Fenton Friday: Colin’s Cucumbers and Zucchini

Colin Davan and cucumbers. Photo by Ian Ferris.

Guest Blog by Colin Davan

With a pile of seeds spread across the table, I was left with some tough decisions. After my fellow summer interns Miguel and Ian had picked their tomatoes and peppers, I was tasked with four seed packs: two kinds of cucumbers and two types of zucchini plants. 

However, these were not just any vegetable plants. Each brought their own unique challenges and tasks. Starting with the cucumbers, I had one pack of Slicing Cucumber and another of Japanese Climbing Cucumber, which required a tomato cage surrounding it, hence the name.

Moving to the zucchini, I was in charge of the Nimba Squash Zucchini and Dark Star Zucchini. 

The summer plot got off to a hot start with Miguel and Ian planting their tomato and pepper seedlings. In my first week, I spent my time thoroughly weeding and clearing out the section of the plot I was given. Since these vegetable plants required so much space, I delayed my seed sowing until the second week. 

The second week, I returned and formed the four small mounds spaced out a couple of feet from one another. After I planted the seeds in each mound, topped them with compost, and surrounded them with straw, I protected them with small wire pieces (hardware cloth), so the urban pests would not come to take my special seeds or baby seedlings. I stood back and took a picture of the dirt mounds. I began to wonder: what will come of these seeds? Will I find any success in the garden this summer?

After returning the following week, a glimpse of success began to push out from the mounds. Small green seedlings had begun to arise with a few pesky weeds around them. I tended to my four small mounds and returned the following week. 

When I returned, I saw an increase in seedlings that were beginning to flourish. Both of the cucumber plant mounds exploded as each had several small seedlings that I would eventually thin down to two each. However, I was not seeing close to the same progress with my zucchini plants. 

Photos from top down: Thriving 'Nimba' Squash Zucchini, Climbing Cucumbers, and failed 'Dark Star' Zucchini.

I would come to find later on that my zucchini plants would ultimately give me problems all summer. The Dark Star never produced a seedling and the Nimba Squash grew much more slowly than my cucumbers. However, that did not deter my garden grind. We planted a different zucchini squash variety (' Zucchini 'Black Beauty') in Dark Star's former spot and gave extra care to my zucchini each week.

As the blazing hot weeks in the garden went on, my Nimba Squash and both cucumbers would grow at exponential rates. Powerful rainstorms all throughout July, hot sunny days, and a little bit of fish fertilizer created the perfect mix for results. 

By late July and early August, I had begun to see flowers and small cucumbers, but no actual zucchini yet. A bit of concern began to creep in as the deadline for submissions in the Montgomery County Fair was quickly approaching, and I did not have enough similar-looking cucumbers or zucchini ready to submit an entry. 

I was able to harvest many cucumbers from my Japanese Climbing plant and ended up submitting them to the DC State Fair (results below*). While the zucchini plants struggled, I was able to get a nice zucchini, which I used in a chocolate zucchini cake. (Thanks Kathy for the recipe!)

At the end of my Fenton journey, I realized this experience was not only about producing cucumbers and zucchini, but also of overcoming obstacles and strengthening my patience. I am so incredibly grateful for the opportunity with the Washington Gardener Magazine this summer, as I got to enhance my journalistic skills while also being on the Fenton plot working in a nice community garden.

*UPDATE:

The cucumber won first place! See the results at https://www.dcstatefair.org/2025-contest-results.

About the Author:

Colin Davan is an intern this summer session with Washington Gardener. He is a rising senior at the American University in Washington, DC, studying journalism with a minor in history. He grew up just outside of Boston in two towns (Hopkinton and Framingham), both with backyards always filled with a wide variety of flowers, herbs, vegetables, and fruits.

Fenton Friday: We've Got Gherkins

I was away this past week and had someone watering for me as needed, so I figured I'd come back to a tangle of weeds and some wilted plants. Happily, the weeds were not that bad and we did have a few rains, so everything looked pretty good.

