I use excess cuces in my morning juices. Even though they seem bland their value is really in the trace elements they contain. They provide Sodium, Potassium, Folacin, traces of Calcium, Niacin, Iron, Zinc, Vitamin C, Vitamin A and B6, manganese and silicon and sulfur. I use them to to dilute other juices like beets that can be rather thick and gluggy. They go well with carrot, reduce fluid retention and make a nice cooling juice on hot days.

From my Ayurveda manual: The alkaline-forming minerals in the cucumber invests the cucumber with definite remedial and curative properties. It makes it useful in maintaining the alkalinity of the blood. It also operates as one of the best natural diuretics, secreting and promoting the flow of urine. It should always be taken raw as in cooking potassium and phosphorus are lost.
The juice of cucumber is a valuable food medicine in the treatment of hyperacidity, gastric and duodenal ulcers. It gives immediate relief when there is a burning sensation in the stomach.

Cucumber juice in combination with the juice of carrots, beets and celery, has a very beneficial effect in the conditions associated with accumulation of uric acid such as arthritis, gout and rheumatism. ( I use this regularly in the autumn and recommend it.)

Cucumber seeds are rich in potassium. Emulsion of the shelled seeds, mixed with curd, is useful in dissolving the gravel in urinary tract and in reducing hyperacidity of the urine. It acts excellently by restoring the electrolyte liquid balance in dehydration.

I am allergic to the sulphur in proprietary diuretics and find if I get any swelling of the ankles a couple of cucumbers in my juice soon fixes it.

Grated cucumber applied over face, eyes and neck for 15 - 20 minutes has been found effective as tonic for the skin. When Its regular use prevents pimples, blackheads, wrinkles and dryness of the face. When we were kids we used to lie on the lawn with slices of cucumbers on our eyes so they wouldn't be puffy - no idea why we were not supposed to have puffy eyes - might have sent signals of depravity!

Cucumber juice promotes hair growth due to its high silicon and sulphur content, particularly when mixed with carrot, lettuce and spinach juice. I make a hair rinse from cucumber juice, water, rosemary and cider vinegar. When I lost all my hair to chemo I massaged it into my scalp and it really did seem to promote hair growth because after two years I actually had a haircut!

I've no idea about storage, so I tend to go cucumber overboard when there are too many - even chuck slices in the spa with other herbs and use it in fruit salads too.

Hope you get some ideas. As a juicing maniac I rely on it quite a bit.

Hi Lorraine, sounds like a bumper year. I know apple cukes aren't normally used, but dill pickled cucumbers are fairly easy and delicious.
And buying Kmart cast-offs is a great way to go. As long they taste good what difference if you don't know the variety. Kmart stocks its stores Australia wide with the same plants at the same time. This means that we see tommy plants from September onwards. No-one local would dream of putting in tommies till early November, so the Kmart plants are usually dirt cheap come planting time.

THANKYOU LINDA FOR ALL YOUR INFO I HAVE PRINTED THAT OFF AND NOW HAVE IT ON MY FRIDGE AS I TO LOVE MY HOMEMADE JUICES YUMM!!!ACTUALLY LINDA I OWE YOU A BIG BIG THANKYOU AS THESE ARE THE VEGES/FRUIT AND ALSO MY BEANS THAT I PLANTED ACCORDING TO THE MOON PLANTING TIMES YOU GAVE US EARLIER ON GARDEN WEB , SO THANK YOU HEAPS ,I WILL HAVE TO KEEP AN EYE OUT IN CASE YOU HAVE THAT PLANTING TIMES AGAIN, ACTUALLY I WILL EMAIL YOU ABOUT THEM,
THANKYOU TO RAY FOR ALL YOUR HELPFUL ADVICE TOO I NEVER THOUGHT OF PICKLING APPLE CUCUMBERS, BY THE WAY ENJOY YOUR TIME AT MARYSVILLE HOPE IT ALL GOES WELL AND AM LOOKING FORWARD TO HEAR ALL YOU TOMATO-ITES STORIES AFTERWARDS,
REGARDS TO YOU BOTH
LORRAINE

Dear Lorraine,
You are most welcome. I enjoy sharing what bit I know and learning from others and feel very humbled by some of the experts here. But I do know the stars and I'm sick of my own at present! I haven't been able to get much work done on the Cosmic side of things because of all this work for my daughter. I hope to get a bit more info up on the website by the next new moon which is a particularly fertile moon and a good autumn planting time. It was my plan to do it monthly, but hackers attacked my computer so I've been struggling with restoring our forum and archiving stuff. Thank goodness the garden is going well - lots of toms and pumpkins, lovely lettuces and cukes - beans nearly finished but it looks like we'll get a good second crop of strawberries. Might get a run at the moon planting at the weekend.

Hi Lorraine,

I have started a blog where I can put up Moon planting information daily ( or nearly) rather than putting it on my website. The address is below.

Here is a link that might be useful: Cosmic Blog

THANKYOU LINDA I WILL LOG ON EACH DAY AND SEE WHAT I NEED TO DO RE-PLANTING,ALL I CAN SAY IS IT ALL WORKS FOR US ,THE GARDEN HAS NEVER LOOKED SO GOOD AND THE VEGES ETC HAVE TO BE SEEN TO BE BELIEVED SO THANK YOU FOR YOUR ADVICE ALWAYS , ALSO TO EVERYONE ELSE AS WELL,
LORRAINE