Gardening Basics: Vine Crops

Getting Started with Vine Crops
By: the Editors of National Gardening
Before growing your vine crops, you may need to understand a little bit more about vine crop vernacular.

Seed Know-How

When it's time to choose seeds at the garden center or from a seed catalog, check with a gardening neighbor or your local cooperative extension service agent for advice on which varieties do best in your area. Seed companies have developed strains resistant to mildews, mosaic, scab, anthracnose and leaf spot, so you should look for disease-resistant varieties. These are indicated by capitalized letters on the seed packet or in the catalog. (SMR means scab and mosaic resistant, for example.)

It's also smart to start with seeds that have been treated with a powdery fungicide. The fungicide protects the seeds from rotting before they germinate and from damping off, when young seedlings just keel over and die.

Vine Vocabulary

Burpless - Thin-skinned varieties with a long, slender shape and no bitterness.

Cucurbits - The family of plants that includes cucumbers, melons, squashes, pumpkins and gourds.

Gynecious - Having only female flowers on the vine, requiring the presence of male flowers on an accompanying plant for pollination.

Hill - Group of plants or seeds usually arranged in a circle on level ground.

Monoecious - Having both male and female flowers on the same vine.

Mound - Raised soil used for planting in wet areas or in heavy clay soil; usually isolated to one crop or hill.

Netting - Criss-crossed pattern on the skin of muskmelons that becomes more and more pronounced as the fruit ripens.

Parthenocarpic - Seedless varieties that produce fruit without pollination. Because they produce only female flowers, they must be separated from other cucumber varieties. If parthenocarpic flowers are pollinated, the resulting fruits will be misshapened. Often grown as greenhouse cucumbers.

Ribbing - The series of contours along a melon, pumpkin or squashes outer skin. Some varieties have ribbing, some don't.

Slip - The crack that appears in a melon stem where it attaches to the fruit; indicates ripeness.

Spines - The wart-like bumps on gherkins and pickling cucumbers, which hold protective needles that deter pests.

Garden Planning

It seems to be a law of nature that the sweetest, juiciest garden vegetables are the ones that require the most pampering. To be rewarded with fine melons, for instance, you have to treat the plants as if they're on vacation -- lots of sun, water, food and warm weather. But if you treat them like royalty, they'll return the favor by producing delectable fruits.

Reserve a sunny, well-drained spot for your vine crops, preferably with a slight slope to the south. Sunny means at least six hours of full sun every day. The amount of space you allow depends on how many plants you and your family want, and whether or not you plan to support the vines with trellises or fences. If you've never grown vine crops before, it's best to start small. Cucumbers and summer squashes are especially heavy yielders. One hill per person in the household should be more than enough. If you intend to preserve or store much of the harvest, plant more.

To extend your harvest and avoid an overdose of ripe squash or cucumbers, grow two varieties, one that matures early and one that's later. Or, stagger your plantings for continual harvests and to avoid losing an entire crop if weather or disease problems hit.

Some varieties spread more than others. Keep this in mind as you plan your garden. If you plan to use supports, leave a walkway wide enough for you to cultivate by hand or machine. If you intend to let the vines run freely, beware -- some need lots of room. One good place to plant vine crops is at the edge of the garden, so the vines can spread over the lawn.

When To Plant

Wait to plant sensitive vine crops until after the average last frost date, unless you provide protection for them. Your local weather bureau can tell you when the average last frost date is expected, or ask an experienced gardener in your area. The surprising thing is that it's usually earlier than you think.
Planting Vine Crops
By: the Editors of National Gardening
You can plant vining crops in rows, hills, or mounds depending on the layout of your garden.

Row Planting

A row is seeds planted at regular intervals in a straight line. After preparing the soil and working it one last time on planting day, mark the row by stretching a string along the ground between two stakes.

Using a hoe or tiller, make a furrow beside the string. The depth of the furrow depends on your fertilizer. If you use a commercial fertilizer, the furrow only has to be three to four inches deep. If you have bulkier organic matter, make a four- to six-inch-deep furrow, spread two to three inches of manure in it, and top that with two to three inches of soil.

Drop a seed every six to eight inches in the row, depending on the variety. Firm the seeds into the soil with your hand or the back of a hoe, creating good contact between seeds and soil; this is the key to good germination. Cover the seeds with 3/4 to 1 inch of soil and firm again.

