Chapter 8: Vigorous Vines: Cucumbers, Melons, Pumpkins, and Squash

In This Chapter

Choosing the best vining varieties for your garden

Understanding how to grow and maintain your viners

If the heat is on, it's time to grow your vining veggies. This group of vegetables is part of the cucumber family (Cucurbitaceae), and it includes cucumbers, melons, squash, and pumpkins. Gourds also are in this family, but I discuss them in Chapter 11.

What all these vegetables have in common is their love of heat, their ability to grow long stems (and vine to great lengths), and the fact that they have separate male and female flowers on the same plant. Unlike the other vegetables that I mention in this book (which have both male and female parts in the same flower), the viners need someone to play Cupid and bring pollen from the male flower to the female flower in order to produce fruit. This process is called pollination, and usually bees play the role of the chubby cherub. Of course, there are exceptions to the Cupid rule, and I discuss them in the sections about the individual vegetables in this chapter.

This large family of vegetables is known for producing lots of fruits and taking up lots of room in the process. However, modern plant breeders have responded to the need for smaller, space-saving vegetable plants by breeding bush (nonvining) varieties of some favorite cucumber-family crops. So now you have one more reason to grow some cucumbers and squash. Actually, if you've ever tasted a vine-ripened melon or cucumber or baked a homegrown winter squash, you're probably hooked. Their flavor and texture are much better than anything you can buy in stores, and if you grow too many vegetables, you can always give them away to hungry neighbors.

Checking Out Cool Cukes

Cucumber varieties usually are categorized two ways: as slicers and picklers. Slicing-cucumber varieties are long, smooth-skinned cucumbers that tend to be larger, a darker shade of green, and have thicker skin with fewer bumps (spines) than pickling varieties, which are short and prickly. Slicing cucumbers are the ones you're probably most familiar with from grocery stores; they're great in salads and other recipes, but they're also super for munching. Of course, you can use pickling varieties the same ways you use slicing varieties, and they're great when eaten fresh, but if you want to make pickles, the pickling varieties have better textures for it.

The easiest cucumber varieties to grow are the hybrid bush types. These varieties, such as ‘Salad Bush', are good producers, are disease resistant, and produce a small vining plant that can grow in a container. Bush types don't produce as many cucumbers as larger vining varieties, nor do they produce them all summer long. But if you have a small family, a few bush varieties should be plenty.

To round out the cucumber field in this section, I describe some unusual heirloom (old-fashioned) varieties and some modern, seedless cucumber varieties that produce fruit without pollination. If you plant one of the seedless varieties (these varieties actually have seeds, but the seeds aren't developed), avoid planting any other cucumber varieties in your garden. If a seedless variety gets pollinated by bees, edible but seedy fruits will result. For that reason, gardeners often grow these varieties in greenhouses, which protect the plants from bees. (See the section "Ensuring proper pollination," later in this chapter, for more information.)

Before you choose: Brushing up on some cucumber vocabulary

When you're reading about cucumber varieties, you may notice some words — such as gherkin and gynoecious (guy-NEE-shous) — that would challenge even the best Scrabble player. Fortunately, you don't need to memorize these terms to grow good cucumbers. However, they do enable you to figure out the type of cucumber that you're buying — and impress your friends! Here are some terms to be familiar with:

Burpless: This thin-skinned cucumber type has a long, slender shape and a mild flavor that isn't bitter. It's said to produce less intestinal gas than other varieties, which clearly explains where it got its name.

Gherkin: Actually, this type is a whole different species of cucumber (Cucumis anguria). It's used commercially as a pickling cucumber. Gherkins have small, oval shapes and prickly skin. As far as the home gardener is concerned, this species difference has no effect.

Gynoecious: This type of cucumber has only female flowers and requires the presence of a male pollinating cucumber variety to produce fruit. Usually, seed companies include seeds of a pollinating variety in packets of gynoecious cucumbers; the seeds are marked with a bright-colored coating.

Monoecious: This cucumber type has both male and female flowers on the same plant. Most cucumber varieties are of this type.

Oriental cucumbers: This type of cucumber tends to be a thin, long-fruited variety with ribbing on its skin.

