Pickling gherkins

Had a busy morning making cakes and pickling.

I wanted to try gherkins this year so I've planted 2 plants (I think the variety was something like 'Diamond') in the (unheated) greenhouse.

They've come on well & have reached the ceiling but they are on single stems, when I thought they would bush out. Consequently, the fruits grow in order and come on singly. This means that even though I have probably a dozen gherkins growing, they are all going to be ready at different times.

This leaves me with the time consuming prospect of pickling individual little gherkins. Anyway I've picked the first 3 this morning. They're about the size of a stubby sausage.

I'm soaking them in salt for 24 hours to dry out, then I'm going to bottle them in cold pickling vinegar so they stay crunchy.