Cucumbers And Why You Want To Plant Lots of Them

It may seem nearly inconceivable now, but for each of you that plants a cucumber seed in May, there will come a time in July when you wonder to yourself "What the hell was I thinking????"

Your cucumber plants will be overflowing with blossoms and fruit, and you will be sick of cucumbers. Your co-workers will run from you, and you will be reduced to leaving unmarked brown bags of cucumbers on random doorsteps, simply to dispose of your overabundance of good fortune.

This incredible list of magical uses for cucumbers was just received from a friend, who received it from another friend, thereby it's origins being lost in the mists of time and cyberspace. Print and save for that moment in July. That moment will come, I promise you.

1. Cucumbers contain most of the vitamins you need every day

Just one cucumber contains Vitamin B1, Vitamin B2, Vitamin B3, Vitamin B5, Vitamin B6, Folic Acid, Vitamin C, Calcium, Iron, Magnesium, Phosphorus, Potassium and Zinc.

2. Feeling tired in the afternoon? Put down the caffeinated soda and
pick up a cucumber

Cucumbers are a good source of B vitamins and carbohydrates that can provide that quick pick-me-up that can last for hours.

3. Tired of your bathroom mirror fogging up after a shower?

Try rubbing a cucumber slice along the mirror: it will eliminate the fog and provide a soothing, spa-like fragrance.

4. Are grubs and slugs ruining your planting beds?

Place a few slices in a small pie tin and your garden will be free of pests all season long. The chemicals in the cucumber react with the aluminum to give off a scent undetectable to humans but drive garden pests crazy and make them flee the area. (Word from Chewy: This will be especially useful in strawberry beds, where slugs love to hang out, and you can't leave beer traps, on account of the possum keeps drinking them....)

5. Looking for a fast and easy way to remove cellulite before going
out or to the pool?

Try rubbing a slice or two of cucumbers along your problem area for a few minutes. The phytochemicals in the cucumber cause the collagen in your skin to tighten, firming up the outer layer and reducing the visibility of cellulite. Works great on wrinkles too! (Word from Chewy: I love this one, but trust me, there aren't enough cucumbers in the universe to help with my cellulite)

6. Want to avoid a hangover or terrible headache?

Eat a few cucumber slices before going to bed and wake up refreshed and headache free. Cucumbers contain enough sugar, B vitamins and electrolytes to replenish essential nutrients the body has lost, keeping everything in equilibrium, and avoiding both a hangover and headache!

7. Looking to fight off that afternoon or evening snacking binge?

Cucumbers have been used for centuries and often by European trappers, traders and explorers for quick meals to thwart off starvation.

8. Have an important meeting or job interview and you realize that
you don't have enough time to polish your shoes?

Rub a freshly cut cucumber over the shoe. Its chemicals will provide a quick and durable shine that not only looks great but also repels water.

9. Need to fix a squeaky hinge?

Take a cucumber slice and rub it along the problematic hinge, and voila, the squeak is gone!

10. Stressed out and don't have time for a massage, facial or visit
to the spa?

Cut up an entire cucumber and place it in a boiling pot of water. The chemicals and nutrients from the cucumber with react with the boiling water and be released in the steam, creating a soothing, relaxing aroma that has been shown the reduce stress in new mothers and college students during final exams.

11. Just finished a business lunch and realize you don't have gum or
mints?

Take a slice of cucumber and press it to the roof of your mouth with your tongue for 30 seconds to eliminate bad breath. The phytochemcials will kill the bacteria in your mouth responsible for causing bad breath.

12. Looking for a 'green' way to clean your taps, sinks or stainless
steel?

Take a slice of cucumber and rub it on the surface you want to clean; not only will it remove years of tarnish and bring back the shine, but it won't leave streaks and won't harm you fingers or fingernails while you clean. (Word from Chewy: For some reason this reminds me of the tip to rub your hands on a stainless steel sink to get rid of the onion odor after cutting onions.

