Growing Cucumbers

 

  Keys To Successfully Growing Cucumbers

#1 Plant In A Sunny Location

At the top of the list, sunshine. Cucumbers need the sun, and a lot of it! Locate your crop in an area that receives at least 8 hours of sunlight a day. Much like pumpkins, gourds and zucchini – cucumbers rely heavily on the photosynthesis process to grow the strong vines needed to producing heavy fruiting. No sun, no photosynthesis.

  #2 Provide Rich, Fertile, Well Drained Soil

When it comes to growing cucumbers, a sunny location is priority number 1

Cucumbers love rich, fertile, well-drained soil. The more you nutrition you can provide at planting time, the better. We add a few shovelfuls of compost, and a quarter cup of worm castings to each planting hill or container. It creates a rich soil for the young seeds or transplants to get off to a great start. The worm castings / compost combo has made a huge difference in the health and productivity of our plants!

When planting directly into the soil, we plant in slightly tapered hills about 18″ in diameter, 3″ to 4″ high. This helps keep the plant stems out of sitting water during heavy rains or watering.
We prefer planting transplants over seeds. The added growth and strength help give them a better chance to avoid dreaded cucumber beetle attacks. If you are planting transplants, use two plants per hill. If you seed, plant 3 and thin to 2.
Cucumbers, especially bush-style varieties, can be planted in containers as well.  Again, be sure start off with a rich, well-drained soil mix to give plants the nutrition they need. Use only one plant per container to avoid draining the soil too quickly of nutrients.  Product Link: Worm Castings

#3  Be Careful What You Plant Nearby

What you plant around your cucumbers can play an important role in their productivity. One thing to avoid for sure is planting cucumber crops near potatoes.

Potatoes release a substance in the soil that greatly hinders the growth of cucumbers. Radishes, on the other hand are great, as they help to repel harmful insects like cucumber beetles and aphids that

 Aphids

Cucumber Beetles

attack tender cucumber plants. It is also easy to sow a few inexpensive radish seeds around plants. They germinate fast and really do help stave away the beetles.

Nasturtiums and Alyssum are also excellent to plant right alongside your growing cucumbers.
The nasturtiums will help repel and deter a whole host of nuisance insects, while the alyssum acts as a sacrificial plant to beetles, keeping them away off of your cucumbers.


 Alyssum

 Nasturtiums

 Growing Cucumbers! When it comes to backyard gardens, cucumbers are right up there with tomatoes as one of the most popular home-grown vegetables.

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