How to grow cucumbers vertically.
Crispy, juicy, satisfying and delicious, it is indeed the fruit – eaten as a vegetable – par excellence. We eat it in salads, as a sauce and we also use it in marinades.
Cucumber is also used to make salad dressings, soups, verrine mousses, vinaigrettes, smoothies, lemonades, tartars, sauces and much more. In many salmon recipes it is the ideal ingredient to enhance the flavor.
But what would you say if you were asked if you were growing cucumbers correctly?
You would definitely answer “yes,” right? In fact, and you may not know it, there is a way to grow it that will allow you to have more space in your garden and grow even more vegetables… or cucumbers!
In this article you will also find an easy way to grow cucumbers in pots, ideal for the balcony, as well as a video on how to prune your cucumber plants to obtain the best possible harvest.
Here’s how to grow cucumbers correctly:
1. First, be patient and do not plant cucumbers on the first day of good weather.
- Remember that cucumbers do not tolerate cold. Therefore, wait until the frost period has completely passed before starting planting.
- When the time comes, choose a very sunny location.
- To save space in the garden and grow cucumbers correctly, it is necessary to do it vertically.
- For this reason, a trellis is THE preferred solution, regardless of the size of your garden.
If you choose this method, the plant can grow tall.
- With a trellis, a cucumber plant can grow up to 20 feet tall!
Here is a first example of a metal lattice suitable for large gardens:
2. If you decide to grow vertically using a trellis, you should not forget the most important thing: stability.
- Think about it: a cucumber plant produces multiple fruits and when it matures, that plant becomes very heavy.
- Make sure your trellis is well anchored to the ground and can withstand a good load.
- Here is a second example of a sturdy trellis, perfect for growing cucumbers in a small space.
Note the brick that ensures the trellis stays straight and stable:
3. Good news: Even if you only have a small balcony in the city, you can grow cucumbers vertically… in pots!
- Assuming, of course, the screws stick somewhere.
- How to prepare the cucumber pot. First use a large pot that you fill with garden soil:
- Then, insert two large sticks into the bottom of the pot. Make sure these posts are straight, strong and sturdy.
4. Now wrap the stems around a jute or sisal rope or linen twine to create a trellis.
With this rope holder you can fix the screws.
Continue to the top of the posts and carefully tie the rope.
5. If you wish, you can also grow this type of pot from seeds. Remember to leave enough space between them depending on the size of your pot.
Tip: Carefully follow the instructions on the package of your seeds regarding the minimum distance required. And somehow watch the growth and help your plants hold on to the twine until they can do it on their own.
6. When growing vertically, in addition to support, irrigation is also important. To make your cucumbers very tasty, make sure they are well watered. You will be proud of your harvest!
How should cucumbers be watered vertically?
- Once or twice a week, or more often in very dry climates. Water plants without wetting the foliage to prevent powdery mildew, a fungus that takes the form of bad mold.
- In addition to mulch, there is another tip for keeping the soil as moist as possible: create a mound of soil before burying your cucumber plants. This means that the plants do not drown when watered and the soil always remains moist.
7. Periodically, if not daily, lift the leaves of the cucumbers to check if anything is growing underneath. If so, clean it by pushing the blade back so it gets as much sunlight as possible.
8. Also, don’t neglect pruning your cucumber plants if you want to maintain control. In fact, these fascinating plants love to reproduce! Here are some tips on how to properly prune cucumbers.
- First of all, it is necessary to periodically eliminate the desire to eat sweets.
- It is also necessary to cut (can be pinched) the leaves that are attached to the main stem and that, if left to grow without intervention, will form a runner.
9. If your plants tend to overgrow the net they are hanging from, you also need to monitor their growth.
Don’t you want your cucumber plants to grow endlessly and fall everywhere? To tell the plant to stop growing, simply cut off the tip. This way, your plants will stay strong and produce nice, big cucumbers!