I've grown so many cuke varieties it would make your head spin.
Starting about 10 years ago I only grow either the Armenian cukes, which are really C melo, in the melon family, rather than C. sativus, but they are outstanding. Several different varieties.
Then I'l grow the Asian cukes such as Suyo Long and Tasty Evergreen and lots more whose names I'd have to look up. Superb taste, burpless, tender skins and all.
Poona Kheera? You bet Mischka, have been growing it for years. Got my first seeds I think from Glenn Drowns, aka Sandhill Preservation, who is the Curator for Cucurbits for SSE.
Bacterial Wilt? Transmitted by yellow and black cuke beetles. So to prevent you have to control them, which isn't easy, but you can try pyrethrin, which often does help.
The other thing you can do is to throw row covers over the plants until the blossoms appear at which time you have to take the covers off to allow for insect pollination. But, by delaying possible cuke beetle transmission of disease you usually can get a great crop. Symptoms of the two diseases cuke beetles can transmit to cukes, melons and squash are both viral and bacterial and both can be transmitted at the same time.
it takes about a month after disease transmission before any symptoms appear for either disease.
I was just thinking this afternoon, I do that from time to time,
, that I'd love to have someone put up my trellis in the raised bed so I could have some home grown cukes this summer. And for sure I'll have someone plant a couple of hills of summer squash and I've got my faves there as well.
AS for tomatoes, Martha, aka gardenmama, is going to raise my plants for me in VA and send them up, and is doing that for free, which amazes me. She has seeds for almost all that I might want except for two, and those are Mama Leone and Sara's Galapagos. There will be just 12 plants and no seeds will be saved from these.
Many good folks have written to me offering to grow out some varieties for seed production, and I've got to get on top of that this weekend to see how that might go.
So do consider the Armenian and Asian cukes as well as that lovely Poona Kheera.