cucumbers and squash spaceing?

[Royiah]

I was reading the back of my seed packets and they said to do cucumbers and squash in batches of three's. Can I put them in a small circle with a trellis in my soon to be raised bed?
If I can that would be great! If not oh well. I might try to experament and do one with just one plant and three in another. But I dunno.

[Royiah]

Well for the trellis I'm planning on using some left over wire fence. Its not tall enuff for my tomatos so I thought I'd use it for my cucumbers,peppers and squash. I have yellow squash. I didnt know that squash didnt vine. I've only ever done cucumbers tomatos bell peppers and strawberries.
They look just like my cucumbers so I thought they would trellis. Guess I was being naive.
Can I plant them in trees or is that a bad idea?

[Royiah]

that sounds good. I'll try it! I'll update ya'll if it does or doesnt work. well since their a bush plant I wont trellis. At least I'll have more trellis for my other plants!

[gumbo2176]

I was reading the back of my seed packets and they said to do cucumbers and squash in batches of three's. Can I put them in a small circle with a trellis in my soon to be raised bed?
If I can that would be great! If not oh well. I might try to experament and do one with just one plant and three in another. But I dunno.

I have a trellis that is close to 7 ft. tall and 12 ft. long I use for cucumbers and another one that is also 7 ft. tall but 24 ft. long for pole beans. I'll plant the cucumber seeds directly in the ground and thin to about 10 inches apart and I have a great crop of cucumbers every year.

As for squash, like others have mentioned, they don't trellis too well since they are not vining. They do get huge though. Many of my summer squash plants get 3-4 feet tall and a good 6 ft. in diameter. Unfortunately, in my area of Louisiana, I have not had a lot of luck with summer squash over a long period. The dreaded squash vine borers take their toll on my squash before the season is midway and I lose them.

I see you are also from La.------what area? New Orleans here.

[Royiah]

squash vine borers? What are those? If their some type of animal I wont have to worry about them. My dogs will probally get them before theyd get anywhere near them. Scotties are very wonderful dogs for getting rid of pests. Never had a rodant problem since we got them.
I live in tangiphoa.
If the squash get that big maybe I should only plant them by themselfs...
When do you start planting outside? I started my seeds inside and I'm not really sure when is a good time to keep them out. I don't want them to die from a sudden cold day or something.

[gumbo2176]

squash vine borers? What are those? If their some type of animal I wont have to worry about them. My dogs will probally get them before theyd get anywhere near them. Scotties are very wonderful dogs for getting rid of pests. Never had a rodant problem since we got them.
I live in tangiphoa.
If the squash get that big maybe I should only plant them by themselfs...
When do you start planting outside? I started my seeds inside and I'm not really sure when is a good time to keep them out. I don't want them to die from a sudden cold day or something.

Squash Vine Borers are moths that look and act very similar to wasps. They lay eggs on the plants and eventually the borer, which looks like a huge maggot, will enter the stems and eat the stems of the plant robbing it of the ability to supply enough nutrients to continue production. Search the forum for some ideas of how to attempt to control them. I've not had much success over the years and have decided to now just plant winter type squash that have solid stems. Summer squash have hollow stems, by the way.

I'll be putting my tomato plants in the ground before the month is out, but I'm on the south shore of the lake. You may want to wait a couple weeks longer since you are on the north shore.

Added this. My garden now has onions, garlic, parsley, rosemary, oregano, swiss chard, kale, artichoke, lettuce and I have about 70 2"x2" started cells coming up with a lot of the stuff I plant in the spring and summer garden. If this is your first attempt, you'll likely find that July and August down here are not nice to gardens with the heat and humidity. By early August, many of my plants are done for the most part due to the heat.

[Royiah]

Ick bugs. hate em! I'll see how it goes if I have problems wiht them then guess I cant help it. Will the moths go for my other plants?
Thats good to know next month it is! Cant wait! Thanks for the info!

[gumbo2176]

Ick bugs. hate em! I'll see how it goes if I have problems wiht them then guess I cant help it. Will the moths go for my other plants?
Thats good to know next month it is! Cant wait! Thanks for the info!

One of the easiest and hardiest plants for our area in the summer is okra. I love it and have at least 30 plants in my garden every summer. It is heat and drought tolerant and ideal for our climate. By the time I pull them out in mid September, they are at least 8 ft. tall and I will have harvested about 2 bushels of okra off them during the season. Once they start producing, all you have to do is stay on top of them and pick it just about daily.

[Royiah]

One of the easiest and hardiest plants for our area in the summer is okra. I love it and have at least 30 plants in my garden every summer. It is heat and drought tolerant and ideal for our climate. By the time I pull them out in mid September, they are at least 8 ft. tall and I will have harvested about 2 bushels of okra off them during the season. Once they start producing, all you have to do is stay on top of them and pick it just about daily.

I thought about those but decided not to grow them becuase I don't use them in my cooking most of the time. The bigest reason I started my garden was so I could save money on food. I cook alot and love to exprament but sometimes it can be wasteful if I mess up.
That and When it comes to my garden bed I don't have alot of room. Can I grow some in pots? I'd like to give them a shot if I can and mybe exprament with them in my cooking.
Back to my other question will the squash vine borers attack my other plants? If so I don't think I want squash in my garden.

[klevelyn]

I use a fence for my cucumbers. It works very well. Stake your fence material along the back side of your row. Plant the cucumber seeds every 3 to 6 inches along the fence support. when the plants reach 3-4 inches tall, thin to about 6 to 8 inches apart. As the plants grow I use jute twine to attach the vines to the support. Cucumbers grow fast so I tie them every other day or so. The cucumbers are nice an straight as they hang from the vines.

