Mexican Sour Gherkin Cucumber (Heirloom, 75 Days)

You can’t help but fall in love with these diminutive watermelon looking fruits; they are fun, interesting to grow and they have the tiniest, dainty flowers. Crunch into them and they have a cucumber like taste with a lemony-lime burst. The Mexican Sour Gherkin Cucumber is easy to grow, having rampant vines, best grown on a trellis or in hanging baskets and easily ignored by pests. Harvest when they are smaller than a grape; the bigger they get the more sour citrus flavor they get. Eat them raw as a snack and in salads or preserve by pickling. The Mexican Sour Gherkin Cucumber is native to central America and also known as mouse melon, sandita, cucamelon. 

 20 seeds

PLANTING

(Melothria scabra)

Germination: 4-10 days

Germination Temperature: Optimum soil temperatures 70-85ºF

Seed Sowing Depth: 1/2-1" deep

Sowing Indoors: 3-4 weeks before last frost. Provide 70-85ºF soil temperature. Sow 2-3 seeds per cell/pot. Sowing into individual biodegradable peat/cow pots reduces root damage when transplanting. Transplant 36-48" apart after last frost. 

Sowing Outdoors: Sow after last frost when soil temperature is over 70ºF. Sow a few seeds every 36-48". 

Harvest: Check and pick every day to keep the harvest flowing.

Tips: The Mexican Sour Gherkin Cucumber should be planted in fertile soil, amended with compost or well rotted manure and kept well watered. Trellising the vines allows for good air circulation, takes up less space and provides shade for heat sensitive crops like lettuce. They benefit from growing on black plastic and by using row covers for weed, insect control, and more rapid growth.