This is a creeping cucumber that is getting close to full size. Currently it’s the size of a large lima bean.
They do seem to be perennial in my sister’s yard. They’re so small that I can’t see that they have too much use as vegetable. I’m trying to get them established at my place in order for them to serve as ground cover and snacks while gardening. A similar snack niche to ground cherries, without the sweetness of physalis.
Anyone else growing creeping cucumber?
Interesting! I’d never even heard of it before. Looks like it’s Melothria pendula, which implies it’s a close relative of cucamelon (Melothria scabra).
How does creeping cucumber taste? How does it compare to Cucumis savitus (regular cucumbers)?
To me it tastes pretty much like a bite-sized version of the slicing cucumbers sold in the supermarket here. The skin is a little bit bitter, but nothing outside the range I think is found in other cucumbers.
Sometime I would like to try growing cucamelon. I ate a few several years ago – I also recall them as being more or less like a slicing cucumber in taste. My palate may not be very sophisticated for these fruits.
Ha ha ha, that’s okay. Who needs a sophisticated palate? If they taste interchangeable to you, that just means you can favor whichever species grows better for you. 
How big are they? Are they about the same size as a cucamelon? Because it seems to me that may be a nice size to pop into a salad without slicing, just like cherry tomatoes.
The creeping cucumbers are a little smaller than cucumelon, but I do think they would go well into a salad. I would compare them to a large olive.
Cool. Yeah, they’d work great for that purpose, then!
The creeping cucumbers coming off the vine now are a little smaller than I said. Although they are pretty dry, I’m not sure even if they had more irrigation they would not be the size of large olives.
The lighter color fruit is at a good eating stage. There is a little bit of a sweet citrus note with the typical cucumber flavor.
The darker fruit is past eating but too soon for seed collection. It’s starting to turn a little bitter (helpful for me as I’m trying to learn that flavor), the skin is a bit tough, flesh too soft, seeds too firm.
These photos illustrate one reason I appreciate this species. This plant is growing from perennial roots right through a mess of grass.
So far this is the only established plant I have found sprouting yet. I am planting five or six more vines here and there. I wish I had time to undertake a major planting but I’m encouraged by this result of my incremental approach 
Edit: I found a second perennial or volunteer Melothria plant growing up a wild carrot on the edge of the garden. Both are next to a big clump of invasive grass that needs to be dug out.
This species seems to have a knack for getting established in inconvenient locations. My new plantings this year are also already being unruly 
Lovely!
Mine does not want to bloom until July in Kentucky. Even my creeping cucumber plant I kept growing under lights over the winter has yet to put on blooms, just like the ones that overwintered in the ground.
Earlier fruit could be a breeding goal.
Do these spread from the root?
It definitely can survive winter as a perennial here. Some of the roots become fleshy underground over the winter while the rest of the roots seem to die off.
I would guess it’s probably unusual for any individual plant to live more than five or six years in this climate, but that’s just an educated guess.
My vines are starting for form fruit.
I have some cucamelon, Melothria scabra, getting started. I should have time to get through fruit and seed production this season, although it’s going to have to withstand my neglect moreso than the creeping cucumber.
I imagine there are other differences between the two species, but what I am aware of is that cucamelon fruit is larger, and they are annual in my climate rather than perennial. I do know that the two species have the same chromosome count.
Fruit development. The creeping cucumbers are continuing to develop. I plan to start snacking on them when they are a little darker and more speckled than the most mature one in the first photograph.
The cucamelon vines are not yet flowering. So far, the main difference I’ve noticed is still that the vines and leaves are comparatively larger than M. pendula.
These creeping cucumber fruit are too old to eat, but probably need some more time for the best seed quality. Cucamelon is just starting to produce fruit. My goals for this year are just to increase seed for both species.
I am tempted to merely pop these into the freezer instead of processing the seeds. But regardless, I have some to work with. As far as I know, all of my fruit has been on this one prolific vine. At one point it seemed like they were three or four vigorous vines in different areas. The one that I’ve been saving seeds from has easily produced several hundred tiny cucumbers.
Oh, that’s good to know. I’m in 9a and have some recently planted out. I’m out of town and there might be a light frost while I’m gone. Fingers crossed they’re still there when I get back!
