Serpent or snake? Or melon or cucumber? Call it the metki dark green serpent cucumber or technically snake melon, but skip the ticky-tack Harvard vocabulary and grow these bitter-free thin skinned cucumbers for all your pickling and salad needs. Reaching over 18 inches, though best picked at a foot and about 1.5” wide,  these sweet cucumbers are definitely sticks out in your garden. Originating from Armenia like the traditional pale green classics, but these hold a dark green color.

Be sure to save the seeds from the largest cucumber, when skin begins to turn mushy and releases a more sweet melon-y smell with a light orange flesh signaling it’s ready to be saved. Keep the cucumbers submerged in water so the seeds release, viable ones will sink and immature ones will float to the top. Let them dry out (away from direct sunlight) for a few days and give them a pinch to make sure they aren’t brittle and solid!

 - Can be started a month before last frost indoors—just make sure to have strong lighting so plants don’t become lanky, though we prefer direct seeding.                                                                                                         -Plant two seeds, 1” deep,  in area with full sun, about 2ft a part and pinch down to one seedling (germinating in 10-14 days)                                                                                                                —Water in deeply and again every other day once plant has been established—Scratch in organic fertilizers like bat guano or liquid fertilizer like fish emulsion every week for maximum yield.                                                                                                                 -Can be grown on trellising or letting it sprawl on the ground (tend not to grow straight though) just make sure to grow on trellises like netting or a fence that is sturdy to hold these large cucumbers.                                                                                                    - 85-90 day to maturity from direct seeding. Minimum 15 seeds.