Hills

When it comes to planting, a hill isn't raised soil; it's a circle of four to eight seeds. Use similar planting techniques for hills as you would for rows. Mark the planting area, but instead of making a furrow, dig a four- to eight-inch hole for each hill, depending on the bulk of the fertilizer. Space the holes 3 to 10 feet apart, depending on the vegetable. Place either organic or commercial fertilizer such as 5-10-10 in the hole and fill it back to ground level, making sure that at least two inches of soil cover the fertilizer.

Plant six to eight seeds on the perimeter of a circle at each hill, allowing two to three inches between seeds. Drop each seed, firm, cover with soil and firm again, just as in rows. When the seedlings emerge, thin each hill down to the best four or five plants. The extra seeds just ensure a full hill, even if germination is poor.

Mounds

It's important for vine crops that the soil be dry and warm. If your soil stays very wet and you've had trouble raising healthy vine crops, try building up the hills into three- to five-inch-high mounds before planting. Then plant the way you would for hills. These mounds aid the plant's germination and improve the growing environment because the soil warms up and dries out faster.

Vine Spacing

Generally, the longer the growing season, the more the vines will spread, so you'll want to allow more room for winter squash and melons than for summer squash and cucumbers.

Here are some guidelines for seed and row spacing. You can always plant seeds closer together, just for the insurance of good germination. It's easy to thin if there are too many young plants in a row or a hill; it's harder to patch up an incomplete row.

Seeds in Rows

Cucumber -- 6 to 8 inches apart

Summer Squash -- 8 to 10 inches apart

Winter Squash -- 10 to 12 inches apart

Pumpkins -- 10 to 12 inches apart

Cantaloupe -- 6 to 8 inches apart

Watermelon -- 6 to 8 inches apart

Transplants

Cucumber -- 8 to 10 inches apart

Summer Squash -- 10 to 12 inches apart

Winter Squash -- 12 to 14 inches apart

Pumpkins -- 12 to 14 inches apart

Cantaloupe -- 8 to 10 inches apart

Watermelon -- 10 to 12 inches apart

Rows or Hills

Cucumber -- 4 to 6 feet apart

Summer Squash -- 4 to 6 feet apart

Winter Squash -- 6 to 10 feet apart

Pumpkins -- 6 to 10 feet apart

Cantaloupe -- 4 to 6 feet apart

Watermelon -- 6 to 8 feet apart

To thin the rows or hills, allow the same spacing as for transplants. Sprouted seeds are spaced exactly like non-sprouted seeds.

Planting Tricks

Planted with vine crops radishes seem to repel some harmful insects, such as cucumber beetles and black flea beetles. Whether it's their sharp odor or because they exude some chemical that insects dislike, radishes work. Plus, they sprout quickly to mark the row, so you won't disturb the germinating seeds when you cultivate around the hills or rows to keep down weeds.

Sprinkle a few radish seeds in each planting spot. Any early maturing variety will do. Leave the radishes in place until they're way beyond the eating stage. Pull them up when you harvest the first small fruits from the vine. As you remove the radishes, you loosen the soil around the base of the plants, leaving good-sized cavities where the radish roots were. These holes become ducts for air and water, keeping the vine roots better supplied.

Radishes are most effective at warding off insects when vine crops are young. This is also when cucumber beetles can do the most damage, spreading disease that can knock out an entire young crop. By the time the radishes lose some of their potency, the vines are strong and well-established.
Vine Crop Care
By: the Editors of National Gardening
To get a good crop of squash, pumpkins and other vine crops you'll need to care for them well; weeding, watering and fertilizing.

Weed War

The most crucial time to control weeds is when the plants are young, before they start to run. Using a hoe, rake or cultivating tool, stir up the top quarter- to half-inch of soil around your plants at least once a week.

Stay shallow as you cultivate the soil so that you don't injure plant roots. You'll destroy the weed seeds just below the surface; you don't have to worry about deeper weed seeds -- they can only germinate if they're near the surface.

Once the vines start spreading, the broad leaves will shade out many weeds. However, you're bound to get some at the edges of the patch where you left room for the vines to travel. Rake or cultivate this area (one to two inches deep) once a week before the vines reach it and you'll diminish the weed problem.

Mulching

One of the easiest weed controls of all is mulch. It also improves the growing environment.

To mulch, simply cover the ground around your plants with a layer of protective material (straw, hay, grass clippings, newspapers, black plastic). This shades the ground, making it impossible for most weeds to grow. Mulching also conserves moisture in the soil and, with the exception of black plastic, keeps the soil cool around the plants. This is especially important for southern gardeners.

Wait until the soil has really warmed up before mulching your vine crops. Straw, hay or grass clippings need to be three to four inches thick to do the job effectively. Alternately, five or six sheets of newspapers held down with stones will keep the garden weed-free.