One pleasant surprise was that there were fully formed gherkins on our vines (see pic above). I thought they were still a few weeks away. I looked up our planting date, which was exactly a month ago! This summer's record heat is at least good for something!
   Each gherkin is about the size of a fat ring finger. I picked a couple and tried them today. They taste just like any fresh cucumber. First, though I had to scrub them with a vegetable brush under running water as they are covered in small, hard spines.

Elsewhere in the plot, the tomato experience continues to disappoint. Just when you think you might have a good-sized one ripening, this happens (see pic at right). Some creature punctured it and I found it lying on the ground below the vines today. 
   There are several other good-sized green tomatoes on that same vine. As SOON as one starts to color up, I'm going to pick it and bring it inside to ripen.
   Meanwhile, the county parks department (who run this community garden) has heard the Fenton gardeners' pleas about the rat population explosion and had traps set up around the garden. We shall see if that helps things for the fall harvest time.

Finally, the cutting garden is coming along. I cut a few zinnias and cosmos today. The dahlias are slower than last year but have lots of buds on them. I did have to do some quick repairs to this dahlia (see pic at left) that split open and was splayed out in all directions. I tied it all up on one metal support in the middle. I hope that is enough to sustain its weight for the rest of the season.

What are you growing in your edible garden this week?

About Fenton Friday: Every Friday during the growing season, I'll be giving you an update on my community garden plot at the Fenton Street Community Garden just across the street from my house in zone 7 Mid-Atlantic MD/DC border. I'm plot #16. It is a 10 ft x 20 ft space and this is our 13th year in the garden. (It opened in May 2011.) See past posts about our edible garden by putting "Fenton" into the Search box above (at the top, left on this blog).

Fenton Friday: Cucumber Trials

For this week's community garden report, we are turning it over to one of our summer interns to let us know how their growing project went.

By Taylor Calavetinos

This summer, I was lucky enough to learn how to garden. I have never gardened, nor have I taken care of plants before, but I can proudly say that I have officially learned how to grow cucumbers. 

I decided to plant cucumbers because it’s a vegetable that I truly love to eat throughout the year. I planted four different varieties: ‘Silver Slicer’, ‘Early Spring Burpless’, ‘White Wonder’, and ‘Marketmore’. 

I began this planting process on June 5th, by forming soil mound sand planting a couple of seeds in the top of each mound, about half an inch deep with plenty of space in between each so their vines could spread.

After planting the seedlings, things took a turn. Most of the seedlings sprouted, but before I could get back to the plot to see them, a baby bunny (well, Kathy Jentz and I think it was a baby bunny) had eaten my baby cucumber seedlings, specifically the ‘White Wonder’ and ‘Silver Slicer’. These two varieties sprouted the fastest out of the four. 

After the baby bunny had eaten the young cucumber seedlings, I replanted the ‘Whiter Wonder’ and ‘Silver Slicer’ again. I was still waiting for the ‘Marketmore’ to sprout, while the ‘Early Spring Burpless’ had just begun to sprout. I was back to square one, but this time I used some chicken wire to protect the seedlings from any insects, pests, and baby bunnies. 

Once ‘White Wonder’ and ‘Early Spring Burpless’ developed their true leaves and I was able to thin the seedlings to their strongest three. ‘Silver Slicer’ wasn’t looking too good at this time and sadly, ‘Marketmore’ never sprouted anything.

After some waiting, weeding, and watering, the ‘White Wonder’ grew quicker than I expected. The vines were growing, there were flowers and even some baby cucumbers forming. 

Before this experience of growing my own cucumbers, I had no idea that cucumbers plants had yellow male and female flowers and that you could hand-pollinate the vines. While the cucumber plant had a few growing, Kathy Jentz and I decided to hand-pollinate some of the female flowers by taking male flowers and gentle pressing them on the female flowers. 

Finally, on July 20th, I was able to harvest my own ‘White Wonder’ cucumber that I had grown. I was so excited, mainly because it was a white cucumber, but also because I had grown this from seeds! I’ll probably never look at a cucumber the same because I know how hard it is to grow them.

