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On 1/30/03 8:02 AM, Andy N wrote:
I am moving my garden into considerably less space and would like to
continue growing 2 hills of cucumber plants. My plan is to raise them
vertically to conserve space. I would appreciate advice about ways of doing
this. Thanks

Purchase 3 ten foot lengths of half inch electrical conduit, two 90
degree elbow fittings and a nylon trellis with six inch squares. Drive
(or pound) two of the pipes 3 or 4 feet into the ground ten feet apart.
Weave the remaining pipe through the top of the trellis and then the
sides of the trellis over the two vertical pipes. Connect the top pipe
to the side pipes with the elbows and you are done.

Of course, you can change the dimensions as needed.

I did this about 7 years ago and leave it in place all year. The conduit
never rusts and the nylon has not deteriorated yet!


I also live in Iowa and do something very similar to this. (I use
treated lumber supports instead of conduit.) The problem I have with
growing them vertically is that they very hard to keep insect-free. I
start every year with 10 lovely cucumber plants growing strongly up my
trellis, and as soon as they mature one or two fruits, the cucumber
beetles come in and soon they are all dead from bacterial wilt. Grown in
mounds, cukes can be covered with Reemay, but not on a trellis.

But, I strongly recommend this method if you can keep the bugs away.

And one more thing. If you plan to grow vertically, you have to make
sure you _do not_ get bush varieties of cukes. They usually state if
they are bush or vining varieties in the catalogs. Most climbers are
slicing-type cukes, but I'm sure there are some climbing picklers if that
is what you are interested in.

IC Gardener
Iowa City, Iowa
Zone 5A


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