Growing cucumbers on a trellis is fun and easy

by teddletonmr

Grow cucumbers on this easy to build garden trellis, enjoy growing cukes vertically, easier weeding, and harvest perfectly vine-ripened cucumber.

Ah yes, cucumbers left to their own devices do send creeping vines along the garden in all directions. This garden design not only takes up a lot of valuable garden space, the vining plants produce dark green foliage resulting in ground clutter that makes weeding, and proper harvesting cukes at the perfect size. Pickling, salad fixings, or a delicious cucumber sandwich a big pain in our backside. Consequently, growing harvesting and enjoying cucumbers in raised beds, small and large garden spots more work than many gardeners care for.
The quick and easy time and labor saving solution gardeners in the know enjoy. That does solve these and other problems. Build the sturdy, inexpensive garden trellis described here. This method uses easy to find materials, and unbelievably easy to follow step by step instructions on the best way to put everything together.
Continue reading this article to discover the pleasure of growing cucumbers on a trellis. That will absolutely make growing cukes fun, easy and more rewarding than you believe possible, and you too will want to break out in your own version of the gardeners happy dance.

Stuff needed to build cucumber trellis

Supporting poles, nylon trellis netting, fence panels, or concrete reinforcing wire

Supporting poles / metal T fence post:  

When selecting the best poles, or fence posts for use in building a sturdy garden trellis. One extremely important thing we need keep in mind. Our garden trellis must support not only the combined weight of maturing cucumber plants, and all the ripening cukes hanging from the vines. As gardeners in the know will attest, mature cucumber vines full of ripening cukes. Do become quite heavy, and tend to catch not only mild summer breezes blowing dust. Vines full of ripening cukes will catch the strong winds from summer rain filled thunderstorms, which will most definitely topple weakly built cucumber trellises, jeopardizing some unlucky gardener’s entire harvest season.

Heavy and light-duty metal fence posts

No whole digging required simply drive T-posts using a post driver

light-duty metal fence postInexpensive and easily obtained at any farm supply store, or the amazon links included in this article. Heavy-duty T-posts are available in many different lengths; 5-foot, 6, and even 8-foot lengths work great for taller fence style garden trellises. The thing to keep in mind here, when selecting the proper size fence post, remember you will need to allow at least one foot of a heavy or light-duty metal post length for driving into loosely tilled and loamy garden soils.

Which is to say, loose slightly compacted and sandy soils do require driving posts as much as 6-inches to a foot deeper. Test by leaning on the top of the post a bit, the trick here is to not bend to post, simply make sure the post is deep enough the fence post is not easily pushed over.

Caution, the 5 - foot light -duty metal fence post pictured just to the left, are extremely easy to bend, it is best to only used light - duty post for trellises not more than 4 - foot tall, taller trellis use the heavy -duty posts..

 

Arched cucumber trellis

Built using concrete reinforcing wire and heavy - duty T posts
Arched cucumber trellis
Arched cucumber trellis
Photo by teddletonmr

Installing / driving T-post

Post driver makes driving T - posts safer, easier and faster.

The good thing about using T-post is there are no holes to dig. Simply layout and mark on the ground where you need a post with a little chalk dust or marking paint. I have found a post every 4-foot, 6-inches, or so. Works well when using a 5-wide roll of concrete reinforcing wire cut to length creating an arched garden trellis, similar to the trellis pictured above.

The best, safest, and by far the easiest way to drive metal T - posts into the soil, use a fence post driver like the one in the picture to the right.

Heavy duty T - post driver

Save time and money, buy here today
Speeco Farmex S16110100-PP161101 Post Driver
Only $44.48

How to drive metal T-post

Rase post driver 1-foot off top of T-post and drop
How to drive metal T-post
How to drive metal T-post
Photo by teddletonmr

Layout cucumber trellis

Step one: Layout fence posts with the bottom of each post setting on the locations you marked indicating where you want to build the trellis. The top of each post 6 - inches is painted white, or yellow, the bottom end of each post has a metal cleat attached one foot from the opposite painted end. Drive post into soil so metal cleat top edge is level with, or just a bit under the surface.

 

Align trellis support posts

Step two: Determine which side of the T-post you want to attach the concrete wire, fence panels, or nylon trellis netting before driving posts haphazardly.

The photo just to the right of this paragraph, illustrates the flat side of each post facing away from the wood fence. With 11-foot lengths of 5-foot wide concrete reinforcing wire overlapped at each post, and attached along the height of each, post with a bit of tie wire on the fence post side of the trellis.  

 

 

Cucumber trellis support post
Cucumber trellis support post
photo by teddletonmr
How to build cucumber trellis
How to build cucumber trellis
Photo by teddletonmr

Attach trellis wire to T-posts

Tips for cutting concrete reinforcing wire, overlap, and attach

Step three: Each section of concrete wire should overlap at, and attach to, each metal post, working from left to right every foot or so in height. Starting at ground level and working towards the top of each post makes the job of overlapping and attaching each section of wire to each post easier.

 

Easy to use tie wire

$16.99  $7.76

Tip for cutting concrete wire to length, when cutting the wire to length my experience has shown cutting each horizontal wire flush with the vertical wire. Leaves uniform lengths of wire approximately 6-inch long, that work well as anchors when pushed into the ground. Personally, I prefer to use the bits of wire to attach the trellis to the fence via eye-bolts secured to the wood fence.      

Additionally, attach wire to post using a 12-inch piece of the tie wire recommended in this article, wrap the tie wire around each horizontal strand of concrete wire on each side of the post, and wrap the tie wire behind the T-post a couple times and twist the ends together.

Builiding cucumber trellis

Building cucumber trellis
Building cucumber trellis
Photo by teddletonmr

Helpful stuff you will need

Eye-bolts attach wire to wood fence , bolt cutter cut concrete wire,
Crown Bolt 62549 Number 10 Zinc Plate...
Only $6.24
TEKTON 3388 12-Inch Bolt Cutter
Only $34.65

Happy gardeners dance

Updated: 11/16/2014, teddletonmr
 
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Growing cucumbers on a trellis chat

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teddletonmr on 01/19/2023

DerdriuMarriner, using a non-treated Yellow Pine, will work well for building a cucumber trellis. However, over time ground contact will cause the Yellow Pine timbers to weaken.

DerdriuMarriner on 01/19/2023

You mentioned in your wizzley about bamboo-poled beans that yellow pine serves as an alternative to bamboo poles.

Would yellow pine be the best wood for a fence arch-trellised to t fence-posts for cucumbers?

frankbeswick on 11/17/2014

You will have to wait for more ideas as, being in North West England, the growing season, even for non-heated greenhouses, is over. However, I got myself a vine, which is still surviving, and I am going to construct a trellis for vine and cucumbers. I will keep you informed. I am thinking of getting another greenhouse, a fabric one, so I can boost my protected cultivation. This is important, as many of us are concerned over the unpredictability of the weather. Add this to a "walk in wonderwall. " a fabric tunnel, there's much protected cultivation to go on

teddletonmr on 11/17/2014

@frankbeswick happy to inspire, hope to hear more about your idea for the greenhouse.

frankbeswick on 11/17/2014

You have given me an idea for the greenhouse next year.

teddletonmr on 11/17/2014

Pam, did you notice the speckled gourd growing along the fence?

dustytoes on 11/17/2014

That is a nice set up for growing cukes and would work for any climbing veggie.

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