Parthenocarpic: This cucumber type is seedless, producing fruit without pollination. Varieties of this type produce only female flowers and need to be separated from other cucumber varieties. Otherwise, if they're pollinated, they may produce misshapen fruits and form fruits with seeds. (You can still eat them; they'll just look funny.) This cucumber type is often grown in greenhouses.

Surveying common cucumber varieties

After you know a bit of the language, take a look at some of my favorite cucumber varieties. Most of these varieties vine 4 to 5 feet unless I note otherwise. Regular production of cucumbers is about 12 pounds per 10-foot row (about 10 cukes per plant). Choose varieties based on disease resistance, size, productivity, and adaptability. The days to maturity are from seeding in the ground until first harvest. Consider these varieties:

‘Armenian': This unique heirloom, which also is known as the snake cucumber or yard-long cucumber, actually is part of the melon family (C. melo). ‘Armenian' produces 5-foot-long vines and burpless, nonbitter, 12- to 15- inch-long ribbed slicing fruits in 60 days. It sets fruits even in high temperatures when cucumbers normally won't set fruit, making it a good choice for hot summer climates.

‘Bush Pickle': This hybrid bush pickling variety produces 4-inch pickles all at once on 2- to 3-foot-diameter plants that mature in 45 days.

‘County Fair': This hybrid pickling variety produces 3-inch-long cukes on 2- to 3-foot-long vines. It's best known for its disease resistance, especially to bacterial wilt (see "Controlling pests and diseases" later in this chapter). Choose this variety if cucumber beetles (which spread the disease) are a problem in your area. It matures in 50 days.

‘Diva': This All-America Selections (AAS; see Chapter 4) winner is a hybrid bush slicing cucumber that has it all. It's parthenocarpic, nonbitter, mildew and scab resistant, and has a thin, no-peel skin. It produces 5-inch-long cukes in 58 days.

‘Fanfare': This AAS winner is a hybrid slicing cucumber that grows on a semi-bush plant (bigger than a bush variety, but not as rambling as other slicers). It vines to 4 feet, has lots of disease resistance, and produces 8-inch fruits in 63 days.

‘Homemade Pickles': This disease-resistant monoecious, open-pollinated pickler produces 5-foot-long vines and heavy yields of 6-inch-long fruits throughout the season. This variety matures in 55 days.

‘Lemon': This unique monoecious, heirloom variety produces yellow, lemon-shaped fruits that are crisp and mild flavored. This slicer matures in 64 days.

‘Little Leaf': This unique parthenocarpic, open-pollinated pickling variety has compact, multibranched vines that yield well even when stressed. The leaves are half the normal cucumber leaf size, making it easier to find and harvest the 3- to 4-inch-long fruits. This pickler matures 55 days from seeding.

‘Salad Bush': This AAS winner is a hybrid, bush slicing variety that needs only 2 square feet to produce its 8-inch fruits. It matures in 57 days.

‘Suyo Long': This unusual Oriental-type slicing cucumber is burpless, mostly seedless, and produces 15-inch fruits. It matures in 61 days.

‘Sweet Success': This AAS winner is a seedless, parthenocarpic slicing variety with slender, 14-inch-long fruits that have tender skin and good disease resistance. It matures in 54 days.

‘Tasty Jade': This is a vigorous-growing hybrid bush Oriental cucumber that produces thin-skinned, 11-inch-long ribbed, parthenocarpic fruits. This good greenhouse variety matures in 54 days.

Melons: The Sweet, Juicy Vining Plant

Compared to cucumbers with their various sexual combinations and vine lengths, melons are, well, easy. They all have separate male and female flowers on each plant (which categorizes them as monoecious), and they all need about 6 to 8 feet of space to vine. Many different types of melons with many unique flavors are available. A number of melons can be harvested on the unripe side and left to mature off the vine while still producing their sweet flavor. (See the later section "Harvesting your vining crop" for more on harvesting melons.) In the following sections, I describe several kinds of melons and share some of my favorite melon varieties.

Distinguishing different types of melons

Most gardeners are familiar with the two most popular types of melons: muskmelons (also known as cantaloupes) and watermelons. But more and more exotic melon types continue to show up in produce markets and seed catalogs. These exotic types include crenshaw, honeydew, and charentais. They're similar to muskmelons, but they offer a tropical, juicy flavor. Watermelons come in the traditional "let's have a picnic" oblong shape as well as the more compact, round shape (also called an icebox shape). Yellow-fleshed and seedless watermelon varieties also are available. Most muskmelons tend to weigh between 2 and 5 pounds, but watermelons can run from 8 pounds to between 20 and 30 pounds. And you thought all melons are alike!