I was so excited to try the cucumber, but I really wasn’t sure if it was going to taste the same as a regular green cucumber you see in the produce section at your local grocery store, because it was a white cucumber. The cucumber was really tasty, yet a bit bitter. It had a nice crunch like a usual green cucumber. 

‘Marketmore’ never sprouted anything, so I decided to focus on the other three varieties instead.

The ‘Early Spring Burpless’ had grown and started to send out vines with beautiful yellow flowers, but it eventually caught a fungal disease and never grew any cucumbers.

Currently, at the plot, the ‘Silver Slicer’ looks pretty promising. It has dozens of flowers on it and several baby cucumbers are forming. The ‘White Wonder’ variety has a few more cucumbers forming as well.

Growing cucumbers has been an awesome experience this summer. From baby bunnies to extreme heat and humidity, it truly has been quite an interesting summer for cucumbers in the plot. 

Overall, growing cucumbers was a success in my book because I got to learn how to do it from beginning to end and I was able to harvest at least something, which I never thought I would be able to do! 

About the Author: Taylor Calavetinos recently graduated from the University of Maryland with a bachelor of arts in broadcast journalism. She is an intern with Washington Gardener.

About Fenton Friday: Every Friday during the growing season, I'll be giving you an update on my community garden plot at the Fenton Street Community Garden just across the street from my house in zone 7 Mid-Atlantic MD/DC border. I'm plot #16. It is a 10 ft x 20 ft space and this is our 8th year in the garden. (It opened in May 2011.) See past posts about our edible garden by putting "Fenton" into the Search box above.

GardenDC Podcast Episode 23: Summer Cocktails, a Defense of the Lawn, and Tips for Growing Cucumbers

This episode, we chat with returning guest Marianne Willburn about summer cocktails and she makes a case in defense of the lawn. The plant profile is on cucumbers and I share my love for the 'Green Cloud' container lotus.

BTW, YOU can become a listener supporter for as little as $0.99 per month!See how at: https://anchor.fm/kathy-jentz/support. 

The episode is posted at: https://anchor.fm/kathy-jentz/episodes/August-8--2020---Summer-Cocktails--a-Defense-of-the-Lawn--and-Tips-for-Growing-Cucumbers-ehq13k

It is also available on -

• Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/gardendc/id1502631179

• Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5AsWArNpQo8OlzHoMDMSI8

• RadioPublic: https://radiopublic.com/gardendc-G2ql5V

• Breaker: https://www.breaker.audio/gardendc

• PocketCasts: https://pca.st/9phvd8bk

• Overcast: https://overcast.fm/itunes1502631179/gardendc

• Google Podcasts at this link, either now or soon (note that currently, this link will only work on Android devices)

We welcome your questions and comments!

You can leave a voice mail message for us at: https://anchor.fm/kathy-jentz/message Note that we may use these messages on a future episode.

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Plant Profile: Cucumbers

Cucumbers (Cucumis sativus) belong to the same family as melons, watermelons, squashes, and gourds. They are a warm-weather vining plant that is grown for its refreshing and mild-tasting fruits.

They are sensitive to the cold, so the seeds should not be planted until the soil has become warm enough for them to germinate -- usually in late May to early June. Form a soil mound and plant a few seeds in the top then water them well. The seedlings will sprout in a few days. Once they develop their true leaves, you can then thin the seedlings to the strongest couple of plants.

While the seedlings are young, protect them from birds and insect pests with a floating row cover until the plants start to flower. An organic vegetable fertilizer can be applied after the plants start to bloom.

The cucumber plants do best in full sun, with very good air circulation in soil that has excellent drainage. You can let the plants sprawl on the ground or train them on a trellis. Trellising improves air circulation, keeps the fruits from ground-dwelling pests, and makes it much easier to safely harvest the cucumbers.

The cucumber patch should be kept mulched, weed-free, and well-watered. Cucumber plants produce the best-tasting fruits when they are not subjected to water fluctuations or drought.

The most familiar cultivars require pollination in order to set fruit. They are usually monoecious, meaning that each cucumber plant has both male and female flowers. If you find that the pollinators are not doing the job fast enough for you, you can hand-pollinate the vines by plucking off a male flower and “marrying” it to a female one. You’ll recognize the female flowers as they have a tiny fruit at their base.

