The Hendrick’s Cucumber Adoption Service is for those green-fingered souls who crave the companionship of a cucumber but lack the requisite greenhouse. Hendricks fans could adopt a virtual cucumber and remotely care for it in the run up to World Cucumber Day.

Adoptees could care for their virtual dependees in a variety ways; name it, tickle it, water it, play music to it, and even sing songs to it. The bot gives users control on how often they receive updates, with the least intrusive option being ‘once fortnightly’.

Throughout their growth cycle from seedling to majestic fruit, virtual cucumber plants were exposed to three genres: classical, jazz and rock. The rock and roll specimens turned out measurably larger than jazz listeners and classicists (indicating that cucumbers are not only conscious, but perhaps more rakish than anticipated).