When is a cantaloupe not a cantaloupe? When it's a muskmelon. The round, netted, tan-colored, orange-fleshed fruits that you see in grocery stores usually are sold as "cantaloupes." However, true cantaloupes are tropical fruits that have green flesh and hard skin and are rarely seen in this country. What people from the United States refer to as cantaloupes technically are muskmelons.

Here's a description of some specialty melons you might like to try:

Charentais: This traditional French melon has modern varieties that look like muskmelons. It has deep orange flesh and a honeylike flavor.

Crenshaw: This salmon-fleshed, oval-shaped melon with dark green skin turns mottled yellow when ripe. It needs a long season (about 4 months) to mature.

Honeydew: This sweet, juicy melon has smooth tan skin and pale green flesh; unlike other melons, it doesn't continue to ripen off the vine. These melons store longer than muskmelons.

Mediterranean: This group of melons includes many types, such as Israeli, Galia, Piel de Sapo (Christmas), Canary, and Middle Eastern. This is a large group of tropical melons that generally have yellow skin and sweet, aromatic, pale green or white flesh when mature.

Perusing popular melon varieties

Like all cucumber-family crops, melons need warmth, water, space, and sun. For these reasons, they grow well in the Southeast and the Southwest United States. But with the right variety selection and some growing tricks (see the "Growing Those Vines" section later in this chapter), cool-climate gardeners also can enjoy these sweet, juicy fruits. The days to maturity noted in the following sections are from seeding in the garden until first harvest.

Muskmelons and specialty melons

Here are some popular muskmelon and specialty melon varieties:

‘Alaska': This early hybrid muskmelon variety grows well in areas with short growing seasons. It produces 4-pound fruits in 70 days.

‘Ambrosia': This 5-pound hybrid muskmelon has sweet, salmon-colored flesh and good resistance to powdery mildew disease. It matures in 86 days.

‘Amy': This AAS-winning hybrid muskmelon is firm and deliciously scented. The vines tolerate poor soils and only grow 6 feet long, maturing 3- to 4-pound fruits with white flesh and canary-colored skin in 70 days.

‘Early Crenshaw': This hybrid early-maturing crenshaw-type melon produces 14-pound fruits with mild-flavored, peach-colored flesh. It matures in 90 days.

‘Earli-Dew': This early-maturing hybrid honeydew-type melon has lime green flesh and produces 2- to 4-pound fruits. It matures in 85 days.

‘Hale's Best': This popular heirloom muskmelon features 3- to 4-pound fruits with succulent, deep salmon-colored flesh in 80 days.

‘Lambkin': This hybrid AAS-winning Piel de Sapo or Christmas melon hails from Spain. This variety features 2- to 4-pound fruits with beautiful mottled green- and gold-colored skin and honey-sweet white flesh. It matures quickly in 70 days.

‘Passport': This hybrid Galia-type, 5- to 6-pound melon has light green flesh. It has good disease resistance, is widely adapted, and matures in 73 days.

‘Savor': This hybrid Charentais-type melon features 2-pound fruits with sweet, orange flesh. This great, small melon matures in 78 days.

‘Sugar Nut': This hybrid Canary-type melon produces 2-pound fruits with sweet, white flesh. Because of their diminutive size, they're perfect for snacking. This variety matures in 77 days.

Watermelons

The following are popular watermelon varieties:

‘Crimson Sweet': This oval-shaped, open-pollinated watermelon variety produces sweet, red-fleshed, 25-pound fruits and has good disease resistance. It matures in 90 days.

‘Moon and Stars': This heirloom oblong-shaped watermelon features 25-pound fruits with dark green skin with yellow "moon and stars" markings (squint and you can see them — or what passes for them) and has very sweet, pink flesh. The variety matures in 95 days.

‘Orange Sunshine': This very sweet, oval, seedless, orange-fleshed variety produces 10- to 15-pound fruits in 85 days.

