Vine Peaches or Lemon Cukes

This is my first year growing vine peach and lemon cucumber. Unfortunately, I wasn't thinking when I was transplanting and I put the seedlings right next to each other. To make matters worse, I also totally underestimated the determination of vining veggies, so now I have a massive clump of vines consisting of lemon cukes, vine peaches, plus runner beans, and a Mexican sour gherkin; which has already consumed my orach, celery, two tomato cages, most of my colored cotton plants, and I'm having to beat them back each day to keep them from swallowing a whole pear tree.
As I was swimming through the jungle of vines earlier, I saw one of the cucurbits has started to fruit, and realized I've never actually seen either of them in person, so I don't know which one the fruit belongs to.

Has anyone grown vine peach or lemon cuke, and can tell me what I have fruiting? Thank you in advance!

If this were my garden, I would try to cut the vines that don't have any fruit as far back as you can.

The vines with fruit, I would cut the vine a few inches after the fruit.

There might be some vines where the fruit might need to be sacrificed to let better plants live.

It looks like there is plenty of surrounding areas that the vines might be encouraged to live in rather than on your orach, celery, tomato, and the colored cotton plants.

Vining plants are impressive and powerful beings, to be sure. Awful at sharing. The various cucurbits overran our garden last year.

We've grown lemon cucumbers many years now and I don't recall them ever looking like that. My memory could be wrong, but I remember them starting out very pale yellow-green, almost white and growing deeper yellow with time. Also, they have yellow-orange stripes running from top to bottom of the fruit as they mature.

Anne Miller wrote:If this were my garden, I would try to cut the vines that don't have any fruit as far back as you can.

The vines with fruit, I would cut the vine a few inches after the fruit.

There might be some vines where the fruit might need to be sacrificed to let better plants live.

It looks like there is plenty of surrounding areas that the vines might be encouraged to live in rather than on your orach, celery, tomato, and the colored cotton plants.

Thank you for the feedback! One thing I was considering was to cut back the runner beans since they have stopped setting pods in the summer heat. I was hoping, since they are technically perennials, is that they would have enough strength invested in the roots to push new growth and start production again when it cools down in the fall. Then, while they are regrowing, I could let the cucurbits use their space on the little fence. Maybe, by the time they grow back, the cucurbits would be almost done with production. Do you think that might work?
I suppose if the runners died, I could sow some more pole beans and see if they will produce a small fall crop.

Although there has been some unintentional pruning, already, due to my clumsiness and lack of balance causing me to break some of the vines when I try to dig around in there

Heather Olivia wrote:Vining plants are impressive and powerful beings, to be sure. Awful at sharing. The various cucurbits overran our garden last year.

We've grown lemon cucumbers many years now and I don't recall them ever looking like that. My memory could be wrong, but I remember them starting out very pale yellow-green, almost white and growing deeper yellow with time. Also, they have yellow-orange stripes running from top to bottom of the fruit as they mature.

Thank you! I had the pack of seeds and decided to try them out this year, and wasn't sure what to expect? I haven't seen fruit matching that description yet, but will keep an eye out for them. What size are the typical fruits, and do you have a recommended size they should be harvested?

Thank you! I had the pack of seeds and decided to try them out this year, and wasn't sure what to expect? I haven't seen fruit matching that description yet, but will keep an eye out for them. What size are the typical fruits, and do you have a recommended size they should be harvested?

You're welcome, Kc! Understandable, I know the first year I grew them, I forgot I had planted them rather than regular cucumbers and was really confused. Until I remembered, I was convinced I was doing something horribly wrong! Most of ours got to the size of a medium to large lemon. When they got to about that size and a nice, rich lemon color, they seemed to be ready. The stripes would be apparent, but once they started getting more orange than dark yellow, the cucumbers would be a little squishy and better left to make seeds. We've found them to be very productive and incredibly delicious. A little sweet and a tiny bit tart.