Cucumber - Italian Non Acid

(Cucumis sativus) - Organically Grown Uncertified - Grown by Greenpatch

Vigerous grower producing a light green coloured cucumber that is crunchy with a mild flavour and lower acid content.

Doesn't crop all at once, tends to have a lower yield at any one time but keeps producing for a much longer period than other cucumber varieties. 

The Story

We originally sourced this seed from northern rivers seed savers network in the 1990's. Greenpatch continued to grow this variety until the early 2000's when we could no longer fit it into our growing schedule. The seed went into cold storage.

In 2020 we had the ability to grow another cucumber variety so we sowed our cold stored seed very heavily to see if it was still viable (sow by date of 2006). Anyhow some germinated and we hand pollinated them to kick start the variety again. Fast forward to September 2023 and a small commercial crop was put in on our second farm resulting in this seed harvest. We now want to share this resurected variety with you so please enjoy.

Note: The seed is not 100% pure with some white cucumber genetics in the mix. We will continue to work on it's purity into the future. 

How to Grow

Cucumber grows best in fertile well drained soil receiving full sun. Improve soil with manures, compost or fertilizers before planting. Sow seeds direct in the garden or in pots then transplant to the garden at 5cm high. When sowing cover seed with 1cm of soil and keep moist until germinated. Space 40cm apart giving them enough room to run freely. Cucumbers will begin to set after 60-80 days.

Tip: Ensure you don't fertilize too heavily with nitrogen or over water as this will promote excess leaf growth. This also tends to promote male flowers but no female flowers which are needed for fruit production.

Blossom End Rot: This will occur when there is a lack of Calcium in your soil. The plant will set fruit but it will rot at the end then drop off the plant. To avoid this use lime in your soil or you can apply a liquid fertilizer of 1L milk to a 9L watering can. Water the leaves of the plant for a fast acting remedy.

Sow Spring-Summer direct in the garden or in pots

Packet contains approx 40 seeds.

80 days to harvest

40 seed per gram

Uses

Fruit is eaten fresh as a snack, in salads or pickled. For pickling slice thinly pickle in a typical pickling liquid.