‘Sugar Baby': This round, compact, open-pollinated watermelon variety produces icebox-size (8- to 10-pound), red-fleshed fruits with a mottled green skin in 85 days. Youngins love this sweet, kid-sized fruit.

‘Sweet Beauty': This AAS-winning, oval-shaped, red, seedless variety features 5- to 6-pound fruits that mature in 80 days.

‘Yellow Doll': This hybrid, oval-shaped, yellow-fleshed watermelon produces 4- to 8-pound fruits in 70 days.

Seedless watermelon varieties may germinate more slowly than other varieties, especially in cool soils (below 65 degrees Fahrenheit). So wait until the soil is warm before seeding and give them a few more days than the other watermelon varieties to germinate.

Unearthing the Humble Squash

Squash may not be as glamorous as their melon cousins, but boy can they produce. Whether you're growing summer squash or winter squash, they'll produce an abundance of fruit and flowers with seemingly little attention. Just ask any gardener friend who has grown zucchini before, and he or she will attest to how prolific these vegetables are. In the following sections, I define different kinds of squash and describe many popular squash varieties.

One way to slow squash production is to eat the flowers. They taste great stuffed with cheese and herbs or sautéed with olive oil and garlic, along with some Italian bread.

Different squash types

Before setting out to incorporate squash into your garden, the first order of business is to define the different types. They're generally broken into two categories — summer squash and winter squash. From there you'll find all sorts of different types. The following list should help:

Summer squash are bush-type plants whose fruits are harvested when they're tender and immature. Summer squash usually are separated into yellow, straight, or crookneck varieties; green zucchini varieties; or green-, white-, or yellow-skinned, scallop-shaped, "patty-pan" fruit varieties, as shown in Figure 8-1. (This last group got its name because the fruits resemble the pie shells used in England for baking vegetable, meat, or fish "patties.") Summer squash usually mature within 2 months of planting and continue to produce all season long. Summer squash don't store well, however.

Winter squash have vining or bush-type plants whose fruits are harvested when they're fully mature. They mature after 3 months or more of growing and are best harvested after the cool, fall weather sets in. You can store them for months in a cool basement — hence the name winter squash. They're also good for baking.

You can easily get lost in the maze of winter squash types, so here's a quick list of the most popular types. I include the botanical names, too, for you Latin buffs.

• Acorn (Cucurbita pepo): This squash type has black, dark green, or white skin and an acorn-shaped, ribbed fruit. It has pale yellow flesh.

• Buttercup (Cucurbita maxima): This green or orange, turban-shaped type has a "button" on the end of its fruits. It has dry, orange flesh.

• Butternut (Cucurbita moschata): This bottle-shaped squash has smooth, tan-colored skin and moist, orange flesh at maturity.

• Delicata (Cucurbita pepo): This small, green- and yellow-striped, zucchini-shaped squash has sweet, pale yellow flesh.

• Hubbard (Cucurbita maxima): This large, blue or green, oval-shaped squash has a long neck and dry yellow or orange flesh.

• Kabocha (Cucurbita maxima): This buttercup-like squash has drier and sweeter flesh than other types. It's the latest winter squash craze.

• Spaghetti (Cucurbita pepo): This oblong, tan-colored squash has yellow flesh with a stringy, spaghetti-like texture. Kids think it's cool that a squash could look like spaghetti, so consider impressing your own children (or your neighbor's) by growing this type.

Keep your squash areas weeded and watered, and you'll be rewarded with super squash. Just remember to give the plants room to grow. Summer squash varieties tend to stay in a bush form, but they still need a few feet to spread out. And even though winter squash do come in bush forms, most of the best-flavored varieties have at least 6-foot vines. Check out the later section "Planting and feeding" for the full scoop on growing squash and other viners with ease.

Popular squash varieties

The lists of summer and winter squash varieties in the following sections include some of my favorites; they're easy to grow, produce well consistently, and have a sweet flavor. The days to maturity are from seeding in the garden until first harvest.

Summer squash varieties

The following are my favorite summer squash varieties:

‘Black Beauty': This standard open-pollinated, zucchini-type variety produces tons of dark green, slender fruits on open, easy-to-harvest bush plants in 60 days. Zucchinis can be gold-colored as well, such as with the AAS-winning ‘Gold Rush' variety. This golden variety matures in 50 days.

