But this is Tamra, a lovely small cucumber which we have been growing for several years now.
A few years ago, we were searching for which variety of cucumber to grow, and grew several different types to try them out. All the usual ones and a few more, with a small selection from Real Seeds, the seed producers who we buy most of our seeds from.
The result was LOTS of different cucumbers, so many that we didn't know what to do with them. Back in August 2024 (two posts before this one), we told you the story of how our adventures with Cucumber Relish started.
But there was one cuke that stood out as the best for what we wanted. This is how Real Seeds describe it:"early, disease resistant, non-bitter" and "It makes lots of attractive thin skinned fruits, and has a really exceptional flavour - so much more tasty than a supermarket cucumber." Our little friend, Tamra, only about 6-9 inches (15-23 cm) long, but really tasty – and prolific!
In 2023, we sold out of our Sweet & Sour Cucumber Relish so quickly that we had many disappointed customers asking when we would have some more. So we decided to 'go mad' in 2024 and grew 33 plants in the polytunnel. Some went in a bit later than the others and so did not produce quite so many fruit, but the overall total crop was amazing – 458 Cucumbers!
That's an average of nearly 14 cucumbers per plant, but the top scorer came in at 37, and there were 7 more that scored 20 or more.
We made 196 jars of the Relish, which is selling well, and of course there were lots more fresh cucumbers for our regular customers. And they are popular – they really are sweet. In one village market, a mum bought one for each of her children, who then walked around the hall munching!
As this is a true variety, we always save our own seed from year to year and growing a nice lot of plants means that we can select the best few from which to save seed. Not just from one plant, so that we keep the gene pool healthily mixed, so we saved from several and hope that they will all do well. We shall probably take some of these seeds (and some others) to a local Seed Swap event in March:–
1st March at Morchard Bishop Memorial Hall. Not sure of the time as yet. Maybe see you there?
