"Sacha" wrote in message
. uk...
www.plantsofdistinction.co.uk have a brochure called 'simply vegetables'.
In there are several cucumbers advertised which include White Wonder which
they say is generations old and can be eaten when only 3'4" long,
Boothby's
Blonde, another heritage variety which can be eaten at the same size,
Petita
F1 and a round one called Crystal Apple first introduced in 1894!
My husband, who used to grow cucumbers commercially, won't touch any of
them
if they're not F1s because he says they can be pollenated by bees and
heaven
only knows what results. ;-) Personally, I'm rather longing to try
Crystal
Apple, so I think I'll have to sneak them into the place!
This catalogue seems to me to have some very interesting, unusual and
often
old varieties in it.

Having Googled 'Crystal Apple' and found that nice Mr Fothergills site again
(well, nice apart from the user agressive tendency not to let you leave the
site with the 'back' button to get back to your search engine) I infer from
the descriptions that virtually all the cucumbers are for growing in cool
greenhouses.

The only one obviously for growing outside is the Cucumber
(Gherkin/Pickling) 'Venlo' - which prompts the question "Can you eat these
just like normal cucmbers, or are they vile unless pickled?"

TIA

Dave R