[Snoop]

Last year was the first time I tried growing cucumbers. Bought a couple of plants from a nursery and let them trail across the ground. One died, the other produced a few fruit.

This year I have some Burpless seeds and was pondering on whether to let them trail or help them up a trellis. I don't have a greenhouse and it is quite windy here, though I could find a relatively sheltered spot.

So, could I grow them up a trellis, do you think, and, if I can, how close do the 'warps and wefts' of the trellis need to be?

Thanks for any advice.

[m1ckz]

i normaly tie mine to canes...so pallets should be ok to  gl

[compostqueen]

I've grown Burpless up a rickety old trellis, up the side of my shed, up until last year when the trellis disintegrated in the breeze    I grew it in a pot by the way. They are hardy cucs but will need to be tied in to their support as they grow.  I always got lots of fruits!   

[3759allen]

i grew them last year for the first time, but that was in a poly tunnel. i grew them up wires, and this year will pinch out the side shoots to train them in a more orderly cordon as they went a bit mad last year.

i think someone on here suggested running them up and along the plastic mesh (the orange stuff they use for road words, temp car parks, that sort of thing). can't remember who it was now but seemed like a good idea, not so sure it would be so easy to fit to my tunnel so i'm going with wires again this year.

[Eightball]

here are mine from last year up a simple trellis. I tied them on it initially with some string but then the tendrils did the rest of the tying for me. Make sure you get a variety designed to be grown outdoors though.

[sunshineband]

Burpless is an outdoor variety so should thrive on any kind of trellis once it gets going. I tied mine onto a single cane last year, and led it across the top of a cloche with a solid tube through it. Fruited well enough and it kept the cucs off the ground

[Snoop]

Brilliant, guys. Thanks for the advice.

Eightball, your picture was especially helpful. I have some of the selfsame mesh, so looks like I should be able to do something very similar.

[surbie100]

I do same as Eightball. 3-4 plants along 1 metre-wide mesh that goes 1.5m high, tied to canes. My marketmores love it.

[Snoop]

Surbie: I do same as Eightball. 3-4 plants along 1 metre-wide mesh that goes 1.5m high, tied to canes. My marketmores love it.

Hi Surbie, I didn't know you could grow them that close. I'll have to check the seed instructions. Can you get more in the space because they're growing up rather than along?

[Sue33]

we always grow our cucumbers up a trellis, less rotting and easier to find them 

[surbie100]

Hi Surbie, I didn't know you could grow them that close. I'll have to check the seed instructions. Can you get more in the space because they're growing up rather than along?

Mebbe 4 is packing them a little close.  They are in a 1.2m wide raised bed, but the mesh is made 1m wide, so the 2 at the corners are leaning in a little to get up the mesh.  I plant them in hills of rotted manure about 15cm high and the planting holes have chicken pellets/BFB/growmore in the bottom (whatever is to hand).

I find the trellis has to be really sturdy because the vines romp over the top, round the back etc and the cucumbers are really heavy - there are a couple of monsters on the photo! And my site's quite windy.

[madcat]

I grow them up the country folks idea of trellis - sheep netting!      We have several short 'fences' of sheep netting between posts (with a bracing bar) up which grow cucs and autumn squash.  Very efficient way of packing them in - but the ground needs to be very nutrient rich and you have to be prepared to water.  Give them that and a bit of sunshine and you will get to meet the most amazing triffids!

[Snoop]

Thanks for all the advice and encouragement. I'm definitely going to give it a go. I have just been out to check the beds. The more sheltered bed is 2.5 m long but not fantastic soil. The other possible spot is much better soil but prone to gale-force winds at certain times of year. I think I'll try it in the more sheltered spot and just work in loads of muck and compost.

I was thinking about three Burplesses, as there are only two of us and my partner isn't too keen on cucumbers, though they could very well turn out a bit like lots of other veg he said he didn't like: eat them straight from the plot and all of a sudden they're delicious!

[surbie100]

they could very well turn out a bit like lots of other veg he said he didn't like: eat them straight from the plot and all of a sudden they're delicious!

   I have the same at home. He looks at it, sniffs it suspiciously, tastes it then declares it the best thing I've grown so far....

[Fairy Plotmother]

I grow cucumbers outside up and along wires on the garden wall. I can't complain about the results.