‘Magda': This hybrid, light-green-skinned summer squash is a variation on the traditional straight-neck squash. It's shorter and more blocky. It's often called the cousa or Lebanese squash and has a sweet, nutty flavor. The fruits mature in 48 days.

‘Portofino': This classic, deeply ribbed, green- and white-striped hybrid Italian zucchini has a crisp, nutty flesh on open plants. This variety takes 55 days to mature.

‘Sunburst': This hybrid, yellow-skinned patty pan summer squash has tender, scallop-shaped fruits that mature in 50 days. For a green patty pan variety, try the AAS-winning ‘Peter Pan', which matures in 50 days.

‘Yellow Crookneck': This heirloom, smooth, yellow-skinned crookneck squash has a delicate texture and flavor. (Crookneck squash have a bent top, or neck.) The variety takes 50 days to mature.

Winter squash varieties

Good winter squash varieties include the following:

‘Baby Blue Hubbard': This scaled-down version of the typical heirloom 12- to 20-pound ‘Blue Hubbard' winter squash produces 4- to 5-pound fruits with dry, sweet, yellow flesh and a very hard shell. This variety, which matures in 100 days, is especially great for storage and baking.

‘Burgess Buttercup': This 3- to 5-pound open-pollinated winter squash has sweet, fiberless (not stringy), orange flesh. This variety, which matures in 95 days, is one of my personal favorites. (Its sweet flavor and dry flesh taste great with a little maple syrup mixed in!) ‘Bon Bon' is a good hybrid variety.

‘Cornell's Bush Delicata': This AAS-winning variety features bushy plants that are resistant to powdery mildew disease. The green- and white-striped oblong fruits mature in 100 days and have a sweet orange flesh. I love to eat this variety baked.

‘Red Kuri': This attractive, teardrop-shaped, 4- to 7-pound open-pollinated ‘Baby Red Hubbard' squash has orange skin and flesh. It's great for pies and purees and matures in 92 days.

‘Spaghetti': This ivory-skinned, yellow-fleshed, 4- to 5-pound open-pollinated winter squash has stringy, spaghetti-like flesh. Try this one baked and covered with pasta sauce! It takes 88 days to mature.

‘Sweet Sunshine': This hybrid kabocha-type winter squash has bright orange skin and produces 3- to 5-pound fruits with sweet, dry, flaky, deep orange flesh. This variety takes 95 days to mature.

‘Table King': This 6-inch-diameter, green-skinned, open-pollinated acorn winter squash grows on a bush plant. It takes 80 days to mature. A similar gold-colored variety is called ‘Table Gold'.

A newer, smaller-sized hybrid acorn squash called ‘Honey Bear' is great for single servings. It matures in 85 days.

‘Waltham Butternut': This heirloom variety produces light-tan-colored, 5-pound fruits that have smooth-textured orange flesh. It takes 105 days to mature.

Great Pumpkins: Counting the Uses for This Versatile Squash

Pumpkins are the quintessential fall crop in many areas, and most peoples' favorite winter squash. (Yes, pumpkins are squashes, too. Most pumpkin varieties are in the Cucurbita pepo species, directly related to the acorn- and spaghetti-type winter squash that I describe earlier in this chapter.) Pumpkins are used in pies, soups, and casseroles or carved into ghoulish shapes on Halloween. Even their seeds are edible!

Because people are so interested in pumpkins, modern breeders have created many different varieties. Some varieties are great for carving into jack-o'-lanterns, some are bred for cooking, and still others are known for their tasty seeds. When my daughter Elena was young she loved to roast batches of ‘Triple Treat', naked-hulled (thin-hulled) pumpkin seeds because they pop like popcorn. You can bake any pumpkin seeds, but in my opinion, the hulless types are best for flavor and crunchiness. (In case you're wondering, the hull is the coat of the seed.) Other types of pumpkins, like ‘Atlantic Giant', are bred to win awards; they can grow to such huge sizes that they could practically break a truck's suspension.

Pumpkins are grown similar to winter squash and require plenty of space to vine. Here are a few of the most popular pumpkin varieties:

‘Atlantic Giant': This is the pumpkin that sets world records. Technically, it's called a Cucurbita maxima (similar to Hubbard squash). It requires lots of water, heat, and fertilizer to reach the mammoth 1,600-pound, world-record size. This variety looks like a flat tire when it matures. Even though your pumpkin may not weigh 1,600 pounds, a few hundred pounds is still a lot of pumpkin. ‘Atlantic Giant' is open-pollinated and takes 115 days to mature. This is one large vine.

