Our cucumbers are really producing right now. We have so many cucumbers at this point that we can hardly believe it. It's great that we love them so much.
I think one thing causing them to be so hardy is that we put up a fence on which they could run. It keeps them off the ground and helps them grow long and straight. It contains them and keeps them off the other rows of vegetables. I think keeping them out of the mud is very helpful, too.
I first saw this technique on a website about organic container gardening. It was amazing how beautiful the cucumbers were! So big and straight and lush. It was a hassle, but we put up posts and bought some plastic garden fencing to stretch between the posts. A first, we had to coax the cucumber plants up the fence by tying them to the fencing with string and plastic ties but then they began to sprout runners and fastened and climbed all by themselves.
Sometimes a cucumber will grow into the center of the fencing and one part of it will be on one side and the other part on the other and it will be hard to get out of the fence. But, this is the only down side of growing cucumbers this way I have seen. It is better on the plant, keeps the cukes out of the mud and allows gravity to do it's thing. I don't think we will ever grow cucumbers any other way, and the fencing can be used year after year.
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