Cucumber Gele Tros - Cucumis sativus

The 'Gele Tros' Cucumber is an old yellow cucumber of Dutch origin, offered here as organic seeds, non-hybrid and reproducible. This variety produces long cylindrical fruits, very pale green then bright yellow, with white flesh, sweet and juicy, almost devoid of bitterness. Early and generous, it yields cucumbers enjoyed raw in salads as well as for traditional yellow pickles. In open ground or under a polytunnel, its rapid growth allows for continuous harvests from summer until early autumn.

The cucumber belongs to the Cucurbitaceae family and the botanical species at the origin of this cultivar is Cucumis sativus. The gherkin corresponds to a cucumber harvested very young. It is an annual plant with voluble stems, equipped with tendrils, and broad, pentagonal, rough foliage.
'Gele Tros' is an old Dutch open-field selection, noted as early as the end of the 19th century, preserved as a landrace variety; it is not an F1 hybrid but a stable variety, whose seeds can be resown taking care to avoid cross-breeding with other cucumbers. Its habit is vigorous, climbing or creeping: the stems reach 1.50 m to 2 m in length on a support.
The fruits form mainly on the secondary stems, in small clusters, which explains the name "Gele Tros" (literally "yellow cluster"). They measure 20 to 25 cm, are oblong with a rounded end, first pale green then cream, finally bright yellow when approaching full ripeness; the skin is rather thick, sometimes slightly punctate, the flesh white, crisp, with a very pronounced cucumber aroma, with fairly numerous white seeds in well-ripened fruits.

To ensure they offer a sweet flavour without bitterness, harvest the fruits while still pale yellow; later, their end becomes firmer and slightly bitter. The yellow flowers, male and female separate on the same plant (monoecious), open in great numbers all summer and are pollinated by insects, mainly bees; all varieties of Cucumis sativus being interfertile, it is imperative to isolate the variety to produce your own seed.

The 'Gele Tros' cucumber is used in salads, its lemon-yellow colour adds a very decorative touch in the garden as on the plate. Grown on a trellis, netting, or a bamboo cane tipi, the plant takes up little ground space and forms a green curtain punctuated with easy-to-pick yellow fruits. In a gourmet kitchen garden, you can pair it with a crunchy lettuce like 'Rouge Grenobloise', a purple basil 'Dark Opal' and melliferous flowers like borage or pot marigold, which promote pollination.

Storage: cucumbers keep for a few days in the refrigerator. To enjoy your harvest for longer, you can also preserve them in jars through lacto-fermentation or in vinegar.

The Gardener's Tip: like all cucurbits, the cucumber can be susceptible to powdery mildew, which appears as a white felting on the foliage. Remove severely affected leaves and spray with wettable sulphur every two weeks if necessary. In case of a light attack, a natural treatment based on diluted skimmed milk (10 to 20% in rainwater) may suffice. As a preventive measure, avoid watering the foliage and ensure good ventilation in your greenhouse if growing under cover. A spray of horsetail decoction also helps strengthen the plants' natural defences.