In the heat of the day with scorching sun, they remain cool while prospering in length and girth. Green and slightly prickly leaves serve as a crown for the covering of their community. They mingle well with worms, weeds, and wind while maintaining a potent jungle of green. Their blossoms of marigold shine forth like a solitaire. Our wide-open North Dakota nights bring them rest under a canopy of stars and moonbeams. If you listen closely, they will tell of the delight of the passing twilight tones. Lying next to the cool earth, they ponder if the picker’s hand will bring them to a salad, or a solo feature. Perhaps–even the unusual sandwich and soup. Oh, the life of a summer cucumber!

Won’t you admit their combinations of round twin ends, bumpy peeling, and shades of radiant greens, along with a yellow under belly, is simply alluring? Once you remove them from the vine, their fresh, crisp garden scent clings to your hands. You at that very moment forgive all the tasteless winter cucumbers you have endured over the past few months.

Looking at soft green round slices, full of seeds and holes, makes you wish you could zap them into buttons for a coat. What a showpiece they would be, as well as a testimony for the joys of gardening. These ripened slices give proof that little seeds set and coddled in the ground months earlier, refresh the cycle of birth, growth and harvest. It is time to enjoy the tasty cucumbers of summer before they trail away with chill of fall. Try to take note of their satisfying color and pleasant tang. Don’t for a minute complain that you have had too many cucumbers-instead, savor each one. Take a moment to linger with the peelings and let their dynamic garden bouquet impress upon your memory the joys of fresh garden cucumbers.

When fall comes and you see that barren garden plot and the bones of your shades trees, go ahead and retrieve that cucumber memory you have stored away. Recall the seed, the rising of the green in the spring soil, the golden flower, the canopy of green, and at last the garden cucumber. Rest assured, your garden knows that another spring will come, and the winter’s snowy blanket will rinse the land anew.

Each spring we are given that extra burst of energy to burn in any way we like. It is tempting to jump at many opportunities that come along–the golf course, heading for the lake, taking a vacation, reclining on the patio, and even fishing. However, none of these will bring you the joy, the scent, the touch and taste of a garden cucumber! So plan now for next summer–what will be your cucumber? Straight Eight, Sugar Crunch, Early Pride Hybrid, or maybe even the fun Yellow Submarine!

Repnow is a Rugby

resident.