‘Baby Bear': This is the smallest pumpkin variety, so naturally kids are attracted to it. ‘Baby Bear' is an AAS-winning, 2-pound, open-pollinated, minipumpkin that's great for cooking. Its semi-naked (thin-hulled) seeds taste great roasted. This variety matures in 105 days.

‘Connecticut Field': This classic 20-pound, open-pollinated, flat-bottomed, jack-o'-lantern pumpkin is great for carving and baking. It matures on large vines in 115 days.

‘Lumina': This unusual, white-skinned, orange-fleshed, open-pollinated, 20-pound pumpkin can be made into a ghostly looking jack-o'-lantern. It takes 95 days to mature.

‘Rouge Vif d'Etampes': This attractive, red-skinned, French heirloom pumpkin variety, which is also known as ‘Cinderella', is in the Cucurbita maxima species. The 10-pound fruits are short and squat (like a wheel of cheese) and are good in pies. The variety takes 115 days to mature. Another similarly shaped variety is ‘Long Island Cheese', which has tan-colored skin.

‘Small Sugar': Known as the pumpkin for pies, this 4- to 6-pound, open-pollinated variety features smooth-textured flesh and a small seed cavity. It takes 95 days to mature.

‘Triple Treat': This open-pollinated pumpkin is grown especially for its thin-hulled, naked seeds, which are great roasted. You also can carve this 8-pound pumpkin and use its flesh in a pie or bake it. This variety takes 110 days to mature.

The seeds of this all-purpose pumpkin are slower and more finicky about germinating than other pumpkin varieties. So wait until the soil is 65 degrees to plant; you may even want to start it indoors for 3 to 4 weeks before planting outside.

To find out how to grow giant pumpkins and for details about yearly competitions, visit The Pumpkin Patch at www.backyardgardener.com/pumkin.html or Big Pumpkins.com at www.bigpumpkins.com.

Growing Those Vines

Warmth, water, and proper pollination are the keys to growing cucumber-family crops. In the following sections, I explain how to plant, feed, water, pollinate, and harvest your viners; I also provide tips on how to keep pests and diseases under control.

Planting and feeding

Because vining vegetables love the heat, you don't need to rush the season and plant early. Wait until your soil temperature is at least 60 degrees at seeding depth before planting these vegetables. Here are some guidelines for starting viners, based on your climate zone (see the appendix for more about these zones):

Zones 3 and 4: If you live in zones 3 or 4 and have a very short growing season, you may want to start cucumbers, melons, pumpkins, and squash indoors 3 to 4 weeks before your last frost date. Or consider buying transplants at a garden center. To get a jump on the season in cool areas such as zones 3 and 4 (though zones 5 and 6 can also benefit), lay black or dark green plastic mulch on your soil 1 or 2 weeks before planting to heat up the soil (see Chapter 15 for details).

Any other zone: If you live in other climate zones, sowing seeds directly in your garden should work fine. In warm areas such as southern Florida and Texas, you can even start a fall crop of cucumbers or summer squash. Pull out the first group of plants when the summer heat, insects, and diseases become too intense; then plant a fall crop in August to mature 3 or 4 months later.

Plant seeds about 1 inch deep in the soil, and space them far enough apart so they have room to ramble. For vining varieties of cucumbers, melons, squash, and pumpkins, plant hills at least 6 to 10 feet apart. For bush varieties, plant seeds about 2 to 4 feet apart. Follow the spacing guidelines for individual vegetables in the appendix.

Planting in hills is really a misnomer. It means planting four or six seeds in a 1-foot-diameter circle. After germination, you thin these seedlings to two plants per hill.

You also can plant cucumber-family crops in rows, but the hill method is better with the vining types because it enables you to thin the weakest plants and not throw off the spacing between the remaining plants. However, if you're using black plastic mulch (which is necessary in cool areas), your best option is to plant in rows (see Chapter 13 for details).

