Last year's cucumbers were very prolific, as we tried a couple of different trellising experiments. I'm certain a good bit of the success was the hot and wet weather we had. The vines were established early and produced from July to September. We trained them up a fence and inter-planted them with carrots and sunflowers. The sunflowers shaded the cucumber's roots, and the sunflowers really benefited from the anchoring that the cucumber vine gave to them.
The second way we trellised them was to let them climb a circle of fence. I found they "wandered" off of this trellis often and it wasn't very successful. Also the cukes were hard to harvest, hiding deep in the coil or prickly vines.
This year we will be planting them in an alternating pattern of 3x3 patches within my raised beds, alternating with the lettuces, training them up a screen "tent" over the lettuce. Pictures to come... Here's where that is going in:
Then we can make lots of Bread and Butter Pickles!
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Today I'm thankful for #45-49
lovely weather
talking with my dad on the phone
making a new friend
lunch and coffee
a God who loves me, messes and all
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