How to grow Cucamelon in a small space, in shade - Harvest and taste test!! Mini Mexican cucumbers

Hi it's Jian from Melbourne Food Forest  today we're going to be talking about   one of the cutest vegetables that I grow and  you won't find these in the shops Cucamelons!   [Music] [Music]   Cucamelons are one of my favourite cucumbers  to grow they're also known as Mexican sour   gherkins or Mouse melons they're Teensy  and adorable a lot of people think I'm   growing mini watermelons because the skin does  look a lot like watermelon but it's so tiny   they definitely win on the cute factor but  they're also a really practical vegetable to grow   for me I have long struggled to grow cucumbers  standing cucumbers in our garden and this is   the first year I figured out why I can't  believe it took me so long it's because we   have a shady Garden for so long I thought  cucumbers with their soft big leaves are   going to get burnt in the Sun but no I've  realized that they need full blistering sun   which is why we struggle to grow them for so  long we just don't have many full sun spots   enter the cucamelon what I love about them there's  so many things the first is that they can grow in   part shade as you can see here we have our  cucamelons growing on a water tank on our   water tank then what a great use of space how many  people leave their water tank bare I mean you see   bare water tanks everywhere instead they could be  covered in the forest of cucamelons like we have   here because they're so small they don't weigh  it down either you can put on some fine netting   and they will happily scramble over this surface  and give you food on an otherwise wasted surface   and that's also why we have white water  tanks to try and reflect as much light as   we can get we have such a shady Garden we've  got to try and maximize any little skerick   of light and reflecting from a white surface  is one of the ways so these side faces North   and these cucamelons actually really don't get any  direct sun because in this area the sun's blocked   out by the water tank by the a huge tree up there  which is in our neighbor's yard and it's Evergreen   that blocks out our light year round and this is  a very shady spot and look at how productive they   are I mean there's not a huge number of vegetables  particularly cucumbers that can fruit in shade and   these are one of them so that's one of the  reasons I love them second reason is because   they're drought tolerant another reason why I  haven't been able to grow good cucumbers is they   need so much water they're basically you know 99  water they're filled with water whereas cucamelons   on the other hand have really drought tolerant  they originate from Mexico and they're tough as   I'm able to grow them even with my poor wuthering  habits thirdly when cucumbers in our garden and   you might have experienced the same suffer from  powdering mildew particularly ones growing in   shadier damper conditions our tend to succumb  to powdery mildew all too quickly cucamelons   are virtually resistant to powdery mildew I've  never seen them get it other than at the very   end of the season when they're about to die back  I mean look at these leaves growing in full shade   it's doing pretty well the yellowing is actually  due to under-feeding and that that's a that's   another issue but it's not due to powdery mildew  or um yeah or under watering another thing I love   about them is that they're also more cold tolerant  so they have almost all the best characteristics   that standard cucumbers don't have these for  us will start producing generally mid to late   summer into Autumn and even into winter when  they finish up they start producing exactly at   the point where in our last cucumbers have given  up on life and it means that we get to extend our   season so we're currently mid-autumn and these are  in full production still and I'm going to give you   the feed to stimulate the growth of more flowers  and more fruit and I actually see some up here   you can see that tiny teensy little  yellow flowers they're so small and it's growing up onto the top of our water  tank so when I harvest I'm gonna have to climb   up there and grab some of the fruit from  off there but I'm going to give it a feed   and encourage it to produce more fruit for  us they do take a while to get going in our   climate so some people will grow them and go I  haven't gotten any fruit and it's already the end   of summer don't give up they're actually start  producing once the weather cools down which is   perfect timing for smoothing your consumption  of cucumbers if you're a cucumber lover   you can see here that we have ours growing in  a large pot and this pot's about 50 centimeters   deep and about 25 centimeters wide across the top  and in this pot this year we've got two plants   last year I have four and that was way too many  they're extremely productive so these two plants   have covered mostly this side of the water tank  and on the other side we have a symmetric one   another pot there with two more cucamelons I  think in future years I might even reduce it   to one plant because they are competing with each  other which is why they're looking quite hungry   and cucumbers are hungry plants and one plant with  these nutrients is probably a better ratio and you   can see here we've simply strung netting over our  water tank tied it around the back and it's become   the perfect growing trellis for our cucamelons  if you're growing them in a standard garden bed   I would recommend growing it vertically like this  because it saves so much space so find a trellis   or some wire mesh and encourage your cucamelons to  grow up it if you let it sprawl in your garden bed   that's fine but it's going to waste a lot of space  and take over the entire bent and it also will be   more susceptible to mildew and fungal diseases  because it doesn't have as good airflow as this   and this also maximizes the light that hits the  plant you can see it's quite a vigorous grower   I mean we've got two plants on each side and  they're really really taking over the water tank and it's actually gone all around the side of our  water tank too there might even be ones around the   back we'll have to hunt around there we're gonna  have a look at the top what's going on up there   okay I'm standing on a milk crate unfortunately  our water Tank's not that tall I can see the vine   it's gone all over the top as well and there's  fruit there it's actually a lot of new flowers up   here because this is the sunniest spot and this is  the advantage of growing vertically we can catch a   lot of the Sun that we just simply don't have down  here because it's so shaded out by the water tank   and by the other Garden structures like  the shed free our neighbor's carport   so really this section gets no sun and it's  amazing that the cucamelon can grow so well   in shade but the ones up here are able to tap  into a lot of sun bathing in that sunshine this   is where you