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milkmommy

Accidently grew cucumber in middle along with other mistakes

milkmommy
11 years ago

I have a 3ft by 6ft square foot garden. This is my first year and i have made some mistake and need advice on how to proceed.

Mistake 1 - I planted the cucumber and a tomato plant 1 sq in from the north. Beside them are 2 green pepper plants that are still very green but have not grown much since transfering oustside. The cucumbers also took some time to start growing but have now taken off. They are much larger than in the attached pic. Can I mve the plants around without killing them? If i leave it the way it is I have no trellis support for them and they are shading the peppers.

Please note there will soon be a trellis on the back and north side .

Mistake 2 - I planted 1 sugar baby watermelon, 2 butternut squash, and 2 pumpkin all with 1per 1 sqft spacing instead of the 1 per 2 rule. I think I am just going to see how that plays out since the pumpkin and squash are now over 4 ft tall.

Mistake 3 - I plant beets only 1 foot away from pole beans which I have learned is another no-no. Will my beets be okay?

Comments (13)

  • howelbama
    11 years ago

    I would not attempt to move the cucumbers at this point. You could move your peppers since they look like they are in individual containers, and trellis the cukes. Or you could allow the cukes to sprawl out the front of the bed and down into the yard. The second option would waste more space and you might run into rot issues with the cukes if the ground tends to stay really wet in that area of the yard where they would sprawl.

  • milkmommy
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    The peppers I'm referring to are actually in the bed beside where the hot peppers in the containers are. The cucumber and timmys plant have now outgrown there cages so I need to get then trellised. Growing them Onto the ground isn't an option.

  • gumby_ct
    11 years ago

    Use a string and try to keep the cukes following the string in back and up the fence. They may tend to reach for the sun which I assume is to our backs?

    I prefer my cukes on a string. They grow much straighter when allowed to hang. Plus are much easier to see AND harvest when up at eye level.

  • milkmommy
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    The peppers I'm referring to are actually in the bed beside where the hot peppers in the containers are. The cucumber and timmys plant have now outgrown there cages so I need to get then trellised. Growing them Onto the ground isn't an option.

  • milkmommy
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    In the back I have squash, pumpkin, watermelon and beans going up so I have no room for them there. I guess it is out of the question to move the tomato and cucumber plant.

  • howelbama
    11 years ago

    The tomato may survive a move, though it would probably set it back a few weeks. The cucumbers most likely would not survive a mov. Though you could keep them well pruned to conserve space, allowing one or two vines and cut off the rest.

  • gumby_ct
    11 years ago

    "In the back I have squash, pumpkin, watermelon and beans going up so I have no room for them there."

    W/o knowing the varieties it is a crap shoot to make any suggestions.

  • angela12345
    11 years ago

    Tell us the current exact layout of what is in the beds. Example:
    Back row L to R : Sugar baby watermelon, butternut squash, butternut squash, _____ pepper, _____ pepper, . . .

    My gut feeling is train the cuke to the closest edge of the bed (left or right) then to the back corner of that bed edge and up a new trellis just on the outside of the bed.

    Mistake 2 ... Don't worry about the spacing. I planted my melons 1 per sf a couple years ago and had no problem. Well, except for the problem that the squirrels really liked them. Tit was too bad - they looked really good.

    What is the issue with beets and beans ?

  • milkmommy
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    6 by 3, left to right
    Back row - buttercup squash x2, sugar baby watermelon, pole beans, pumpkin x2.

    middle row - tomato, beets, carrots, leeks, tomato, green pepper

    First row - swiss chard, celery, broccoli, leafy lettuce, cucumber, green pepper.

    As for my problem with the tomato and cucumber not on an edge am training it across the pepper and going to trellis it on the right, (north side). I have trimmed it at the base so the peppers have sun. If the peppers do take off it will grow criss cross.

    Im not sure if anything will work out in my garden now as I have discovered RATS!!!! They have dug under my garden and seem to live there. I have caught one large and 3 small. They have dug holes right up to the garden and are eating my plants!!! And I have squash vine borers and cucumber beetles!! all laying eggs. This is a battle for my first year

  • angela12345
    11 years ago

    Eeeek, rats !!

    I went thru the squash vine borers as well, not good ! There are directions online how to deal with them, but it may be good to have backup plants ready to go.

    Another issue I see you may have ... Do you know what variety tomatoes you have ? Are they determinate or indeterminate ? Tomatoes can get fairly large, indeterminate can grow TALL and big !! Your cucumber plan sounds good.

  • howelbama
    11 years ago

    For next season, you should remove the soil from the bed and install hardware cloth on the bottom so the rats can't dig up from beneath. A cat would probably help to deter them as well, but that may not be an option lol...

  • milkmommy
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    Well i have trellised the tomato and cucumber across the peppers and they seem to be doing ok. still not sure if the green peppers are going to take off especially now that they are covered. See pic 1

    as for the rats, im using a havahart trap and have now caught 1 mom and 8 babies - no more holes yet so i hope thats done! they were cute though.

    The tomato plants I grew from the seeds from store bought tomato. I think it was hot house???

    I am planning on digging up the garden and putting the cloth to prevent this next year. good thinking howelbama!! I also have 2 cats that rarely go in the back but a 100lb dog that doesnt seem to deter the rats..lol

    As for the svb and cuke beetles I am going to start a new post now for that because i am not sure if its whats killing my plants

  • snibb
    11 years ago

    I feel bad for you milky. I think the suggestion to eliminate the rats-at least coming up from the bottom-using hardware cloth is the best thing you could do. It's tough to put that much effort, time, and money into your garden only for this to happen. Hang in there-it's all a learning process. Next year will be a better year for you. Maybe you could even plan on a fall crop for a little more experience-maybe you don't even want that, I don't know. It will work out though-just stick with it. Come on over and visit me at my site....

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