There is no need to prune cucumbers if you are growing them outdoors and studies show that removing the leaves actually results in a smaller harvest.

Cucumbers should be harvested as soon as they are ready. Otherwise, they will quickly lose flavor, grow too large, and can become tough.

For more tips about growing cucumbers, see our cover story in the July 2017 issue of Washington Gardener Magazine.

Cucumbers - You Can Grow That!

The video was produced by Washington Gardener Magazine.

Visuals by Taylor Calavetinos

Audio by Kathy Jentz

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Savory Sunday: Cucumber Dill Salad

By Anastazja Kolodziej

This salad goes well as a side with any potato dish and, in the summer, works great for a cookout! It’s simple, quick, and very refreshing.  We used 'White Wonder' cucumbers we grew in our community garden plot. This recipe serves two people. 

Ingredients:

• 1 big cucumber
• 2 tbsp sour cream (or more, to taste)
• 1 tbsp dill, thinly chopped
• Salt, to taste 
• Pepper, to taste 

Steps:

1. Peel the cucumber, remove the seeds, and slice it thinly. This can be done with a knife or on the long side of a box grater. 

2. Salt the sliced cucumber and let it sit in a colander for about two hours to "sweat" the excess water from the cucumber. 

3. Drain off the liquid. This step is vital — otherwise, the salad would be too wet, and the sour cream would get watery. 

4. Mix in the rest of the ingredients with the cucumber. Serve immediately. 

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"Savory Sunday" is a weekly summer blog series with seasonal recipes from the garden.

About the Author:

 Anastazja Kolodziej is a rising senior at the University of Maryland, double majoring in multiplatform journalism and the classics (Ancient Greek and Latin). On campus, she serves as an assistant managing editor at The Diamondback.

Fenton Friday: Cucumber Babies

This week was really hot and humid. We also had a couple real gully-washer storms. So I hadn't been over to the plot as much as I planned except for watering earlier in the week and planting a couple Borage seedlings. 

I have been harvesting the 'Snak Hero' Peas as well as making several small bouquets with the Sweet Pea 'Beaujolais'. I also cut some Salad Greens and Purple Kale.

Three of the four hills of Cucumbers had seedlings emerging this week. I say "had" as the first seedlings to emerge were the 'White Wonder' ones and they looked great. However, when we went to visit today, they were gone -- disappeared -- without a trace. We will replant that hill with new seeds next week. I suspect birds plucked these tender seedlings off the hill, so we covered one of other cucumber hills with a bit of hardware cloth wire that I had on hand. The other possibility is slugs, so I will go back and sprinkle some Sluggo (iron phosphate) around the hills later too.

Elsewhere in the plot, the Tomatoes are taking off and we even have a few baby fruits forming. One of the 'Resilience' Tomato plants also disappeared -- oh, the irony! (And yes, I blame the birds again.) Luckily, I still had one seedling from that variety in a pot at home and we can replace that next week.

The Sweet Potato slips are putting out new foliage and I was able to weed out a new area that I may use for Okra or Watermelon -- or both. I'll decide that over this weekend.

What are you harvesting this week in your edible garden? 

About Fenton Friday: Every Friday during the growing season, I'll be giving you an update on my community garden plot at the Fenton Street Community Garden just across the street from my house in zone 7 Mid-Atlantic MD/DC border. I'm plot #16. It is a 10 ft x 20 ft space and this is our 8th year in the garden. (It opened in May 2011.) See past posts about our edible garden by putting "Fenton" into the Search box above.

