancy.
Pollination: Cucumbers have both male and female flowers. We are blessed with lots of pollinators here. But if you are not, or if you just want to maximize production, you can manually pollinate them to make sure they are getting pollinated.
You need a small paintbrush. You also need both a male and a female flower. But they are easy to tell apart. The female will have a baby cucumber on the end. When they are really little, it might just look like an elongated stem. The male flower will not have this baby fruit.
Take your paintbrush and rub it around inside the open male flower. Check the tip of the paintbrush – you should see some bright yellow pollen. Take that and transfer it to the female flower.
Harvest: As I mentioned above, you can harvest these cucumbers when they are immature. Early and often! The more you harvest, the more the plant will set new fruit. It you leave a big cucumber on the vine, the whole plant could stop producing, and put all of its energy into getting that fruit to maturity to produce seeds. When you harvest it young, though, it will produce more and more cucumbers for you.
I hope you love growing and enjoying Armenian Cucumbers! They taste great in the tzatziki of these Awesome (and Easy) Greek Chicken Gyros.