13. Using a pen and made a mistake?

Take the outside of the cucumber and slowly use it to erase the pen writing. Also works great on crayons and markers that the kids have used to decorate the walls!


See? Now you have to plant more cucumbers, cause you'll never have enough for all these uses (especially the cellulite one.....)

If you know the origin for this list, let me know. I'd love to credit it.

Wiregrass Battle.....Day 3

Progress is being made. I may even live through it.

The black plastic is down (hopefully staying in place). Now the sun gets to bake the wiregrass.

Well, except for the next 6 days, all of which are suppose to be rainy.

Just so you believe me about the blueberries, this is one of the babies surrounded by the blanket of pine straw. It already has green leaves and buds, and stands about 12" tall. Since it's a 3-year-old plant, it *might* have one or two blueberries this summer.

While it rains this week, I'll be planning my garden. I'm wavering between an intense square-foot-garden layout, versus the straw bales, or a bit of both. This is the week to start seedlings of lettuce, broccoli, spinach, onion, rosemary, oregano, and thyme. The warmer weather plants like potato, tomato, pepper, and basil can be started in the greenhouse, in order to be ready in 6-8 weeks when it's warm enough here in Virginia to set them out.

Later this week, we'll discuss garden notebooks and why you really, really want to keep one.

Wiregrass Battle....Day Two

Long, long day.

Complete with aching back.

But the net result is that both newly tilled garden plots have been combed for the random strands of wiregrass. Tomorrow they will be covered in black plastic, with the goal of literally burning and baking the remaining bits and pieces of wiregrass runners/roots. Sortof like waving a torch at wild animals and hoping for the best.

Meanwhile, we also replanted 20 blueberry bushes today. The process involves digging the hole, shaking out the blueberry roots while removing the wiregrass runners that bound them up last year, adding fertilizer and a bit of sulfur to each hole, then lining the hole with pine straw (keeps the soil acidic for the blueberries), adding the bush itself, giving it a long drink of water, then filling in with soil, and mulching again with an overall pine straw blanket.

Then repeat 19 more times.

You can't see them, but under and in this pine straw are the 20 blueberry bushes. From left to right, there are 2 -six year plants, 3 -five year plants, 10- four year plants, and 5-three year old plants (the babies of the bunch).

Someday they will grow up to be like these old-timers, approximately 5-6 tall and just as wide.

And loaded with these.

That photo kind of makes it all worthwhile.

That, and a handful of Advil.

Wiregrass Battle.....Day One

First we had to pull up all the rocks and bricks, and then the carpet paths the rocks were anchoring.

Almost all the carpet had to be tossed -the wiregrass had literally woven itself into the carpet fibers. A few pieces were salvaged.

Then the drip hose was pulled up - found out a 10 foot section had hardened to the point of being brittle. Also removed and stacked the plastic racks that the gourds grow on (have I mentioned I found new gourd seeds a couple days ago: snake gourds, swan gourds, apple gourds and....nest egg gourds).

Lastly, before roto-tilling, we dug and temporarily potted the blueberry bushes. Discovered the wiregrass had grown into the roots and bound them. No wonder my poor babies didn't grow much last year.

Then we raked up all the loose mulch and straw, piling it up to be removed with the bad carpet.

And then - roto-tilling. This is the final result:

There's one strip left of wiregrass on the lefthand side - we'll get it tomorrow.

All of this tilled dirt has to be gone over with a rake, clump by clump, so we can remove the wiregrass runners.

Have I mentioned that wirefrass is The Devil?

Plan B is a flamethrower.

This Year's Game Plan

This is the year we deal with the dreaded evil wiregrass.

As mentioned a few days ago, I'm pulling up all my tomato fencing, carpet paths and drip hoses just so I can rototill my lasagna-garden beds and rake out as much of the cut-up wiregrass as possible. Then, the entire garden, or almost all of it, will be covered with black plastic. The idea is to literally bake the soil and burn up the wiregrass in the soil.