I plant my summer squash in hills about 4 feet apart. I plant a about 6 seeds around the circle on the top of the hill. After the seeds germinate I thin to 3 plants. Gives you extra plants in case some don't do as well as the others. Keep your squash picked when they reach about 5-6 inches in length. If you keep them picked you will have squash longer. Letting the squash grow big shuts down the plant sooner.

I grow winter squash on fencing just like the cucumbers in rows. This worked great for me in 2011.

Have fun.

[Royiah]

I use a fence for my cucumbers. It works very well. Stake your fence material along the back side of your row. Plant the cucumber seeds every 3 to 6 inches along the fence support. when the plants reach 3-4 inches tall, thin to about 6 to 8 inches apart. As the plants grow I use jute twine to attach the vines to the support. Cucumbers grow fast so I tie them every other day or so. The cucumbers are nice an straight as they hang from the vines.

I plant my summer squash in hills about 4 feet apart. I plant a about 6 seeds around the circle on the top of the hill. After the seeds germinate I thin to 3 plants. Gives you extra plants in case some don't do as well as the others. Keep your squash picked when they reach about 5-6 inches in length. If you keep them picked you will have squash longer. Letting the squash grow big shuts down the plant sooner.

I grow winter squash on fencing just like the cucumbers in rows. This worked great for me in 2011.

Have fun.

Sounds like a good idea. I'm using fence but I was going to put it in a circle like a round tomato cage.
At this poing I think I'm just going to put the squash in pots instead of my bed. They take up a ton of room so just not good for me.
Thanks tons!

[gumbo2176]

I thought about those but decided not to grow them becuase I don't use them in my cooking most of the time. The bigest reason I started my garden was so I could save money on food. I cook alot and love to exprament but sometimes it can be wasteful if I mess up.
That and When it comes to my garden bed I don't have alot of room. Can I grow some in pots? I'd like to give them a shot if I can and mybe exprament with them in my cooking.
Back to my other question will the squash vine borers attack my other plants? If so I don't think I want squash in my garden.

I've not experienced a problem with the borers in other plants in my garden, just the squash.

I believe okra gets too big for most pots. Likely the smallest pot you could use would be about the size of a 5 gallon plastic bucket and that would be pushing it a bit in my opinion.

I do a lot with okra. It can be pickled, fried, stewed, grilled, steamed and used in gumbos and soups. I use it a lot, hence the nickname of Gumbo. I got that nickname from the motorcycle group I ride with and attend rallies with. I've fixed many gallons of gumbo over the years when out of state at other members houses that put me up as I'm passing through.

[Royiah]

Hmm maybe I'll do them next year.

[rainbowgardener]

Type squash vine borers in to the Search the Forum Keyword box to find a ton of information here about them. I've about given up on growing zucchini because they always kill the plants, but even when the zucchini is killed, I've never had them bother anything else.

[SPierce]

Type squash vine borers in to the Search the Forum Keyword box to find a ton of information here about them. I've about given up on growing zucchini because they always kill the plants, but even when the zucchini is killed, I've never had them bother anything else.

Don't give up! Even though mine got killed by an SVB last year, it gave me TONS of zucchini before it went.

[jal_ut]

A picture is worth a thousand words. 4 to 5 seed per spot.

[img]https://donce.lofthouse.com/jamaica/squash_7_4_2010.jpg[/img]

It turns into this:

[img]https://donce.lofthouse.com/jamaica/squash1_aug8.jpg[/img]

There is some laginaria (bottle neck gourds) on the close side. Those things are really vigorous viners.

[img]https://donce.lofthouse.com/jamaica/squash2_aug8.jpg[/img]

That is a yardstick in the squash patch.

[img]https://donce.lofthouse.com/jamaica/squash4_aug8.jpg[/img]

Some of the fruits after frost.

[img]https://donce.lofthouse.com/jamaica/squash_harvest.jpg[/img]

[jal_ut]

On cukes, I plant in a row with a seed every six inches. I just give them a space 8 feet wide and let them sprawl. They will completely cover that 8 foot wide space by the time they get done growing.

They can be trained up a trellis.

[gumbo2176]

On cukes, I plant in a row with a seed every six inches. I just give them a space 8 feet wide and let them sprawl. They will completely cover that 8 foot wide space by the time they get done growing.

They can be trained up a trellis.

OK, so I can garden year round, but with the size of my garden I'd not be able to produce near as much as your large area over the summer. I WISH I had enough space to grow cucumbers on the ground.

One of these days James, one of these days!!!!

[jal_ut]

Due to our cold winters, we are seldom bothered by vine borers. They can't survive winter here, so have to move in from further south. Most years they don't make it. I have seen them at times. There must be some control methods, but many here are more experienced than me, on the issue, to tell you how to handle that problem.

Of all the things we can grow in our gardens, squash is one of the really heavy producers. You can gets lots of pounds of food from a squash patch. Its worth a try. If you will enrich the soil with manure or compost and provide adequate water, they will do well.

Edit: They do take some space to do really well.

[klevelyn]

Last year I grew my cucumbers on fencing. I use the cattle fence panels supported by metal fence posts. I loved it. I use one 20 foot row for both eating and pickling cucumbers. I had the best crop and gave away cucumbers, made dill pickles, juiced them and ate all summer long until fall.

I also grew my winter squash the same way. I have 4 20 foot rows and planted 4 different varieties. We ended up with enough wither squash to feed our four children's families and ours all winter. Even donated a box to the food bank.

We grow our summer squash in hills like jal_ut.

[/img]https://www.everyday-vegetable-garden.com/images/growing-winter-squash.jpg[img]

https://www.everyday-vegetable-garden.com/growing-cucumbers.html