Read also:
Cucumbers can go well with more sorts of vegetables than you might expect, despite their space requirements. The family that includes cucumbers (Cucumis sativus) also includes Melons and squash can be consumed both fresh and pickled for later use.
Cucumbers do well with some plants in the garden while others should be seen near it. You might be shocked to learn that melons, a relative of cucumbers, do poorly in the area where they are grown.
What are cucumber companion plants?
You’ll see how growing the correct vegetables, fruits, herbs, and flowers alongside your cucumbers may promote the greatest and tastiest homemade yield after you comprehend the concept of cucumber companion planting.
Homegrown cucumber plants are likely to produce the best crop possible if you apply companion planting. In addition to assisting your cucumbers in fending off pests, companion planting adds vital nutrients to the area where they are growing.
Knowing what additional crops to plant alongside these well-liked salad vegetables is a crucial component of learning how to cultivate cucumbers. Cucumbers that are produced at home are without a doubt the best and can completely change the flavor of a salad or sandwich.
Growing cucumbers next to other herbs, flowers, or vegetables that are known to be beneficial to them as they grow is a simple process known as companion planting.
Whether you decide to grow cucumbers in a greenhouse or a warm, protected spot outdoors, companion planting cucumbers will help as part of your growing strategy.
Ideas for vegetable gardens
If you decide to grow the cucumbers outdoors or in an unheated greenhouse while building a greenhouse, consider what you will be companion planting them with at the same time.
The majority of cucumber plants will be ready to harvest in a few months, so your careful preparation and foresight will pay you right away.
Even if you are growing cucumbers vertically or as part of your vegetable garden container ideas, companion planting is still crucial.
Cucumbers are choosy about who they share their space with, which is one thing you need should know so as to get it right. If you choose the correct plants to grow alongside cucumbers, you’ll have a steady supply of cucumbers from mid to late summer;
if not, your plants may become weak specimens that may only manage to produce one or two fruits throughout the entire season.
Because cucumbers are a crop that needs a lot of food and water, their friends should improve the soil rather than deplete it.
Additionally, it’s crucial that crops close by don’t compete with one another for limited water supplies, particularly during the hot summer months that cucumbers prefer.
What are the plants that grow well with cucumber?
Legumes are among the plants that grow well with cucumbers, but there are others as well:
- Broccoli
- Cabbage
- Cauliflower
- Corn
- Lettuce
- The legume pea
- Radishes
- Onions
- Sunflowers
Sunflowers aren’t the only flowers that can benefit from being planted close to your cucumbers. Beetles avoid marigolds, while Nasturtiums repel insects like aphids. Ants, beetles, flying insects, and other pests are also deterred by tansy.
Melons and beans are two plants you shouldn’t put close to cucumbers. potatoes. Additionally, it is not advised to grow sage next to cucumbers. Sage shouldn’t be planted near cucumbers, but oregano can serve as a companion plant because it is a prominent pest management herb.
Why Cucumber Companion Planting?
For several reasons, cucumber companion planting is advantageous. Cucumber companion plants add variety to the landscape.
It’s not how nature was intended for us to grow neat rows of a select few plant varieties. These collections of related plants are referred to as monocultures.
Monocultures are much more vulnerable to disease and insect pests. You are imitating nature’s strategy for reducing disease and pest infestations by diversifying your garden.
Utilizing companion cucumber plants would not only reduce the likelihood of an attack but also provide a haven for beneficial insects.
Legumes are one type of plant that grows well with cucumbers and can improve the soil.
Legumes have root systems that colonize Rhizobium bacteria and fix atmospheric nitrogen, which is then converted to nitrates.
Peas, beans, and clover are some examples of legumes. Some of this is used to feed the legume, and some is released into the soil around it when the plant decays, making it available to any adjacent companion plants.
Maintaining healthy, productive cucumber plants is the key to success, and by planting them with their ideal neighbors in your kitchen garden ideas, you will have a much better chance of keeping pests and illnesses at bay.
This is so that a polyculture, as opposed to a monoculture, is produced via companion planting.
The former is clearly the goal that all fruit and vegetable growers should pursue because it enables a natural ecosystem to develop in the garden, potager garden, or greenhouse, and we are only just beginning to realize how much more beneficial it is to plants.
Conclusion
Corn or sunflowers can serve as a natural trellis for cucumber vines. Vining cucumbers need a trellis to lift the fruit off the ground and keep it free of pests and diseases. In order for cucumbers to flourish and produce sweet fruit, they need at least one inch of water per week.
Corn and sunflowers are good neighbors for cucumbers because they don’t compete as fiercely with them because they drink less water. But bush cucumber cultivars don’t need a trellis and can be grown without one.
Reference
- Pollinator-attracting Companion Plantings Increase Crop Yield of Cucumbers and Habanero Peppers
- Effects of seven different companion plants on cucumber productivity, soil chemical characteristics and Pseudomonas community
