# Cucumbers and Cantaloupe



## big rockpile (Feb 24, 2003)

Can you plant Cucumbers and Cantaloupe together? I'm planning on planting them along a Cattle Panel in my Raised Beds and having them grow up on it.

What do i have to be careful planting around Cucumbers? I'm thinking there is some things just don't remember what.

big rockpile


----------



## Callieslamb (Feb 27, 2007)

Yes, you can plant them together. People mostly worry that the fruit won't come out true to type. That is only if you saved the seeds and planted the seeds and even then, I am not sure if cukes and melons cross. 

Growing either plant up will expose more leaf surface to the air, so you will need to water more frequently to have the best fruit.


----------



## mommagoose_99 (Jan 25, 2005)

I think that planting cucumbers and melons near each other actually inhances the fruit of each . I know that pollination is better. It takes many bees to pollinate the flowers to make nice fruit. Poor pollination results in deformed cucumbers and lopsided melons or fruit falling off the vines. Encourage bees to come to your garden you will be rewarded with beautiful fruit.
Linda


----------



## uncle Will in In. (May 11, 2002)

Get ready to treat the vines for squash bugs. Pickles really do well on a cattle panel set at an angle to the ground about 45 degrees. The leaves are on the top side and most of the pickles are on the under side. <> UNK


----------



## BackfourtyMI. (Sep 3, 2007)

The only things I worry about cross pollinating are all the different sweet & Hot peppers, Everything else I just always have planted where it fit the best in the amount of space still left in each row, etc.


----------



## Wolf mom (Mar 8, 2005)

Ah, cool! a question I just learned about in class. :clap:

You have to look to see if they are in the same Species to see if they will cross-pollinate. There are more than one species of cucumbers & the cantaloupe is in the Melo species, so I can't answer that for you. 

You can also tell by the seed shape. Look very similar = will cross. 

Great idea about the cattle panel!


----------



## turtlehead (Jul 22, 2005)

Cukes are very happy growing up a trellis. The fruit is more uniform, clean, and easy to get to. I've not grown melons on a trellis but I read that you'll need to make a "sling" for them, because they're too heavy to just hang from the vine. Dunno if that's correct or not, probably just something to watch for and be aware of.


----------



## vegascowgirl (Sep 19, 2004)

melons and cukes are distant cousins so to speak, so they work well together. The only thing I've heard that cukes don't like to grow close to is fragrant herbs such as dill, sage, basil, etc.


----------



## mooman (May 19, 2008)

Backfourty said:


> The only things I worry about cross pollinating are all the different sweet & Hot peppers, Everything else I just always have planted where it fit the best in the amount of space still left in each row, etc.


I do not worry about the peps. I usually grow half a dozen (sometime more) varieties of hot peps and always sweet peps close together. In the past even in pots sitting next to each other. Have never noticed differences in fruit.......I don't save seeds though.


What about zucs, summer squash and cucs? I always seem to get deformed fruit from this.

Any annuals that I can still plant from seed to bring in the bees? My gardens too utilitarian. Needs some color.


----------



## Danaus29 (Sep 12, 2005)

That's a question I can answer. Flowers that bring in bees are cornflower, ageratum, snapdragon (sooo neat to watch the little bees going after the pollen in those flowers), dwarf sunflowers (not the hybrids, the ones WITH pollen), borage, nasturtium, and there are a couple others I'm forgetting but those are the big ones I have seen in my gardens. The sunflowers are best but they have a short bloom period. I settle for milkweed and cornflower.


----------



## mommagoose_99 (Jan 25, 2005)

If your summer squashes are deformed it is either because the flowers were not completely polinated or you had a pollin eating insect. Check the flowers early in the morning on a sunny day. Do you see several bees? Are there cucumber beetles eating the insides of the flowers? Those are the usual problems. Good luck with your garden.
Linda


----------



## ceresone (Oct 7, 2005)

You know, after reading this and thinking (dangerous, huh)I think I'm going to try my Heirloom Tomatoes up the arch too. Nothing else is ever tall enough for them, so this way, they could keep growing. I fasten 2 cattle panels together at the ends, and skip a raised bed in between, that way a few things that need more shade can grow, in the middle bed.


----------

