Garden Maypoles and Cucumbers

[sbeneli]

I'm plotting out my allotment for next year. This is currently my first year of growing anything (pretty much ever), and I'm still learning the ropes. :-)

We had some great success with cucumbers this year and were amazed by how much more flavour they have than the ones you get in the shops. We just let them sprawl, but next year, I'd rather have them go up a trellis or support of some kind.

I have a six foot tall garden maypole that has eight polypropylene strings which connect to pegs in the ground, like this one (Suttons: , Garden Maypole) from Suttons. It's perfectly suited for beans and peas.

Does anybody know if it would be able to support the weight of a few cucumber plants, or will it be better to use bamboo canes or other?

Thanks!

[smallblueplanet]

Hi sbeneli, I don't know the answer, but wondered what variety of cucumber you grew outdoors that did so well?

[Alison]

I've grown mine up a cheap metal arch from Lidl this year but that was in the polytunnel so no wind / rain to content with.

[sbeneli]

Hi sbeneli, I don't know the answer, but wondered what variety of cucumber you grew outdoors that did so well?

We had three types: miniature white cucumbers (from Real Seeds), Prima Top F1, and Marketmore. We loved the white ones and the prima top, so those are definitely being grown again next year. I'll grow the marketmore as well, if I have enough space. :-)

[sbeneli]

In case anybody is wondering, I decided to email the manufacturer of the maypole (Haxnicks) to ask, and they replied: "I feel that the garden maypole may not suit such a large muscular plant such as a cucumber."

I figured as much. Looks like the plan for next year will be to get a tall expandable trellis, put it on the long side at an angle with posts to hold it up. Then the cucumbers will hang through the holes as they grow and be easy to pick from the underside, and I can plant my lettuces in the shade underneath.

That's the theory, at least.

[Florence Fennel]

Sounds like a good theory to me. I was disappointed with cucumbers last year (Marketmore). Although the foliage was lush, the cucumbers were few, I probably over fed them. I grew them one to a flower bucket with two canes. Didn't bother this year.

[sbeneli]

Sounds like a good theory to me. I was disappointed with cucumbers last year (Marketmore). Although the foliage was lush, the cucumbers were few, I probably over fed them. I grew them one to a flower bucket with two canes. Didn't bother this year.

We had five plants (2 mini cucumbers, 2 marketmore, and 1 prima F1) that we just let trail on the ground at the allotment. Up until recently, we were getting at least one big one a week and maybe 2 or 3 mini cucumbers a day.

I had some extra plants left over that I couldn't bear to discard and nobody to give them to, so I stuck them into a container in the back garden. I more or less neglected them, but they still did surprisingly well considering the cramped accommodations and sporadic watering.

Next year we're going to try some more varieties and dedicate an even larger space to growing them at the allotment.

[LolaLou]

I grew Marketmore again this year as a bit of an experiment too..... last year we put 3 plants, in a long deep planter against a sunny wall and I tied the plants to some bamboo arched canes. We had a good few cucs from them, but all quite small (maybe 5-6 inches long) and only one or two growing per plant at any one time. This year I popped 3 plants in at the allotment - despite the dry (well, it was at one point...) summer, they got fed once, probably watered twice/three times and I have about 6-7 cucumbers every two weeks from them now (probably could pick them weekly but I forget....) and they are much larger in width and probably between 7-10 inches long). I put the canes in again but they sprawled along the ground - I've just tied them up as they are still going great guns and hope to keep cropping them up to the first frosts! So I'll definately be growing them again next year, just in the ground instead of a planter - and I might even go in for the trellis and lettuce idea, I like that!