Vegetable Garden Planting Vine Crops (Soil, Sowing, Fertilizer, Watering and harvest)

If you have a big garden and a tiller, use this method to plant vine crops and you’ll save a lot of time.

1. I till the planting area about 6 to 8 inches down. Then I slip my furrowing attachment onto my tiller and plow a 4- or 6-inch furrow where the row will be. The straighter the better.
2. I sprinkle in compost or other natural fertilizers, or place a thin band of 5-10-10 fertilizer at the, bottom of the furrow. Vine crops like fertilizer; put it where the roots will find it.
3. I cover the fertilizer with soil from the sides of the furrow and level it out. (Whenever I plant seeds, I get the soil as smooth and level as possible.)
4. I place the seeds at appropriate intervals down the furrow. The planting surface will be an inch or two below ground level. That’s fine. Don’t always “go by the book” when you plant vine crop seeds. The plants may do best 10 to 12 inches or more apart, but that doesn’t mean you should space the seeds that way. If a few don’t come up, you will have unproductive gaps in the row. Instead, plant them a little thicker and thin them after they come up.
5. Tamp the seeds down with the back of the hoe and cover them with ³/4 to 1 inch of soil. Sprinkle in a few radish seeds and firm the row down one last time.
6. I like to plant this way because it’s fast. I do each job completely before moving on to the next. With hill planting, however, it’s just the opposite. You’re continually moving from your hoe to fertilizer bag, to seed packet, to hoe, and back to fertilizer bag.

It’s possible to grow many of the vine crop family on trellises. Cucumbers grow well on a trellis and so do gourds, some varieties of winter squash and even pumpkins (with a little bit of extra support).

The most sensible trellis is one that lasts. I make mine out of sturdy posts and tough 3- or 4-foot chicken wire. Install your trellis on or before planting day. (If you pound stakes into the ground later, you may injure the roots.)

I place mine on a slight slant so that the prevailing winds will push the plants onto, and not away from, the trellis. Slanting the trellis also makes it easier for the plants to climb.

Trellises are not maintenance-free. You have to guide the plants up the trellis and sometimes tie vines to it. Heavy gourds, small pie pumpkins, or some acorn squash may need additional tie-ups to hold the vegetables against the trellis.

There’s always open soil on the back side of my trellis early in the season. It’s a good spot for a crop of lettuce, onion sets, or a quick crop of greens like turnips or chard. It’s a way to have a “two-story” garden—a vine crop climbing above and another crop huddling near the trellis at ground level.

If you grow vine crops on a trellis, watch their water supply. Trellised plants, because they are more exposed to wind and sun, can lose moisture quickly.

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