Featured Recipes: • Cornichons • Cucumber and Chive Soup with Lemon and Dill • Cucumbers with Yogurt • Faith’s Chopped Salad • Green Gazpacho • Lebanese-Style Cucumber Salad • Mediterranean Cucumber Salad • Thai Peanut Noodle Salad Gardening Tips: Onward and Upward Cucumbers take up a lot of space if you allow them to sprawl on the ground. Instead, train them vertically on a structure that's sturdy enough to hold the fruit-laden vines. A garden fence works fine, but you might try a section of wire or nylon mesh fencing, supported by a strong frame. Choose mesh with 6" by 6" holes, tucking the tendrils through it. Vigorous growers such as Sweet Slice and Holland European work best if you prune to a single stem, eliminating side shoots. Pick often, to keep the vines producing. This way you'll get more fruit from fewer vines - another space saver. The Early Bird Gets the Beetle It’s important to keep striped cucumber beetles under control, not only because they munch the crop, but also because they spread cucumber wilt disease. The best way I know is to gently suction them off with the slotted attachment of a vacuum cleaner. The best time to do this is in the early morning when the beetles are sluggish and less apt to fly away. I use a shop vac on a long, outdoor extension cord.