the joy of homegrown
Posted: Tue Sep 26, 2006 9:26 am
cucumbers!
this year i decided to grow cukes although i seldom eat many of them but mark's frequent references to loaches loving them got me to try store bought ones and indeed after a few offerings it seemed to be one of the favorites of the clowns specifically.
thus i ordered european and pickling cuke seeds this spring. planted them and voila! organically grown cukes that last up to 24 hrs in the tank without turning to mush (whatever is left that is)....
it is so delightful to watch the clowns immediately attack the cukes from both ends....i cut them in half usually and also cut off the rounded end...within a minute, a tank appearing to be empty of loaches produces all five who vie for a place at the cuke table. later, whenever i walk into the room where their tank is, i can see them working away, bodies half invisible inside the cuke.
i've gotten to the point of leaving the skin on as i know there are no harmful chemicals on them and this also seems to help reduce the degradation and left over cleanup. i can place one a day in their tank and they never seem to tire of them although truthfully i don't usually do this too many days in a row as there becomes a large amount of seeds that collect here and there in the tank.
i do keep the tank with low nitrates so that may keep the cukes fresh in there longer and also coming directly from my garden or fridge they are much fresher than store bought which i tend to remove after several hours as they seem to degrade much more quickly.
anyway a big thank you to mark for planting the idea of cukes as food. i do offer them differently than he however. since i have plenty of flat slate and other rock pieces i weight the cuke down horizsontally so each end is exposed.
this year i decided to grow cukes although i seldom eat many of them but mark's frequent references to loaches loving them got me to try store bought ones and indeed after a few offerings it seemed to be one of the favorites of the clowns specifically.
thus i ordered european and pickling cuke seeds this spring. planted them and voila! organically grown cukes that last up to 24 hrs in the tank without turning to mush (whatever is left that is)....
it is so delightful to watch the clowns immediately attack the cukes from both ends....i cut them in half usually and also cut off the rounded end...within a minute, a tank appearing to be empty of loaches produces all five who vie for a place at the cuke table. later, whenever i walk into the room where their tank is, i can see them working away, bodies half invisible inside the cuke.
i've gotten to the point of leaving the skin on as i know there are no harmful chemicals on them and this also seems to help reduce the degradation and left over cleanup. i can place one a day in their tank and they never seem to tire of them although truthfully i don't usually do this too many days in a row as there becomes a large amount of seeds that collect here and there in the tank.
i do keep the tank with low nitrates so that may keep the cukes fresh in there longer and also coming directly from my garden or fridge they are much fresher than store bought which i tend to remove after several hours as they seem to degrade much more quickly.
anyway a big thank you to mark for planting the idea of cukes as food. i do offer them differently than he however. since i have plenty of flat slate and other rock pieces i weight the cuke down horizsontally so each end is exposed.
