I noticed last night that there was a bud on one of the cucumber vines:
I don’t think that this will be producing a fruit though, so I’m not getting my hopes up. Apparently, some cucumber plants produce both male and female flowers– the male flowers appear first and then just fall off without producing fruit. Later, the female flowers develop, and the fruit begins to form from them. Female flowers have a bulge where the flower connects to the stem. I forgot to look for that, but I plan to investigate! I’m certainly not going to be disappointed if we start getting cucumbers already!
Nevertheless, the flower is very pretty. It bloomed this morning:
I looked for a bulge behind the flower and didn’t see anything that could really be called a bulge. So I think that they (there’s at least 1 other flower on the same plant) are male flowers.
So male flowers don’t grow fruit?
How do I know if it is a male of a female?
How long should it take for them them to grow cucumbers?????
YOU NEED MORE INFO ON THIS SITE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
little bean,
I have posted a separate post on identifying male and female cucumber flowers here:
http://vegetablog.wordpress.com/2008/06/30/stop-shriveling-cucumbers/
This website is a journal of my experiences starting a garden for the first time and should not be considered comprehensive.
Can you eat any of the flowers that grow off the vegetables?
Hi Mindy,
I am not an expert, but I know that people eat squash blossoms deep fried, or stuffed, and in other ways, but since I haven’t grown squash (yet!) I have not ever tried them myself. Herb flowers are also typically edible. You should look up the specific flower that you would be eating to make sure that it’s safe.
I love flowers and the way you show them! gardening is one of my biggest passions