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Lagenaria Kalebass (Indian cucumber)
Lagenaria siceraria (Indian cucumber) - Lagenaria siceraria.
What is its appeal? First and foremost, its unpretentiousness. It thrives in communities with other plants and trees. Planted under an apple tree, it climbs to its very top. Planted near a fence, it entwines it with luxurious foliage and enchants with large, pale cream flowers, as beautiful as a smile. The flowers typically bloom in the evening and droop by morning. Placed indoors, it quickly climbs to the top of the window, covering it with a translucent emerald curtain. Its main characteristic, however, is its tireless productivity.
The fruits of the Indian cucumber have excellent flavor and high nutritional value. When the fruits are still small (25-30 cm long), they are eaten like regular cucumbers and are equally tasty. When fully grown, the fruits, which reach 2 m in length and weigh 7-10 kg, are used in a variety of dishes. After peeling, you can make a salad with vinegar. This cucumber is fried, like zucchini, in oil. Olive oil is best for this purpose. It is used to make excellent caviar, delicious sauces, and even porridge with milk.
The fruit grows incredibly quickly: 8-10 cm per day. Under favorable weather conditions, the Indian cucumber grows until late autumn, until frost. Being a southerner, it enjoys plenty of sun and warmth, and prefers loose, well-fertilized soil. Depending on the growing location, different cultivation techniques are used for this wonder cucumber.
Growing Indian cucumbers indoors is most often used by city dwellers who don't have garden plots or vegetable beds. They can be grown in spacious hospital and school hallways, or in hotel lobbies...
What is required for this?
First, you need a suitable wooden tub or box with a capacity of 10-15 liters. The bottom must have a hole for draining excess water. Fill the tub or box with soil prepared from two parts fertile garden soil and one part rotted manure (soil from greenhouses and hotbeds works well). Add one to two cups of wood ash or four to five tablespoons of finely ground chalk. Mix everything thoroughly and fill the tub with the mixture. If the tub or box has no legs, place it on pieces of brick or wooden blocks. Place a small, flat container under the tub or box to collect any seepage. Place the plant near the brightest window.
Because the Indian cucumber grows rapidly in height and width, its foliage growth must be regulated: at certain times, the upper growth point of the central stem and side shoots (vines) are removed. The plant's vertical position is maintained with strings hung from the window ledge; the plant's tendrils cling to these strings.
What is its appeal? First and foremost, its unpretentiousness. It thrives in communities with other plants and trees. Planted under an apple tree, it climbs to its very top. Planted near a fence, it entwines it with luxurious foliage and enchants with large, pale cream flowers, as beautiful as a smile. The flowers typically bloom in the evening and droop by morning. Placed indoors, it quickly climbs to the top of the window, covering it with a translucent emerald curtain. Its main characteristic, however, is its tireless productivity.
The fruits of the Indian cucumber have excellent flavor and high nutritional value. When the fruits are still small (25-30 cm long), they are eaten like regular cucumbers and are equally tasty. When fully grown, the fruits, which reach 2 m in length and weigh 7-10 kg, are used in a variety of dishes. After peeling, you can make a salad with vinegar. This cucumber is fried, like zucchini, in oil. Olive oil is best for this purpose. It is used to make excellent caviar, delicious sauces, and even porridge with milk.
The fruit grows incredibly quickly: 8-10 cm per day. Under favorable weather conditions, the Indian cucumber grows until late autumn, until frost. Being a southerner, it enjoys plenty of sun and warmth, and prefers loose, well-fertilized soil. Depending on the growing location, different cultivation techniques are used for this wonder cucumber.
Growing Indian cucumbers indoors is most often used by city dwellers who don't have garden plots or vegetable beds. They can be grown in spacious hospital and school hallways, or in hotel lobbies...
What is required for this?
First, you need a suitable wooden tub or box with a capacity of 10-15 liters. The bottom must have a hole for draining excess water. Fill the tub or box with soil prepared from two parts fertile garden soil and one part rotted manure (soil from greenhouses and hotbeds works well). Add one to two cups of wood ash or four to five tablespoons of finely ground chalk. Mix everything thoroughly and fill the tub with the mixture. If the tub or box has no legs, place it on pieces of brick or wooden blocks. Place a small, flat container under the tub or box to collect any seepage. Place the plant near the brightest window.
Because the Indian cucumber grows rapidly in height and width, its foliage growth must be regulated: at certain times, the upper growth point of the central stem and side shoots (vines) are removed. The plant's vertical position is maintained with strings hung from the window ledge; the plant's tendrils cling to these strings.
Kalebass, Calabash, lagenaria. Bot. syn.: Cucumis bicirrha Forster ex Guillemin, Cucumis lagenarius Dumort., nom. nud., Cucumis mairei H.Lev., Cucurbita lagenaria L., Cucurbita leucantha Duchesne, Cucurbita longa hort., Cucurbita siceraria Molina, Lagenaria lagenaria (L.) Cockerell, nom. inval., Lagenaria leucantha Rusby, Lagenaria vulgaris Ser.
Lagenaria is a little-known plant of the gourd family. The fruits are similar in shape to cucumbers, and in color - zucchini. Therefore, among the people, lagenaria is called Vietnamese or Indian cucumber, Vietnamese or Indian zucchini.
It is recommended to eat young unripe fruits 30-50 cm long. They grow very quickly and reach a length of 2 m. And their weight can be 7 kg. Without cutting the fruit, you can cut off the part necessary for use. The cut site does not rot, and the fruit continues to grow.
The fruits of lagenaria are a dietary product. Salads, ketchup, pancakes are prepared from them, they are stuffed with various fillings, fried. And in the fall, after harvesting, small fruits are pickled like ordinary zucchini, and caviar is made from large ones, which is tastier and healthier than squash. In unripe fruits, the peel is thin, so it is removed when pickling.
In our climatic conditions, lagenaria is grown in seedlings.
