Lost a lot of my early Russian cluster cukes to disease this year, specifically mildew and maybe something nastier. (See pick for an illustration of what I was dealing with-- this was a melon leaf but the same affliction consumed my cukes slowly-- brown edges to drying out to eventual wilt of vine-- I had a ton of cucumber beetles.) I still harvested a ton of cukes from 10 vines-- but I wanted more.

Give me your suggestions for your favorite heirloom pickling cucumber that is disease resistant. I'd also be really interested in your thoughts on early Russians if you've tried them before. They were really delicious!

Liz