Growing Your Own Vegetables: An Encyclopedia of Country Living Guide (15 page)

Yard-long bean
(
Vigna sesquipedalis
)—also known as long bean, Chinese long bean, asparagus bean,
bodi
,
boonchi
, and
dau gauk
—is an Asian vegetable with huge yields. Climbing vines with large, pretty, lavender-white flowers produce 1½- to 2-foot-long slender beans. Closely related to black-eyed peas, yard-long beans love heat and do best in temperatures of 95 to 100°F. They’re easy-to-grow, prolific producers, not usually bothered by bugs.

GOURDS

T
he
Curcurbit
family includes cucumbers, melons, and N squashes. Along with bean and cereal crops, edible gourds were humankind’s first cultivated crops. To help make garden-sense of this large and sometimes complicated botanical family, this chapter classifies plants as follows:

Cucumbers (including citron)
Melons (cantaloupe, muskmelon, and watermelon)
Squashes

Summer squashes (zucchini and the like)
Winter squashes (including pumpkin)
Exotic squashes (bitter melon, calabaza, chayote, fuzzy melon, and spaghetti squash)
Craft gourds

Cucumbers

Cucumbers (
Cucumis sativus
) like warm weather and lots of sunshine. Varieties include the familiar green salad cuke; thin-skinned pickling types; small, rounded yellow lemon cucumbers; and long crooked varieties from Asia. High-yielding, disease-resistant, modern cucumber hybrids produce self-fertile plants bearing only female flowers.

Citron, a cucumber relative (not to be confused with the citrus fruit that goes by the same name) looks like a small, round watermelon but has solid, uniformly green flesh and seed. Citron is generally pickled, preserved in sugar syrup, or candied and may be used when preparing fruit cakes, plum puddings, and mincemeat.

PLANTING:
Cucumbers need well-tilled, fertile soil and plenty of water throughout their growing season. Put off direct sowing or setting transplants until the weather is truly warm, at least a week after your last frost date. In a very hot climate like that of the Gulf Coast, plant in early spring or late summer for a more moderate growing season. Sow seed 1 inch deep, 4 to 6 seeds to a hill, with 4 to 5 feet between hills. Garden spacing may be less if you trellis the vines to take advantage of vertical growing space. Bush varieties may be planted in hills at 3-foot intervals.

When the seedlings are 3 weeks old and well established, thin to the strongest 3 to 4 plants per hill. Do not rush this step, as young cucumbers have a fairly high attrition rate and may in fact thin themselves. Carefully weed between plants to avoid damaging the fragile vines. Young vines are the most vulnerable to damage by pests. Control cucumber beetles by picking insects. Once they begin to grow in earnest the plants will “outrun” further damage. Most cucumbers are only 55 to 65 days to maturity, so a late start still allows time for a good crop, given a reasonably long growing season.

HARVESTING:
A cucumber is 95 percent water. Once the plants begin to set fruit, water the vines deeply at least once a week, as dry conditions result in bitter fruit. Cucumbers will keep producing until the plants are killed by frost.

Melons

Melons grow best where the summer is hot, dry, and almost constantly sunny. Cloudy, rainy weather literally stops melon growth. Melons have strong taproots, which delve deep into the subsoil to find water. In a cool climate, do not irrigate, as direct watering will further cool this heat-loving plant. Nevertheless, melons require 1 to 2 inches of water a week to support their vigorous vines and produce their juicy fruit. If groundwater is such that it won’t support the plants, you’ll have no choice but to supplement; water only around the edge of the hill, not on the plants themselves.

PLANTING:
In a northern temperate zone start plants indoors several weeks before your last frost date. Set transplants in the garden only when the weather has completely warmed and stabilized. Mulching with black plastic will help to maintain soil warmth and boost growth. In warmer growing regions melons may be direct sown 1 to 2 weeks after the last frost, when the soil has warmed.