Fenton Friday: A Planting Frenzy

New Plantings -
Basils, Tomatoes, and Cucumbers

This week was a very hot and busy one in the community garden plot. The new interns and I planted several test groups. We put in four Cucumber hills: 'Marketmore,' ''Silver Slicer, "White Wonder,' and 'Early Spring Burpless.' We added four kinds of Basil from seedlings: Prospera (a mildew-resistant Genovese), Lime, Thai, and Tuli/Holy - as well as seeded a row of 'Dolce Vita Blend' to use those for mildew-resistance comparison. For Tomatoes, we planted 'White Currant,' 'Apple Yellow,' 'Celano,' 'Resilience, 'Sun Gold' and 'Sun Sugar.' I also planted a row of Marigold 'Happy Days Mix' on each sde of the Tomatoes.

I have been harvesting 'Snak Hero' Peas everyday and also cutting Sweet Pea 'Beaujolais' for little indoor bouquets. I've gotten a few Strawberries and Asparagus spears to eat also, I dug out a couple of the Beets to test them, but they are still a bit small, so I will leave them in longer. I covered all of the lettuces with a protective cloth because the sudden heat and intense sun were so brutal this week.

Aside from lots more weeding, I still have some seeds to plant for Okra, Watermelon, etc. We'll see if I actually have room for any of that!

What are you harvesting this week in your edible garden? 

Sweet Pea 'Beaujolais' 

About Fenton Friday: Every Friday during the growing season, I'll be giving you an update on my community garden plot at the Fenton Street Community Garden just across the street from my house in zone 7 Mid-Atlantic MD/DC border. I'm plot #16. It is a 10 ft x 20 ft space and this is our 8th year in the garden. (It opened in May 2011.) See past posts about our edible garden by putting "Fenton" into the Search box above.

Fenton Friday: Ribbon Time!

Last week I was in Chicago for the annual garden writers conference, one of my last errands before I jumped on my flight was to drop off my entries at the Montgomery County Fair. The entry choices from my garden were slim this year with all the rains and cooler weather. I didn't enter any vegetables. I did manage to scrounge up some cut flowers to submit and here are the ribbons they earned (4 were for roses!) -- along with a special 70th anniversary fair commemorative ribbon.

Back home, I visited the garden plot and found a bounty of tomatoes had now finally ripened. How I would have loved to have entered those 'Midnight Snack' beauties into the competition. Ah well, there is always next year.

Update on the Tomato Trial:
This week I picked (pictured clockwise from top): 'Tasmanian Chocolate', 'Garden Gem', 'Midnight Snack', 'Super Sweet', 'Centiflor', and 'Sun Gold'.

Update on the Cucumber Trial:

Pictured here are 'Marketmore' and a small 'Platinum' cuke. I haven't cut the latter open to taste yet, but I am guessing it is likely very mild. The 'Platinum' vine doesn't look like it will produce any more than this puny little guy. However, 'Marketmore' earns its name with several cukes this week and many more forming.

About Fenton Friday: Every Friday during the growing season, I'll be giving you an update on my community garden plot at the Fenton Street Community Garden just across the street from my house. I'm plot #16. It is a 10 ft x 20 ft space and this is our 7th year in the garden. (It opened in May 2011.) See past posts about our edible garden by putting "Fenton" into the Search box above

Fenton Friday: Cucumber Trial Results

Cucumber 'Marketmore'

Guest Blog by Rosie Kean

This summer I attempted to grow cucumbers in our community garden plot. After planting the seeds for three different varieties in early June, I was excited to see how they would turn out.

The results were a bit lackluster, but I did end up with one average-sized cucumber. I was happy to walk away from my internship with one cucumber in hand—it tasted pretty good and had a fresh crispness!

The three varieties I planted were 'Marketmore', 'Parisian', and 'Platinum'. The 'Marketmore' was the one that managed to make a decent cucumber before I left.

In the first few weeks, the 'Marketmore' and 'Parisian' were growing steadily, but the 'Parisian' vines grew much more quickly. I had to replant the 'Platinum' seeds because the first set never came up. Although it had a delayed start, it began to grow nicely.

Towards mid-July, we saw a baby cucumber on the 'Parisian' plant, which made me hopeful. In the next few weeks though, the plant began to droop and the vines started to die-off. Sadly, the baby cucumber didn’t continue to grow and shriveled with the rest of the plant. This past week the 'Parisian' plant was completely dead.

