Saving cucumber seeds

Very few folk realise that cucumbers, left to fully ripen on the vine to produce seed, grow to enormous size and may well turn a magnificent deep orange in colour…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Of course, seed saving gives one the excuse to be outside in the autumn sunlight, surrounded by all sorts of fruiting plants, knives, sieves, spoons brown paper bags and tins for seed storage.

Slice open the cucumbers, scoop out the seed and the soft flesh that surrounds them; the latter can be washed away through a sieve with a high-pressure hose. Spread on brown paper to dry (in the shade), then scrape off into tins a few days later.