have some baking up here and it's  really hot because my face is getting burnt up   here so this is really warm and this might be  where we get our laser flush of fruit because   so Sunny up here as the temperatures start to cool  down here they're not going to be as productive eat just be careful I found a whole family of  snails hiding behind the cucamelon leaf and   behind the netting I'm gonna just let me squish  these babies I'm so sorry and put that into   them off no glamorous way to do this that's  so gross but us gardeners are used to really   gross icky things and I'm gonna just gently  wipe that onto the soil here with a weed that   I just pulled out and that's also going  to be fertilizer for our two chameleons   sorry baby snails cucamelans produce male and  female flowers just like standard cucumbers you   can see here this is a male flower and the  flowers are so Teensy tiny you can see this   is a male because it's just a little yellow  flower without a baby cucamelon at the back   let's compare this to a female you can melon  flower you can see there my gosh they're already   Tiny But The Baby cucamelons are so small that's  the size of a grain of rice or grate of barley   it's a little baby fruit with a yellow flower on  the end and I'm going to be really gentle with   that so I don't snap it off and there's  another one just up here that's for me   eek still got some snail Gunk on my hand  cucamelons do need pollination and you need   to encourage bees if you want heaps of cucamelons  like we have here you need to encourage bees to   come and move the pollen from the male flower  into the female flower because you're not going   to do this by hand they're so tiny the normal  cucumbers you might but not these you're going to   rely on your insect pollinators in order to cross  pollinate them cucamelons are said to be perennial   I personally have not experienced this after many  years of growing them I have not successfully over   wintered them once and they've never re-sprouted  so I've replanted from seed generally Every Spring   I have lifted them before and once you pull  them out it's quite surprising but there's a   huge tuber underneath there huge white tuber that  can be quite long and knobbly and you'd think that   with overwinter because it kind of looks like a  potato but unfortunately I've not had any success   so there were times where I left the plant in the  soil like this and mulched really heavily over   winter hoping that they would come back but come  spring come summer nothing emerged so I had to   plant and replace with new seed I've also lifted  the tuber out before and stored it in a shed in a   dry Airy spot all the things I'm  supposed to do and I planted that   and it still didn't come back so give  it a go but plant some backups because   in my experience it's a bit Hit or Miss it's  not as reliable in terms of reshooting as some   of the the other perennials so for me it's not  a true perennial but in warmer climates maybe   it would be because um we do get quite cold  Winters and maybe the tubers don't love that   but potentially a wonderful climbing perennial  a great addition to any food Forest I highly   recommend them and now we're going to do some  taste tests I'm going to cut some open and do   a taste test and let you know what I think of them  okay in our makeshift outdoor kitchen I've got two   cucamelons here and I picked two different  ones to show you how much the size can vary   when they picked bigger like this one they're  going to be a bit more sour so their name   sour Mexican gherkin does tell you that  they're slightly more sour than standard   cucumbers which makes them perfect for pickling  but when they're big like this they're more sour   than when they're picked smaller where they're  much smaller so you can see they can get you   know quite a big size difference if you zoom  right in look at that you might think with   that scale that I'm holding a watermelon let's  cut it open and see what it looks like inside I'll do the bigger one first so the skin is much firmer than standard cucumber and just ignore that red coloring  that's not actually meant to be   there I was just cutting another  fruit before our strawberry guava   and you can see inside it's green and  white it's not a watermelon it's not red   and it looks like a cucumber you can  see it's got a row of Little Seeds here   which if you left it long enough they would  form and Harden and let's cut the smaller one again much firmer skin than standard cucumbers  and that's more green because that's a younger   more tender fruit and that's a bit more white  because it's a bit older so let me do a taste test   okay tasting the younger one first hmm definitely a chewy skin inside it's  quite soft and tastes just like a   cucumber but a Teensy bit more sour now  I'm gonna try one of these bigger ones um that's crunchy and that is a lot more tart  but in a really nice way it tastes kind of like   lemon like you've added lemon to a cucumber which  will be absolutely awesome for a salad because you   just tuck these in and you wouldn't have to dress  your salad anymore either have cucumber and Lemony   dressing all in one go and you heard that crunch  when I bit into that they're really really crunchy and I've got great texture and that's so  nice I actually really enjoy that sourness   they would be amazing pickled and we're going to  do some of that um this season so I'll show you   that process down the track we're going to pickle  some but lots are also going to get gobbled up   and they're perfect lunchbox size fruit there's  no cutting required for lunch boxes and the   smaller ones can just go straight onto the salad  almost like a cherry tomato throw it straight on I've had excuse me it's hard not to  gobble them all straight off the vine and now I'm going to try one hole straight in that's so good skin definitely takes more chewing than  salad cucumber but flavour is amazing   that was really yum I hope that's increased  your appetite for growing these delicious   little cucumbers they're so cute and easy to grow  I hope you found that interesting and enjoyable   and you learned something from it as always if you  enjoyed please remember to like subscribe to our   Channel and share with your friends as this helps  us to grow and to keep featuring more unusual and   interesting fruit and vegetables thank you for  tuning in and until next time foreign [Music]

Channel: Melbourne Foodforest

Views: 26,235

Keywords: food forest, foodforest, melbourne foodforest, gardening, food gardening, food growing, veggie garden, urban garden, permaculture, veggie patch, urban permaculture, urban food forest, melbourne food forest, permaculture australia, cucamelon, cucumber, mexican cucumber, gherkin, sour gherkin, vegetable, growing in shade, vertical growing, small space growing, mexican sour gherkin, growing cucumber, how to grow cucumber, cucuamelon

Id: w1dgiHJVc78

Length: 17min 15sec (1035 seconds)

Published: Sun Mar 05 2023