cucumbers, just picked one.....

[strawberriesandcream01]

Hi. My MIL insisted it was ready, not very long but thick so I picked it. I said it needed longer but she said if I pick it it will give the others a chance to grow more. So I did, it was hard and abit bitter. Surely I should have left it for longer?

Are you sure it was a cucumber and not a courgette?

I picked a small cucumber (thinking it was a ourgette ) and it was still juicy and sweet.

Our cucumbers are lovely and sweet, courgettes are nice too

no they are definatley cucumbers off my cucumber plant. Was it too early to pick it do you think?

wishy washy info here

I've bought cucumber like that from a farmers market!

is it a greenhouse or outdoor variety?

Did you remove the male flowers? If the females get pollenated by the males you will have a bitter cucumber. The problem is worse for greenhouse varieties.

see here for more info - inc photos!

Homegrown cucumbers have a tendency to be bitter as Mousey says due to pollination issues but some varieties are less prone. I've only grown them once and some (but not all) were bitter. They grew to about the length of a wine bottle and weren't too hard. There will be big differences according to variety though.

afaik cucumbers are bitter if they haven't had enough watering

As i understand it you should sacrifice the first couple for the good of the rest. Ours appear to grow one at a time on our plant (greenhouse). First one picked at about 5" long - was nice to eat but we sliced n stuck in vinegar rest (yum). Second one growing happily think may pick shortly.

I was expecting more of a yield and it needs so much watering it's not exactly an "easy" crop.