Cantaloupe
(
Cucumis melo
) describes both the smooth-skinned muskmelons and the netted-skin cantaloupes, which are grown for their sweet, fragrant pale green and orange flesh. Sow 1 inch deep, 6 feet between hills and 6 feet between rows. 65 to 90 days to maturity depending on the variety.

Watermelon
(
Citrullus lanatus
) is the best fruit in the world if you’re thirsty. Its crisp, juicy flesh has a tremendously high water content; people have lived with no other source of water but watermelon juice for as long as 6 weeks. Sow 1 inch deep, 8 feet between hills and 8 feet between rows. 100 days to maturity.

HARVESTING:
Melons will not ripen further after picking. They may soften, but they won’t get any sweeter. You haven’t really tasted melon until you’ve had fully field-ripened fruit. Cantaloupes and muskmelons are ready to pick when the skin yellows and the fruits detach readily from the vine. The “thump test” is a reliable indication of ripeness for watermelon. Rap the fruit with your knuckles—if it sounds hollow, it’s ready. White skin where the watermelon rests on the ground is also a sign of ripeness. Of course, the surest way to tell is to carve a plug from the watermelon; bright, deep pink flesh indicates sweetness and good eating.

HAND POLLINATION

All gourds typically have both male and female flowers on each plant; both sexes are necessary for fruiting to occur. Female flowers have an ovary that resembles a tiny squash or melon at the base of each blossom on a short stem; male flowers can be identified by a long, thin stem attaching the flower to the vine and a central stamen that produces pollen. Curcurbits rely on bees for pollination; without their help, fruit will be small, misshapen, or absent altogether. With today’s threatened bee population or if plants are grown under cover, you may to need hand pollinate.

Often the first flush of flowers is all male, which bloom and fall from the plant without producing fruit. When plants are producing both male and female flowers, determine whether the pollen is mature—when it is, it will dust off easily on a brush or your finger. Hand pollinate in the morning, as female flowers close later in the day. Cut a mature male blossom and carefully touch its stamen to the sticky stigmas in the center of each female blossom on the plant to transfer the pollen. Some people choose to use a fine paintbrush to swirl the pollen from the stamen and swab the female stigmas.

If pollination has been successful, the young fruit will begin to form within a few days. Extreme hot or cold weather will inhibit the production of female flowers or render the pollen ineffective.

Summer squashes

Summer squashes (
Cucurbita pepo
) are grown for their young, immature fruits that are eaten whole, fresh, or cooked. Varieties include marrow, scalloped pattypan squash, yellow crookneck, and yellow straightneck and the popular zucchini. Summer squashes are notoriously prolific—especially zucchini! It blooms without fail and produces abundantly.

PLANTING:
Summer squashes require warmth and a rich soil. When the soil has warmed up, well beyond the last frost, sow 2 to 3 seeds 1 inch deep in hills, with 4 feet between hills and 4 feet between rows. After germination, thin to the strongest plant on each hill. When you transplant starts take care to not disturb their roots, as the plants will suffer. Keep plantings free of weeds. 40 to 55 days to maturity.

HARVESTING:
Harvest young squash at 4 to 6 inches in diameter when the skin is so tender that you can easily press your fingernail through it. Plants will continue to produce as long as they are kept picked. Large, overgrown summer squash are less flavorful, with tough skins and larger seeds.

Winter squash and pumpkins

Winter squash and pumpkins (
Curcurbita maxima
,
C. moschata
, and
C. pepo
) are allowed to thoroughly ripen on the vine, where their skin toughens to protect the sweet potato-like flesh for long storage. From a 5-pound butternut squash to a 25-pound marblehead or a 600-pound giant pumpkin, winter squashes look very different on the outside, but all are grown, harvested, and prepared in a similar way.

PLANTING:
Prepare a rich bed in full sun. When the soil has warmed up, well beyond the last frost, sow 3 to 4 seeds 1 inch deep in hills 3 to 6 feet apart depending on your variety. Keep well watered and weeded, taking care to not hurt the large vines when working around them. 80 to 120 days to maturity.