a joke that bees played on you - cukes are easily cross pollinated...any other types growing around? The cuke you saved seed from ended up being an accidental hybrid, likely!

in fact I think lemons are all we have ever planted, but we do have native gourds around (coyote gourds and skunk cabbage) but I thought crosses with them were always bitter?

and the nearest possible garden would be at least 2 miles, more likely 5.

only other possibility is someone close by had another cuke growing and a bee visited and brought pollen to your plant....

no other gardens within 2 miles, minimum. oh well they are edible - actually quite good! so I guess I will save some of these seeds too and see what we get next year.

or started with bee crosses - such fun! (Cherokee Chocolate is a skin color mutation of Cherokee Purple, and Cherokee Green a flesh color mutation of Cherokee Chocolate....Lucky Cross and little Lucky started with Brandywine X Tad (Tad is from a friend and is Tigerella X Old German) - so there was both regular and potato leaf, and red/yellow bicolor, pink, and different stripes all in the mix).

I am kind of a mad scientist in my garden!

but I keep putting an odd tomato (or cuke) in there and never getting around to doing the herbs. the husband did a pretty nice garden two years ago but he refuses to do fall prep and it got totally infested with bermuda grass, so this year he didn't plant a thing down there. sigh. there was a young apple tree in one corner and I had the idea to go ahead and just stick a couple fruit trees there instead of a veg garden (fencing is a big issue with livestock and deer around here) but the gophers ate teh roots and killed it, so all food production is in the yard right next to the house this year, and there wasn't much done. next year, right?

seed and when you next plant them try to keep them isolated a little since you liked the taste. You might be able to get you a little stash of a new variety going with a little luck.

but as far as I could tell the originals WERE pretty isolated! So we shall see.