How to Grow More Cucumbers with Tomato Cages

Grow Cucumbers on Tomato Cages

For the home gardener, cucumbers are tasty but sometimes a pain. They vine all over the place, and slugs get to them. You can put them on a trellis, but they pollinate better when they are in hills rather than a single line.

One option is to use tomato cages to grow cucumbers as "bushes." They are easy to harvest, and have no problem with slugs.

Things You'll Need

• A garden
• Cucumber seeds
• Tomato cages (The taller the better!)
• Twine
• Optional Tomato Stakes

Instructions

1. Pick a hardy variety of cucumber for good yields in all weather and conditions. My seed provider has a pickling cucumber called "little leaf" which is not only resistant to a whole lot of diseases, but has small leaves, making it easier to harvest.

2. Use the largest, tallest tomato cages you can find to grow cucumbers on. I found four-tier cages at my local garden center, and they are ideal. If you can't find one that comes up to four feet after pushing it's legs into the dirt, you can supplement it by sticking a six-foot tomato stake up the center.

3. Put the cage at the center of each hill, and plant 8-10 cucumber seeds around the base of it (or whatever the package recommends per hill.) Sometimes bugs, disease or just poor sprouting weather will damage some of the plants. I sometimes plant more than I need and then when they are three or four inches tall, I thin them down to 6-8 to a hill.

4. Weave the cucumber plants in and out of the supports on the cage as they grow, or you can tie twine to the top ring and let it dangle down to help the cucumbers grow.

   If you have short cages and must use a stake, tie several strings of twine to the top of the stake and run them down to the top of the cage. Tie securely, because cucumber vines can be strong and unruly.

   Try this method, and come late summer, your cucumbers will be off the ground and easy to reach.

Resources

• Johnny's Select Seeds
• Burpee's Seeds
• Park Seed Company
• Ultomato Tomato Cage