The Daily Garden
  • Home
  • Garden Word of the Day
  • Monthly Chores
  • DIY Chickens

Garden Word of the Day

Cucamelons

7/5/2018

0 Comments

 
Cucamelons may look like tiny watermelons, but they taste more like sour cucumbers.


Also known as Mexican sour gherkin cucumbers, mouse melons, and pepquinos, cucamelons (Melothria scabra) are cucurbits, which make them cousin to squash, melons, and gourds.
Picture
Cucamelon (UCANR)
The cucamelon plant

Cucamelons grow on vines that climb nearby supports using tendrils. These plants produce both male and female flowers, making them monoecious. This means the plants can pollinate themselves, but the individual flowers are not self-pollinating. Native to Central America and Mexico, cucamelons need warm to hot temperatures to get started. Once established, your cucamelon plants will continue to produce fruit well into November.


How to grow cucamelons

Seeds should be planted 1 inch deep and 6 to 10 inches apart. Cucamelons are more drought tolerant and more rugged than other cucumbers, but they are slow growers, at first. Since cucumbers perform best in rich soil with a pH of 5.5 to 6.5, your cucamelons will probably benefit from moderate acidification, and top dressing the planting area with aged compost is always a good idea.


After seedlings emerge, thin plants to every 12 inches. Cucamelons need lots of sunlight, so they are not the best choice for shade gardening. Cucamelon vines can grow 10 feet long, so they need to be trellised onto tomato cages, along fences, cattle panels, or on a teepee made from bamboo or other thin poles. Keeping your cucamelons off the ground will help reduce slug feeding and fungal diseases, though pests and diseases of cucamelon are practically unheard of. Be sure to save a few of the fruits that fall to the ground on their own as a source for seeds for next year. Cucamelons also have tuberous roots that can be dug up in fall and stored over the winter in your garage, to be replanted in spring.
Picture
Cucamelon (Tigerente)

A word on the cucamelon flavor

It is difficult, at first, to put your mind’s expectation of a watermelon flavor aside, when biting into a cucamelon. And this leads to disappointment, because cucamelons don’t taste anything like watermelon. The actual flavor is more akin to a tangy cucumber crossed with a fava bean. If you expect watermelon, you probably won’t like it. If, instead, you can bite into these grape-sized fruits with an open mind, you may end up with a new garden favorite!
0 Comments

    Welcome!

    You can grow a surprising amount of food in your own yard. Ask me how!

    ​~ Kate


    Sign up for The Daily Garden!
    Picture

    Index

    All
    Artichokes
    Asparagus
    Beans
    Beets
    Beneficial Insects
    Berries
    Bok Choy
    Broccoli
    Brussels Sprouts
    Bulbs
    Cabbage
    Carrots
    Cauliflower
    Celeriac
    Celery
    Chayote
    Chickens
    Chickpeas
    Children's Activities
    Collards
    Compost & Mulch
    Container Gardening
    Corn
    Cover Crops
    Cucamelons
    Cucumbers
    Currants
    Eggplant
    Endives
    Fennel
    Fenugreek
    Flowers
    Fruit & Nut Trees
    Garden Design
    Garlic
    Grain
    Grapes
    Groundcherry
    Guava
    Herbs
    Hops
    Horseradish
    Irrigation
    Jerusalem Artichokes
    Kale
    Kiwifruit
    Kohlrabi
    Lawns
    Lettuce
    Melons
    Mint
    Native-plants
    Onions
    Parsley
    Parsnips
    Peanuts
    Peas
    Peppers
    Pests & Diseases
    Pineapples
    Plants 101
    Potatoes
    Pruning
    Pumpkins
    Quarantine
    Raised Bed Gardening
    Rhubarb
    Shade Gardening
    Soil
    Sorghum
    Spinach
    Squash
    Strawberries
    Succulents
    Sunburn
    Sunflowers
    Sweet-potatoes
    Tomatillos
    Tomatoes
    Turnips
    Vines
    Weeds
    Wheat
    Zucchini

    RSS Feed

    Archives

    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015

Proudly powered by Weebly
  • Home
  • Garden Word of the Day
  • Monthly Chores
  • DIY Chickens