<p>What has the temperature been like in your area lately, Abasket? Perhaps too much heat is inhibiting fruit production from the blossoms.</p>
<p>Abasket, it sounds like the female cucumber has not been fertilized yet. One of two inches is the normal non-fertilized baby cucumber.</p>
<p>The squirrels keep eating the tomatoes. Yesterday a squirrel was carrying a large tomato and I sent the beagle out to chase him. Pretty funny watching the squirrel try to run with a tomato. DH didn’t plant regular cucumbers he planted English cucumbers they are really long but they don’t seem to be as green as they would be in the store.
I’m wondering if they will ever get dark green.</p>
<p>What?! I do not know about female/male cucumbers!
Temperature has not been overly hot - I’m in Northern Ohio so just typical summer - a little dry but it usually gets watered well 2-3 times a week and it’s a raised bed that has a top layer of mulch so it doesn’t dry out too fast. </p>
<p>Tis true! This link will show you how to hand pollinate if your bees didn’t get busy enough. 
<a href=“How to Pollinate Cucumber Plants”>Home and Garden; Last year after the squash bugs decimated my cucumber plants I bought pickling cucumbers at a local farmers market. I think I paid $5 for a good size basket. This years crops doesn’t look that hot and I may do that again. I’ve gotten about 8 cukes but I think that might be it. </p>
<p>Dr google is right - sounds like your cucumbers aren’t getting pollinated, abasket. (I had this problem last year and wound up cross-pollinating the plants with a paintbrush. Problem solved!)</p>
<p>Here’s what you need to do: <a href=“Got Pollination Problems? Give Hand-Pollination a Try! – Bonnie Plants”>http://bonnieplants.com/2012/07/pollination-problems-give-hand-pollination-a-try/</a> </p>
<p>I HATE pollination by hand! It never worked for me. Those lazy bees should have been more diligent about their job when it came to my zucchini plants. LOL.</p>
<p>male and female cukes? The imagery alone is entertaining :)</p>
<p>Something (brir or squirrel or something) is eating some of the cherry tomatoes. But I have 2 bowl fulls and get about 15/day from the vines.</p>
<p>Well for goodness sake, I’ve never heard this! I definitely had/have at least one female according to the pics - sounds like I’ll be doing some anatomy looking with my paintbrush next garden visit!!</p>
<p>I posted pictures of my first ripe pineapple. My herbs do fine, but FL is hard on your peppers, cukes, etc I need to do more research.</p>
<p>I know, abasket - it was a surprise to me, too! </p>
<p>I once tried to grow cantaloupes and had ALL male flowers. No fruit for me. </p>
<p>I’ve hand pollinated before with pumpkins. The flowers would only open in the morning and all the bees were hanging out by the bee balm, the lazy sods. For squash that big, you can see a bulge behind the flower if it is female, and that will develop into the pumpkin if it is fertilized enough. Once is not enough haha. </p>
<p>I couldnt handle high maintenance plants like that.If they cant grow themselves, pshaw…</p>
<p>I’ve used a Q-tip to pollinate. My grandmother grew peppers in AZ, but I think they only got a half day of sun. My one bell pepper is going slowly, only one fruit, but I read it should bloom up in later summer. </p>
<p>Well, my husband is now finished with the sprinklers on the right side of the garden. I now have some growing room. I sprouted some dill seeds in my front garden behind a wall so no neighbors of mine will see I’m growing herbs. The thymes that I used for landscape has been a boom. Picked some and put in the turkey dish.
Interestingly enough, I have a squash and 3 huge tomato plants from my compost in the back yard. What a fruitful compost. Things seem to be ready to sprout once they are inside the compost bin. I’m waiting to the sun to go down so I can plant more blueberries and passion fruit(from Costco) in my back garden. It will be a jungle in no time since the passion fruit tree is technically a weed, that’s what the garden guy told me.</p>
<p>I have so many enormous cucumbers I can hardly keep up with them. Here’s my new found knowledge of gardens. Awesome soil, 7 hours of sun, in ground sprinklers and an organic fertilizer I use one a month. Somehow I’ve managed to avoid the pests, bugs, birds and critters. The bush cukes are not doing nearly as well as the ones we’re growing against the chicken wire. It looks like my eggplants are the next to bombard me and the tomatoes are getting huge, but still green. And for the first time in my life I’m actually getting a few watermelons to grow.</p>
<p>However, as usual the veggie most people grow in abundance, squash, is doing nothing.</p>
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Too funny, I had to laugh out loud.</p>
<p>Hungarian chili peppers producing like champs. Nearly burned my tongue off eating a few roasted peppers with dinner the other night. Good thing I had some ice cream in the freezer. </p>
<p>Dear Douglas squirrel, tomorrow you are moving to a new place courtesy of BB squirrel relocation service. 
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<p>^ BB is lucky that there is only 1 squirrel to relocate. I have woods behind my house and too many squirrels for a relocation program. 
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