... Sorry, and what about squeezing a couple zucchini in that planter? She wants that too. I will give it a shot unless I don't think I'll have room.

Mike -
Cucumbers (the real ones) tend to collapse as soon as it gets hot so you are balancing the danger of a late frost with that of early heat waves.

"Armenian" cucumbers, on the other hand love the heat and climb trellises. Trellis the cukes on something sturdy and big. One Armenian cuke plant covered an 8-foot wide section of wall on a trellis, then dropped over the other side of the wall and kept going into the neighbor's yard and my mesquite. The others, about 6 of them, covered a 30-foot arbor and invaded the orange tree.

It has to be STURDY - and you can get one in each cornet of the planter if you make a sturdy trellis for them. The zucchini or summer squash can run out on the ground from the sides of the planters.

I somewhat agree with lazygardens in that the Armenian Cuke is the best for this area and also the taste. As he knows the Armenian is actually a cantaloupe with a bland taste for a melon, but tasty as a cucumber and oh so crunchy. I do not have issues with the heat getting to my cukes as long as I pick them. Near the end of the season I have more problems with aphids instead. If you want a pickling cumcumber I would go with SR58. There are others of course. I plant either straight 8s or straight 9s for an eating cucumber. You can also plant cucumbers in August and get a fall crop, but it will not be much of a harvest and the cucumbers will be much smaller. I did not feel that it was worth my time, but I had to try it once just like I did with a fall crop of beans. Lazygardens is on the money on the trellis and the squash. Let the squash run on the ground. I find myself that the zukes do best in this heat verses the other types of squash. I mean you can grow them all, but the zukes just do better in the heat. Whatever you do please do everything from seed. Then you know what you are getting.