supporting vegetable plants

[Mr.potatohead]

Hi all. How do zucchini, cucumbers and yellow squash grow? Do they need to climb on something or do they travel and grow on the ground? And while I have your attention, more questions...How far apart do you plant tomato plants? Is it to early to plant lettuce or is that a fall plant? Thank you in advance for any replies. This forum is great for a novice like myself!

 

[OaklandCityFarmer]

Zucchini and yellow squash grow like a large bush. Cucumber, depending on the variety grow on a vine or bush. Zucchini and yellow squash grow fine without any support or at least for me. We plant our cucumbers between rows of corn and the grow up the corn and do just fine. The corn helps shade the cucumbers and the vines that spread across the ground help shade the ground and keep moisture in. They can grow just fine up a support or on the ground. In some situations if the ground is very moist then the fruits can rot or critters can get to them.

Tomatoes, this all depends on the variety too. We grow heirloom, yellow pear, a beefsteak variety and roma. The heirloom and beefsteak grow into massive vines that we train up a cage we built. (4 stakes in the ground, cross supports and wire). We space them about 3 feet apart. The yellow pear and the romas fit nicely into standard sized tomato cages you find at garden stores and place those about 18" apart. Now these are all guesses because we really don't measure how far apart. Basically when trying to figure plant spacing you have to think about if the plants will compete for nutrients and water and will the shade each other (not always a bad thing).

Lettuce, again going back to variety. Lettuce likes cool weather, some varieties resisting bolting (going to seed) more than others. Warm weather can force them to bolt. Here in my area (East Bay, SF Bay Area) we get nice 90 degree spring/summer days. So we plant our lettuce to get early morning sun and afternoon shade. It seems to do well for them. We plant romaine, black seeded simpson and buttercrunch, we purchased varieties that are resistant to bolting. But to answer the primary question you can plant lettuce now.

I'm sure others will be more helpful but here's my input.

 

[SewingDiva]

Zucchini and yellow squash grow like a large bush.

Tomatoes, this all depends on the variety too. We grow heirloom, yellow pear, a beefsteak variety and roma. The heirloom and beefsteak grow into massive vines that we train up a cage we built. (4 stakes in the ground, cross supports and wire). We space them about 3 feet apart. The yellow pear and the romas fit nicely into standard sized tomato cages you find at garden stores and place those about 18" apart. Now these are all guesses because we really don't measure how far apart. Basically when trying to figure plant spacing you have to think about if the plants will compete for nutrients and water and will the shade each other (not always a bad thing).

This is a good advice - I agree with OaklandCityFarmer, and I'll just add a few observations on the plants I have experience with:

Summer Squash - I think summer squash are pretty plants, kind of primeval and tropical looking so I like to give them a prominent spot. They need a lot of room; one plant can easily fill an area 4 feet square. Think giant hosta and you'll get an idea of how big they get.

Tomatoes - here I'll just add that determinate tomatoes will stop growing once they set fruit, so they generally dont need quite as much space as indeterminate heirlooms and hybrids that are like the Energizer Bunny and just keep going and going and going until frost kills them

Another ironic thing about tomatoes, in my experience at last, is that there seems to be an inverse relationship between the fruit size and the size of the vine. So a cherry type like Matt's Wild Cherry has fruit only .5 inches in diameter but the darn vine is a freaky thing that can easily grow at 7-9 feet by the end of the summer. Whereas a huge fruited type like heirloom German varieties will produce gianormous tomatoes of 1 lb apiece on a pretty sparse and almost leggy looking vine. In fact, I've had to tie ripening German tomatoes into pantyhose slings to keep them from tearing right off the vine!

~Phyllis

 

[joann]

What about Sugar Snap Pea? do they need support? If so how? new summer garden in fla?

 

[Grow 4 Food]

Sugar snaps need a fence to grow. It makes them a lot easier to pick as well.

 

[Nifty]

Ok, I'm going to seem quite the dummy, but why do you have to have support for climbing things? If I've got beans, peas and cucumbers growing on the ground what happens if you just let them go free style? Is it just a factor of rot, critters, and easy picking?

 

[OaklandCityFarmer]

Ok, I'm going to seem quite the dummy, but why do you have to have support for climbing things? If I've got beans, peas and cucumbers growing on the ground what happens if you just let them go free style? Is it just a factor of rot, critters, and easy picking?

Mostly, yes. Saves space also, which is the biggest reason we do it here. Cucumbers and melons are most susceptible to rotting when on moist soil and easier reach for pests. Also this was you can water the base of the plant easily which help prevent against powdery mildew.

And I think it looks really cool having the cucumbers and the corn all mixed together.

 

[Grow 4 Food]

There are some plants that will just grow better if you have a little bit of support in them. Also like Nifty said it is a heck of a lot easier to pick them standing then it is crawling around after them.

I let my cucs climb to keep them from getting yellow also. The side that lays on the ground usually is discolored. it will help with rot too if you have a "very" damp soil situation from a lot of rain.