We pulled the plant from the plot, so hopefully whatever disease killed it doesn’t infect the other plants. The other two seem healthy and have lots of flowers (though the 'Marketmore' is much larger now), so hopefully they’ll produce a few more good cucumbers before summer ends.

How is your vegetable garden growing this week?

About the author: Rosie Kean is a senior multiplatform journalism and English major at the University of Maryland, College Park. She is from Macungie, PA. This summer, she is an editorial intern at Washington Gardener.
About Fenton Friday: Every Friday during the growing season, I'll be giving you an update on my community garden plot at the Fenton Street Community Garden just across the street from my house. I'm plot #16. It is a 10 ft x 20 ft space and this is our 7th year in the garden. (It opened in May 2011.) See past posts about our edible garden by putting "Fenton" into the Search box above

Fenton Friday: Soggy Soils

This week we had almost 15 inches of rain fall and more is in today's forecast. That is a record for July. I am happy not to have to water, but this is bizarre and frankly frightening to some extent. Will this be our weather pattern for the future?

The tomatoes are all start to produce though, so that is good.

The plot is looking pretty poorly. Green beans eaten down to the nub again by rabbits. Sunflowers toppled by the storms. And weeds, lots of weeds.

The cucumber vines are slow, but one cuke is actually forming and they have lots of flowers on the vines.

BTW I'll be on "Talk of Takoma"on Takoma Radio this Sunday at 2:00pm. Listen online live at https://takomaradio.org/ We'll be talking climate change and local gardening.

How is your vegetable garden growing this week?

About Fenton Friday: Every Friday during the growing season, I'll be giving you an update on my community garden plot at the Fenton Street Community Garden just across the street from my house. I'm plot #16. It is a 10 ft x 20 ft space and this is our 7th year in the garden. (It opened in May 2011.) See past posts about our edible garden by putting "Fenton" into the Search box above.

Fenton Friday: Mouse Melons Return

Mouse Melon vine emerging

Another wet week, but I'm not complaining! Not having to water every day frees up a lot of my time to do other things like weed and plant. This week I put in Edamame 'Envy' seeds -- inspired by the EdibleHarvest column in our current issue. Also, got in the 'Kentucky Wonder' Green Beans.

When I was weeding, I came across the re-emerging vines of the Mexican Gherkins (Melothria scabra) aka Mouse Melon. I quickly scavenged up an old trellis piece that I had set aside in a scrap pile and then guided on of the tendrils up it. I may add some mesh to the trellis too for it to climb up as the vine is so tiny and the trellis is meant more for roses.

I am so happy the Mexican Gherkin roots over-wintered and came back. I had added a bit of extra compost on the spot in late fall, but next year I will also try to remember to mark the spot with a plant tag, so I won't almost accidentally weed it out again!

How is your vegetable garden growing this week?

About Fenton Friday: Every Friday during the growing season, I'll be giving you an update on my community garden plot at the Fenton Street Community Garden just across the street from my house. I'm plot #16. It is a 10 ft x 20 ft space and this is our 7th year in the garden. (It opened in May 2011.) See past posts about our edible garden by putting "Fenton" into the Search box above.

Fenton Friday: Tomatoes and Cucumbers In, Peas and Radishes Out

This week the new interns chose their veggie projects for the summer. Rosie chose three cucumber varieties to grow from seed and Racquel has six different tomato plants to focus on. Those all got planted after we cleared out the rain-exasperated weeds that sprung in the plot over the last few weeks.

The peas and radish are officially kaput. I picked the last of the "June-bearing" strawberries and the cilantro has all bolted.

Next week, I'll be clearing out more space for the peppers, watermelon, green beans, and okra. I'll also be going through my seed supplies to see what else I want to start at this point.

How is your vegetable garden growing this week?

About Fenton Friday: Every Friday during the growing season, I'll be giving you an update on my community garden plot at the Fenton Street Community Garden just across the street from my house. I'm plot #16. It is a 10 ft x 20 ft space and this is our 6th year in the garden. (It opened in May 2011.) See past posts about our edible garden by putting "Fenton" into the Search box above.