Cucumber Vine Supports

A number of you have been curious about the supporting structure of my cucumber vines shown in the last post.   This is an easy way to save valuable garden space when growing something like cucumbers that have many long vines that can quickly overtake a large area in the garden.  

The supporting structure is a 16-foot-long cattle panel.   My husband cut one section of horizontal wire off both short ends of the panel, which allows about a foot of wire to be pushed down into the edge of my raised bed and the other end pushed down at the base of our game fence.  The panel is carefully bent over... definitely a two-person job because it wants to spring back straight.  We have it wired to our game fence in several places to make sure it is securely attached.  

I have had this set-up for several years now and it works great. It allows me to plant the cucumbers at the very inside edge of my raised bed, saving most of the remaining bed space for other plants. The cucumber vines stay off the ground and there are no problems with stepping on the vines trying to get to all the cukes.    

Notice the cattle panel bent down on the right, next to the game fence.  The ends of the cattle panel are stuck down into the ground and the cattle panel is securely attached to the game fence by wires.

It is easy to pick cucumbers from underneath the structure. 

The vines grow up on the game fencing.  It is impossible to get anything to grow down... growing down is NOT the way things work in the plant world!

One of many nice, round, lemon cucumbers!

I will have an organic pest control and fertilization workshop this fall.  Come on out and we'll be happy to show you this set-up in person and answer any questions you may have.  Workshop dates should be posted on the "Classes and Events" page of our website late September or early October, and will also be posted in the September or October monthly email newsletter.