I recently checked the cucumber seedlings planted in the garden.

There is a huge difference in plant size depending where they were planted in the garden.

The cucumber seedlings planted in the composted soil grew huge leaves approximately 9 inches across.  The cucumber seedlings planted in regular soil, grew leaves of about 3 to 4 inches across.

9 Inch Cucumber Leaves 3 to 4 Inch Cucumber Leaves

What is amazing is that all the cucumbers were planted at the same time.  The cucumber seedlings are, also, only of one type of plant.  The only variable was the type of soil they were planted in.

In this photograph, you will notice the huge cucumber leaves toward the front of the fence.

The other two much smaller cucumbers are planted between the rows of green lettuce.  That soil has not been enriched with kitchen scraps.

Composted Ground in Photograph Front

These cucumber leaves are almost the size of a small plate.

Huge Leaves on Cucumber Plant

I guess the lesson learned here is that it pays to save the kitchen waste to compost and to use it to enrich the garden soil.  My kitchen waste consists of a lot of fruit and vegetable peelings, coffee grounds, etc.

My method of composting is to dig a hole in the soil, put in the kitchen scraps, and then cover the hole with more soil.  If I don’t compost this way, the wild animals come and eat all my kitchen scraps before they decompose.

I’m curious to see if the large cucumber leaves will also translate to more cucumbers.  We’ll see.

Farmhouse Magic Blog Readers–Do You Think I’ll Grow More Produce from Plants with Larger Leaves?