Clarity over mystery seed
Black Country gardening buffs have come to the rescue of a confused cultivator who was left baffled after the cucumber seeds he sowed produced mystery melon shapes.
Ron Loach, aged 78, was left dumbfounded when instead of the long green-skinned salad favourite he expected, the seeds he planted in his Wolverhampton greenhouse produced a small round plant that still tasted of cucumber.
Dozens of amateur horticulturalists have since bombarded the Express & Star with calls to reveal the strange fruits were simply examples of Crystal Apple cucumbers.
Stanley Robins, 81, of Cradley Road, Netherton, said that the cucumbers queried by Mr Loach, of Lapper Avenue, Lanesfield, were no mystery to him.
"We've got several growing here at the momen, and they're quite nice," he said.
"On the packet it says they were first introduced in 1894, so they've been around for a while. They are normally used for pickling.
"They're a little bit sweeter and about as big as a tennis ball, but they're not looking so good now because it's coming to the end of the season."
Pensioner Pat Porter, of New Street, Lower Gornal, said that she and her husband were given some of the strange-shaped cucumbers by their son's neighbour. "He grows them every year and they are definitely cucumbers," she said.
"But I think if I'd just grown them without knowing I might have been a bit surprised myself.
"I normally chop them up into salads and they are fine."
Frank Beaman, 75, of Oxley, Wolverhampton, added: "It just struck me as funny really. I've been growing them for four or five years."
Ken Foster, owner of Oak Garage, Gospel Oak Road, Tipton, said that the fruits were similar to other cucumber types. "I think this one is an apple cucumber, but it looks similar to both the Lebanese and Continental varieties," he said.
"We've got a house in Australia and our neighbour there grows all of them.
"How the seeds got in this guy's packet though, Lord knows."
