Peel cucumbers to reduce bitterness

Gardeners and car owners contacted me in recent days with questions. Their concerns ranged from the inconvenient to the potentially serious.

Q: What causes cucumbers to have a bitter taste? Most of ours have it in only a portion and the rest is OK.

— J.H., Lynchburg

Answer:

Bitterness is caused by cucurbitacins, compounds that occur in cucumbers to ward off insects and other pests, and it is worst during periods of hot, dry weather. Most of the cucumber seed sold around here is of American slicers such as Marketmore, Straight Eight and Raider and all of them turn bitter at times. However, you also can get cucumbers called burpless, Japanese and Middle Eastern. They are virtually free of bitterness and their skins are thin and sweet. Some examples are Orient Express, Diva and Tasty Jade. The Tasty Green cukes I grew this summer were incredibly productive and mild flavored. It is said that you can reduce the bitterness of cucumbers by peeling them and also cutting off an inch or so of the stem end, where bitterness is concentrated.

Q: I live in Forest and have a house that was built in 1970 on a half-acre lot. Each year I apply lime, aerate my lawn, apply fertilizer twice a year and reseed about 30 pounds of Kentucky 31 tall fescue each fall. This year in particular my yard is as thick as carpet with what I have always called wiregrass or Bermuda grass. It is definitely not a fescue. All summer long during this hot weather the grass has been real green with no water at all. Please explain how this could have happened to my entire yard and it didn’t happen to the yards next door. It happened some to the adjoining yards but not to the extent that it did in mine. I would appreciate some help on what is happening.

— E.R., Forest

Answer:

Perhaps the wiregrass thrives in your lawn because it is given fertilizer in spring or mowed too short. The only way to get rid of the wiregrass for good is to eliminate all vegetation and start from square one with new grass seed or sod. One way to do that is to spray with a 2-percent solution of glyphosate (Killzall, Roundup, etc.) once a month for two months. The process begins in June or July, and September is definitely too late to start.

Q: We have some type of rodent chewing lines under our cars. Are you aware of some kind of repellent we could use to keep them away? Any other suggestions would be appreciated as well.

— B.C., Lynchburg

Answer:

The culprit is probably a mouse, chipmunk or squirrel. Trapping is going to be your best option, followed by habitat alteration. That could include cutting overgrown grass and removing brush piles to fencing in your yard and putting a terrier or similar dog in it. Repellents for some small mammals are available, though they may do no good in your situation.

Davis is a retired Lynchburg Extension agent. He can be reached at dodavis2@vt.edu.