Cucumber

[Summer 2017 – Columbus, OH]

In our first try to grow cucumber, we didn’t use a trellis. So our cucumber vines grew along the ground and didn’t get a good harvest. With the heavy rains, most of the fruits on the ground went rotten. Therefore in 2018 we put up a trellis and grew cucumber together with companion plants.

[Summer 2018 – Columbus, OH]

This year we grew cucumber on a trellis together with luffa, sugar snap peas, and lima bush beans and used cardboard mulching to control weeds.

Companion planting:

Luffa is a good companion plant for cucumbers. The roughness and the smell of the luffa vines keep bugs and pests away from the plants. When we grow cucumber and luffa together, this helps us to protect our cucumber harvest from pests.
Sugar snap peas and lima bush beans increase the nitrogen level in the soil. So they provide natural fertilizer(N) for cucumber.
Marigolds were grown near the plot to repel beetles and pests.