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Old 30-01-2003, 03:02 PM
Andy N
 
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Default Cucumbers grown vertically

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


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Old 30-01-2003, 03:49 PM
Dan Mazerolle
 
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Default Cucumbers grown vertically

The easiest way that I have found is to buy a couple of 7' or 8' step
ladders from garage sales. Set them firmly into the soil and the cukes have
somewhere to grow. Soon they are covered with vines and you can't tell what
the support is. They can be easily put away when not in use.

If you are trimming large branches from your trees (or your neighbor is),
you can tie three or more together at the top and place the teepee firmly
into the soil. It is best to leave on a few inches of the smaller branches
for additional attachment spots. Plant a cuke or two at the base of each
pole and watch 'em grow.

Dan DeLyon


"Andy N" wrote in message
news:hga_9.89978$_s4.41001@rwcrnsc54...
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




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Old 30-01-2003, 04:44 PM
Jack Hasbro
 
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Default Cucumbers grown vertically

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!

--jack

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Old 30-01-2003, 04:51 PM
Penny Morgan
 
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Default Cucumbers grown vertically

I used to live on a very small lot and wanted many different veggies. I
grew cucumbers, pole beans, snow peas and summer spinach vertically with
great success.

I went to Home Depot and bought several green fence posts. They come in
different heights; I think I opted for the tallest which was 7' tall, but
you had to pound the first 1' into the soil for stability, so you ended with
6' of growing height. The posts are green metal with little hooks running
end to end. I spaced them about 6' apart in a straight row on the edge or
back of the garden. Next, I rolled out several feet of heavy bird netting
and attached it to the hooks on each pole. Make sure to pull it very tight.
If you can't find the heavy netting, use two layers of the thin netting. I
also secured the netting to the posts with extra string or twine to ensure
it stayed on.

The last step is to plant the cucumbers right below the netting. Once the
vines were long enough, I tied the first section to the bird netting with
old strips of pantyhose (the pantyhose is soft and stretchy and won't hurt
the vines). The cucumbers grew on their own from that point on and would
sometimes go over the other side of the netting. This is a great space
saver, allows easy picking, and reduces disease such as powdery mildew with
greater air circulation for the leaves.

Hope this helps. Good luck.

Penny
Zone 7b - North Carolina
"Andy N" wrote in message
news:hga_9.89978$_s4.41001@rwcrnsc54...
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




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Old 30-01-2003, 04:53 PM
Pat Meadows
 
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Default Cucumbers grown vertically

On Thu, 30 Jan 2003 14:02:53 GMT, "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


What we do is just to make a circle out of welded-wire
fencing (this is also sometimes called 'woven wire' fencing)
- you can hook the fencing to itself, if you know what I
mean. This isn't chicken-wire, but heavier fencing.

Then we plant the cukes around the outside of the circle of
fencing, and they grow up it. This works pretty well.

A few cukes will get stuck inside the fencing and you can't
get them out, but the method is so cheap and so easy to do
that I think it's worth losing a few cukes.

Pat
-- Pat Meadows
CLICK DAILY TO FEED THE HUNGRY
United States: http://www.stopthehunger.com/
International: http://www.thehungersite.com/


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Old 30-01-2003, 10:01 PM
Mary McHugh
 
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Default Cucumbers grown vertically

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


I used to grow them up the perimeter fence of my garden. But, I always had to
try to get the plants to grow the correct way (toward the fence, not toward the
garden). Even when they were planted right next to the fence, they still
wanted to grow toward the garden (gravity I guess). Cukes don't like to be
handled so I'd always lose a few training them to the fence. Then, last year I
smartened up and planted a few hills and just stuck the round tomato cages
around them. Get the tallest ones you can find. Cheap, easy, and they found
the cages all by themselves since the hill was in the center of the cage. They
grew up, then back down the cages and even went across from cage to cage. I
had the best crop I've had in years.

That's what I'm doing again this year.

Mary


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Old 30-01-2003, 11:14 PM
Andy N
 
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Default Cucumbers grown vertically

Thank you all for the great ideas. They were all so good fortunately I'll
have quite a bit of time to think about it since my garden is in Iowa.
Thanks again!


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Old 31-01-2003, 05:02 AM
Lee Hall
 
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Default Cucumbers grown vertically

"Andy N" wrote in message news:sth_9.101621$AV4.3489@sccrnsc01...
Thank you all for the great ideas. They were all so good fortunately I'll
have quite a bit of time to think about it since my garden is in Iowa.
Thanks again!


I use 6' tomato spirals. If they outgrow those, I attach a length of
small rope and attach the other end of the rope to my 10' tall tomato
stakes. Works great.
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Old 31-01-2003, 03:10 PM
Steve Calvin
 
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Default Cucumbers grown vertically

Lee Hall wrote:
"Andy N" wrote in message news:sth_9.101621$AV4.3489@sccrnsc01...

Thank you all for the great ideas. They were all so good fortunately I'll
have quite a bit of time to think about it since my garden is in Iowa.
Thanks again!



I use 6' tomato spirals. If they outgrow those, I attach a length of
small rope and attach the other end of the rope to my 10' tall tomato
stakes. Works great.


I use a wooden trellis, kinda of decorative until the plants overtake it
and even then.

--
Steve

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Old 31-01-2003, 06:40 PM
Andy N
 
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Default Cucumbers grown vertically

I have been growing (straight eights) for about 30 years now and expect
possibly there is a better variety selection and would welcome any input on
this. When growing them on the ground and sprawling, the cucumber beetles
also would have a picnic on them so I constantly kept the vines dusted with
multi-purpose garden dust. I was never bothered with wilt until after the
hot weather hit and the vines were watered. My plan starting with this new
garden is to water only on the ground and never use a sprinkler to water.




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Old 31-01-2003, 07:22 PM
Friendly Gardener
 
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Default Cucumbers grown vertically

*** post for FREE via your newsreader at post.newsfeed.com ***

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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