Of course this will affect the rest of the healthy soil microbes, and mean I'll need to refresh the soil with manure, compost and everything else I can think of to bring it back to life - BUT- if I don't bake the soil, the wiregrass will just increase and choke out the desirable plants.

So my entire garden will be under black plastic this year but I still need to grow veggies.

The answer is straw bale gardening.

Photo from Nichols Garden Nursery

The idea is perfect not only for my situation but for anyone who wants to garden without digging, tilling, building raised beds, or doing much weeding.

Straw bales are available at most gardening centers, or at rural farms if you're lucky enough. At our Lowe's they cost approximately $4.00 each.

Clicking on the credits for either of these pictures will take you to two sites with much more detail. The basic idea works this way:

1) Set the dry bale whenever you want your garden to be. Water the bale for 10 days.

2) To plant seeds, spread a layer of compost, fertilizer, and potting soil over the top of the bail. Water. Plant the seed in this layer.

3) For seedlings, hollow out a planting hole, and fill it with compost, fertilizer, potting soil, and water again. Plant the seedling in said hole.

3) You must water everyday. I've seen a couple ideas, and the best is at the site below (Charlotte Nelson's) - the idea of laying the drip hose across the tops of a succession of bales. I'm planning on hooking up the drip hoses to my rain barrel system.

4) The top site, Nichols Garden Nursery, mentions I'll need something called legume inoculant for my peas and beans. I've no idea what this is, but as soon as I find it, I'll let you know.

This is the goal:

Photo from Charlotte Nelson's Straw Bale Garden

Pros would also include less chance of disease and soil insects finding the plants, easy to mow around, bales should last at least two years, and after they begin to fall apart and decompose, they can be used as mulch (on what will hopefully be my newly wiregrasss-free garden).

Plus, I'm thinking I can build mazes with the bales and provide instant entertainment for the neighborhood kids.

Weary of Time...Ready For Spring

My friend Suzie The Ebay Queen posted spring pictures on her blog today - just a little somethin' to get us over these last few winter days. Seemed like a great idea, so I'm posting a few of my own.

The last of our snow melted today, and it's suppose to be in the 50's this weekend and maybe 60 by Monday, so maybe the photos are working.

Last year's Swing Garden. Don't look directly at the Gnome, it makes him nervous.

The Hollyhock Ladies...their specialty is bobbing and nodding.

Pink Mandeville....a tropical plant who somehow found itself lost in southern Virginia.

One of the 2005 daylilies.....one of the most perfect flowers....they never demand fertilizer, weeding or water......and they multiply without being asked to.

Ah Sunflower, weary of time,
Who countest the steps of the sun;
Seeking after that sweet golden clime
Where the traveller's journey is done...

William Blake (1757-1827, London England)


Hang on -spring is almost here!

Planning Stages

This is from last year - as I type there is 4" of snow in this very location. But it's early March which means I need to be getting seeds planted in the flats out in the greenhouse and start planning this year's garden.

Here's my biggest problem this year:

Wiregrass.

Wiregrass is the Devil. It is an evil, evil plant sent directly from hell.

And it's all over my yard and all in my garden. The straw you see above was an attempt to smother the wiregrass. The carpet you see was an attempt to smother the wiregrass.

Nothing kills it. I even tried spraying it with the equally-evil chemical roundup, and *guess what* wiregrass luuves roundup. It sucks up glasses of it for breakfast and then turns to me and says "More please ma'm."

This year's game plan is to pull up the fencing, and the buried drip hoses, roto-till the garden, rake out as much of the torn up wiregrass roots as possible, and then cover the entire garden in black plastic for the summer, and steambake the soil. This will cancel out all the good from my lasagna garden layers, and kill off some good soil bacteria -BUT- it might also kill the wiregrass.

If it doesn't, there's always the flamethrower.