What grows well with Cucumber? Are you also curious about that? Summer is here and you have planted cucumber. But that’s not it! Cucumbers thrive well in summer but they do extraordinarily great in the company of a few plants. Companion planting can be a great way to grow plants just like the Mediterranean plants. It is a process in which two different plants are grown near to provide benefit to both of them or only in a few cases.
Cucumbers can be grown near vegetables, fruits, herbs, and flowers that will enhance their growth and provide support or other benefits. Cucumber companion planting is just not to get benefits from other plants but cucumber also provides many benefits to the buddy it is growing with.
What are good companions in companion planting?
Good companion plants like tomatillo are plants that will help another plant to grow well by enhancing its functioning. Good companion plants improve the quality of soil, soil and keep insects and harmful agents away from a particular plant.
What are bad companions in companion planting?
Bad companions are the plants that are seen to inhibit the growth of plants and can damage the plant in one way or another. It can be taking away all the nutrients from the soil, competing with the plants, etc.
Benefits of cucumber companion planting
- Many plants like marigolds, chives, catnips, etc are plants that can repel many insects and pests from the main plant.
- Pants like bush beans and pole beans keep the soil nutrients maintained in the soil by improving the quality of soil too. Legumes have a good tendency with nitrogen-fixing bacteria to fix a good amount of nitrogen into the soil.
- If you want your cucumber plants to grow fastly, you need to plant them with good companions. These plants release some chemicals that enhance the growth of cucumber plants, whether in a pot or garden
- Some plants like oregano form great ground covers that extend well on the soil and keep the soil cool and moist. Cucumbers grow in full sun and also need moist drained soil for growing well.
What grows well with Cucumber?
1.) Vegetables
Beans and peas: fix nitrogen into the soil due to the presence of Rhizobium bacteria on their roots.
Corn: for this, choose short-sized cucumber plants. The corn acts as good support for the cucumber vines on the other hand cucumber can act as a good shade for the soil to keep it cool and moist.
Beets and celery: these plants provide neutral company to the cucumbers. They both don’t bother each other. Beets can be a great healthy vegetable to go in a salad with cucumbers.
Lettuce: lettuce is a good companion to plants like radishes, strawberries, cucumbers, and carrots. They don’t do any harm to cucumbers
Radishes: cucumbers have long roots, with a taproot and lateral tiny roots, on the contrary radishes are root vegetables. These contrasting root systems will help the cucumber grow with no competition.
Onion: Onions don’t invade the cucumber plants, providing them with good space due to pests don’t attack the cucumber.
2.) Flowers
Marigold: don’t let aphids come near cucumber plants
Nasturtium is a great pollinator attractor, and also attracts aphids that otherwise would harm cucumber and other vegetable plants. Make sure that your plants’ nasturtium is far away from vegetables
Sunflower: act as a natural trellis for cucumber vines
Borage: Borage has attractive huge flowers that can attract many pollinators and some beetles that can cause diseases in vegetables.
3.) Herbs
Catnip, chives, oregano: having a strong aroma, these herbs are useful to deter many beetles and insects away from the garden. They also repel many pests.
Dill: attract useful pollinators into the garden and repel harmful pests and mites like spider mites.
Tansy: they are useful for cucumber in repelling Japanese beetles, cucumber beetles, cutworms, pests, etc. they also keep the deers away from the garden.
What not to grow alongside cucumber?
1.) Vegetables
Potatoes: Potatoes are vicious feeders and compete with cucumbers for water and nutrients.
Cabbage, Cauliflower, Kale, Kohlrabi, and Brussel sprouts: They compete with cucumber for water as they have similar water needs
2.) Herbs
Basil: basils are companions of cucumbers as they usually give strong good flavor to tomatoes, so no need to grow them near cucumbers
Sage: this makes the flavor of cucumber worse.
Mint: Mint plants invade the space of cucumbers, and also compete with them for nutrients.
Fennel: inhibit the growth of cucumber plants.
3.) Fruits
Melons: Melons are bad companions of cucumbers as they both share common pests and are vining types of plants.
Final thoughts on context:
Cucumbers are the best salad plants and can be ingredient in many tasty dishes. Planting cucumbers in the garden is beneficial no doubt. You want your plant to be healthy and thrive well. We have let you know the way you can do cucumber companion planting to get good fruits, nice growth, and other benefits. We hope you liked our effort on this.
FAQ:
Can two cucumber plants grow together?
When two cucumbers are growing together, there will be a lack of space between them due to the leaves and roots of the cucumber. A good space is provided for the healthy growth of cucumbers so that they don’t get infected by pests, mites, and insects and are well aerated.
How far apart should cucumber plants be?
Spacing is required near the cucumber plants as they are tender and need good air to stay pest-free. It is advised to space the cucumber at least 40-60 inches apart from each other while for other plants keep them 12-13 inches apart.
Do cucumber plants need to climb?
Easy put, yes if you want the cucumber fruits away from attacks of rodents, other animals, and insects, then you need vertical support for cucumbers. They can grow well on the ground too but that does not mean they are safe. They are near to the ground which means they can become the food of other creatures easily before getting into your mouth.
Do cucumbers need full sun?
Yes, cucumber needs full sun with well-drained soil having a mix of sandy soil. The soil should have a pH of 6-6.5 and direct sun is needed by cucumbers at least 6-8 hours a day to thrive well.
I am usually trying new strategies to increase the success of new plants in the Garden, I try my best to publish those on Gardening Hood as soon as possible.
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