Where growing seasons are short, however, and you want your vine crops to receive all the heat they can, stick to black plastic or use no mulch at all.

Thinning

Young plants need room to develop a strong root structure and stem. If they're crowded, they'll survive, but there may be too much competition for a great crop.

If you plant six to eight seeds in each hill and they all come up, thin out all but the best three or four plants when they're a few inches high.

Thin plants in rows to stand 8 to 12 inches apart, depending on the variety. There's no trick to thinning these vegetables; just pull up the smaller, least healthy-looking plants and leave the others.

Gardeners usually discard the thinnings, but you can also transplant them to fill in a spotty row. If you try this, handle the seedlings with care -- use a big spoon or trowel to dig them and move them with lots of soil surrounding the root balls to protect them.

Side-Dressing Fertilizer

Side-dressing is the application of a small amount of balanced commercial or organic fertilizer to your plants once they're four to five weeks old. It's called side-dressing because you place food a few inches to the side of the plants, where it will gradually seep down to the roots. This boost helps the plants increase production of high quality fruit, and it's especially important for vine crops.

During the plant's development there comes a time when it stands upright at a height of 12 inches or more. That's the time to side-dress. The next time you see it, it will have flopped over and the vines will start to run or sprawl along the ground as they grow. At that point, the plants put their energy into producing vines, blossoms and fruit, and they can really use the extra food.

If you're using balanced commercial fertilizer such as 10-10-10, make a shallow furrow down both sides of each row, or around each hill, about four to five inches away from the base of the plants. Sprinkle the fertilizer evenly in the furrow -- one tablespoon for each two to three feet of row, and the same amount around each hill. Cover the fertilizer with one inch of soil.

If you side-dress with bulky organic matter, such as manure, make the furrow deeper and a few inches further from the plants. Spread the manure evenly in the furrow and cover it with an inch or two of soil.

Make it your golden rule to underfertilize if there's any doubt about how much to add. It's easy to do your plants more harm than good with "one more handful for good measure."
Harvesting Vining Crops
By: the Editors of National Gardening
One of the wonderful things about having your own garden is that you control when you harvest your vegetables. You can pick them immediately before preparing them to ensure that you have the freshest produce anywhere. Even better, you can also have the youngest. Most commercial growers don't pick tiny vegetables, knowing they'll get more for their money by waiting a few days. But the best picks -- especially for cucumbers and summer squash -- are the smallest vegetables on the vine. Don't worry if it takes six zucchini to make a meal -- there will be lots more where they came from, so splurge! Just be careful not to step on the vines when you harvest -- you may kill the plants.

Harvesting Big Squash

If a crop gets ahead of your harvest efforts -- zucchini has a habit of doing this -- and the fruits grow large enough, the plant will stop producing and go on to the next stage of reproduction. You can still eat those larger vegetables, although they won't taste quite as good as younger ones. Cucumber skins toughen as they mature, and summer squash loses some of its flavor.

If your vacation time coincides with the first harvest and you'll be away from home, ask someone to keep the cucumbers or squashes picked, and offer them the produce. When you get back from your vacation, your vines will still be producing actively.

Harvesting Melons

There are several ways to judge a melon's ripeness, and most people learn from experience, which is the most dependable method. Here are tips for valid signs of ripeness for muskmelons and watermelons.

Smell -- check ripeness by smelling for a strong, "musky" or perfumey scent around the stem-end of the melon. That unmistakable odor means ripeness every time.

Skin -- when the skin color changes from green to yellow or tan and the netting becomes pronounced, the melon is ripe.

Stem -- as fruits start to ripen the stems separate or slip from the fruit, with very little pressure. A crack appears between the stem and the fruit, signaling the prime harvest time. When the stem finally separates completely, which is called full slip, the melon is very ripe and won't last long before turning soft and mushy. Watch the slip signs and try to eat the ripest melons first to give yourself a steady supply of good ones.

Harvesting Watermelons

Color -- check the spot where the watermelon rests on the ground. As the melon ripens, that "ground spot" turns from whitish to a deep, creamy yellow. Also, the melon's shiny surface dulls somewhat when it's ripe.

Thumps -- unripe melons make a sharp ringing sound when rapped and ripe ones sound muffled. However over-ripe melons make that same dead sound, so this isn't the most reliable test.

Curly-cues -- watch the tendrils on the stems to judge ripeness. When the tendril closest to a fruit turns brown and dries up, the melon is ripe. Beware, though: Some varieties may show this sign and not ripen for several more days, so you could be disappointed.