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J blue

Melothria pendula, creeping cucumber

It’s related to the cucamelon (M scabra) and is also a perennial. Pictured fruits are ripe. When they turn darker green they are no longer edible and when they are black, are stinky and work like ipecac.

Please let me know if you want seeds to this when I pass out native edible seeds this fall. More in AltText.

@plants@a.gup.pe

A very tiny yellow flower illuminated by sunlight. It is poking through chicken wire and sunlight is illuminating bright green leaves in the background. The flower has five wide petals. 
A finger holding up a very tiny cucumber. It is round and looks a little bit like a watermelon.  the little melon is smaller than the fingertip. Behind it is a wooden fence.  The creeping cucumber tastes exactly like a cucumber, small and crunchy. It does not store well and needs to be eaten within hours of being picked or it starts to get squishy. I’ve tried salt-drying them, and they shrivel to nothing like a little shriveled dot. I’ve also tried pickling them, and it’s not really worth the trouble since they are very small. Honestly, they are best just eaten raw.
Four tiny cucumbers in a wooden basket next to two native physalis husks to the right and pink okra to the left and an orange madhatter pepper to the far left. 
A bunny sitting in front of a fence. Behind it is a wall of chicken wire and heavier fencing. Small, delicate vines climb up the wire and they look a little bit like ivy, but the leaves are light green, and the vine itself is not woody, rather, it is thin, soft and breaks easily.  The vines die back in winter and come up again in the late spring. The older the vine is the earlier it will fruit. If you start from seed in the spring, the vines won’t fruit until September, but for an established vine, it might start fruiting in late July. It is hardy to zone 8, possibly 7. It doesn’t transplant well and doesn’t like to have its roots tampered with. It is possible to grow in a pot and overwintered in a garage. It is a short-lived perennial. I don’t know how long it lives but probably not many years. The tuber is flexible and thin and the vines don’t get very long even on established plants. Needs a lot of sun. It fruits prolifically but the fruits are very tiny.
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Rora Borealis

@jblue @plants We got and planted a few native varieties of edible plants, including hazelnuts, some berries, and alliums. Discovering new things by attending native plant shows at my local botanical garden. We have several non-native food sources, too, but they need more help to thrive. Even if we don't eat all of them, they can at least help provide habitat.

Ludibriumventis

@jblue @plants Those are great! I'd be delighted to get some, if you wind up with any left over.

J blue

@ludibriumventis @plants@a.gup.pe I am only collecting seeds if people want them bc they’re rank when ripe. I squish out the seeds outside and wash my hands afterwards so the smell doesn’t stink up the house.

I have more seeds that I will pass out later and hope to mail everything by beginning of November to save on mailing costs. I will have pawpaws, persimmons, Boehmeria cylindrica, physalis grisea and more.

I will save some seeds for you. Let me know if you want others.

Ludibriumventis

@jblue @Pythia @plants I love trying new plants, in general. The creeping cukes, for sure, though. I have a fence that they could grow up.

J blue

@Pythia @ludibriumventis I don’t know. I’m sort of on the fence about Malus coronaria. It’s one of the few keystone genus I don’t have. And it’s inexpensive to get an established tree. But it can get several diseases and I don’t have much time to care for a princess plant. I generally stick to disease resistant plants bc I have so many.

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