Cucumis sativus “Vert de Paris”
Vert de Paris gherkin, fine Meaux gherkin: botanically speaking, a gherkin is nothing more than a cucumber harvested very young. But this old variety was selected for precisely that purpose: small, firm fruits covered in prickles that stay crunchy after being pickled. A good enough reason to grow them when you know that almost all the gherkins sold in France come from elsewhere.
Characteristics:
-
Small, firm fruits: harvest at 4 to 8 cm, covered in prickles.
-
Old variety: open-pollinated, highly productive, and fast-growing.
-
Climbing plant: its tendrils cling to any support, trellis, or pergola.
-
Cold-sensitive: it will not grow while temperatures remain below 12 °C.
Sowing advice:
-
Position: full sun, warm and sheltered.
-
Soil: rich in humus, moist, and well drained. Like all Cucumis, it is very demanding when it comes to water and organic matter: add plenty of well-rotted compost. It is sensitive to both cold and stagnant moisture.
-
Method: do not sow too early. Sow in pots under cover from April at 20 °C, or directly in the ground only once the soil has warmed thoroughly, at a depth of 2 cm. See how to sow your seeds.
Planting advice:
- Transplant after the frosts, spacing plants 60 cm apart, at the foot of a support. When trained, it takes up little space and its clearly visible fruits will not escape your notice.
Care advice:
- Water regularly at the base, without wetting the foliage. Mulch to retain moisture.
- Pinch out the main stem above the fourth leaf to encourage branching, which bears the female flowers.
Harvesting advice:
-
The decisive point: harvest every day or every other day during the peak season. A gherkin grows very quickly—in 48 hours it becomes a small cucumber, and each fruit left on the plant stops the production of the next ones.
- Cut the stem with pruning shears rather than pulling on the vine.
Beneficial companions:
Benefits for biodiversity:
- Its yellow flowers are frequently visited by bees, on which fruit production entirely depends.
- When trained, it forms a plant screen that shelters beneficial insects and shades more delicate crops in midsummer.
Uses:
- Pickled with tarragon, garlic, and small onions, lacto-fermented, or simply eaten raw when tiny. Rub them with a cloth before placing them in jars to remove the prickles.
Harvesting your own seeds:
Leave one fruit on the plant to turn yellow and grow fully. Remove the seeds, let them ferment for two days in a little water, then rinse and dry them. It cross-pollinates with other cucumbers: isolate your seed plant. See how to store your seeds.
Commitment to Quality: at SemiSauvage - Permaculture, we grow and select our seeds with respect for living things as our guiding principle. Based near the Auvergne Volcanoes, we choose open-pollinated, non-hybrid varieties, tested for their germination rate, carefully sorted and packaged, with no chemical treatment. Our belief: to restore gardeners’ ability to resow, year after year, seeds that truly belong to them.
Your own jar of gherkins: a pleasure that has become rare.