If you don't have a lot of room in your garden (viners require 4 to 6 feet), but you really want to grow pumpkins, melons, and vining varieties of cucumbers and squash, try these space-saving techniques:

Pinch off the tips of the vines after the fruits have set to keep them from extending too far (see Figure 8-2).

Physically pick up the vines and direct them back toward the plant.

Plant along the edge of your garden so that the vines run into your lawn. That way you don't have to mow as much lawn either.

Grow cucumbers and melons on an A-frame trellis (see Chapter 15 for trellising options), which helps plants grow straighter and stay cleaner. You may need to support melons with a nylon or fabric sling, shown in Figure 8-3, after they form.

The cucumber-family responds better than any other vegetable family to extra doses of manure and compost. Cucumber-family crops love organic matter, so add a generous 3- to 4-inch-thick layer of compost to each planting bed. Sometimes pumpkin plants vine out of old compost or manure piles, which is evidence of how much this vegetable family loves manure. If you don't have a source for manure or compost, work in a handful of balanced organic fertilizer, such as 5-5-5, around each plant. To help increase the fruit count and size, add a side-dressing of the same fertilizer after the plants begin vining. Chapter 15 discusses side-dressing and fertilizer in more detail.

Water, water, water!

Cucumber-family crops are like camels; they're almost 95 percent water at maturity. Without a consistent supply of water, your melons won't taste sweet, your winter squash and pumpkins won't grow large, and your cucumbers will taste bitter. To get the best-sized and best-tasting vining crops, give your plants a consistent supply of water. The general rule is to water so that the soil is wet 6 inches deep. If you're growing your crops with black plastic mulch, consider placing a soaker hose or drip irrigation hose underneath the plastic to ensure that the water gets to the plants. (See Chapter 15 for more watering ideas.) After the soil has warmed, mulch around the plants with a 3- to 4-inch-thick layer of hay or straw to help conserve moisture and keep weeds away. (You don't need to mulch with hay if you're using black plastic, however.)

If you want the sweetest melons, water consistently until a week or so before maturity and then reduce your frequency of watering; the melon fruits will have less water and taste sweeter.

The great thing about this group of vining crops is that after they start growing and running to their hearts delight, they shade the ground, preventing weeds from germinating and keeping the soil moist. They're their own best friends!

Ensuring proper pollination

Proper pollination is a key to growing successful cucumber-family crops, which can pose particular problems. Because most cucumber-family vegetables have separate male and female flowers on the same plant, they need Mother Nature's help to pollinate the female flowers and produce fruit.

Most of the problems that I hear from gardeners — like zucchini rotting before it starts growing, too few fruits on squash plants, and misshapen cucumber fruits — are due to poor insect pollination. Bees are the solution as well as the problem: Honeybees, bumblebees, and many other wild bees carry out pollination, but they're finicky. For example, bees don't fly when the weather is cloudy or too cool. Also, native bee populations are declining because of a variety of environmental and pest problems. Fewer bees mean fewer chances that your flowers will be pollinated. And each cucumber-family crop flower opens for only 1 day.

So what's a gardener to do? Either try to attract bees to your garden by growing a variety of bee-attractive flowers and herbs or else pollinate the flowers yourself! And no, you don't have to buzz around and dress up in a bee costume to fool the plants. Here's a simple way to pollinate crops if you're having trouble getting fruit:

1. Identify the male and female flowers on your plant (see Figure 8-4).

Don't be discouraged if you don't see female flowers at first. Male flowers form about a week ahead of the females. The female flowers will come along; just be patient.

2. Before noon on the morning that the male flower first opens, pick the male flower and then remove the petals to reveal the sexual parts of the flower (the stamen), which contain the yellow pollen.

You use this male flower to pollinate a female flower from the same variety of plant. For example, don't try to use a cucumber flower to pollinate a pumpkin plant.

3. Choose a female flower that has also just opened and swish the stamen around inside that flower. Repeat this process with other female flowers, using the same male flower for two to three pollinations.

Voilà; you've done it. Congratulations, have a cigar!

If your squash and pumpkins are growing close together, and bees cross-pollinate them, will you get a squakin? Not this year at least. Cross-pollination happens when the pollen from one variety or type of plant goes to a different variety or type of plant. Only the same species of Cucurbits can cross-pollinate each other. For example, a cucumber can't cross-pollinate a pumpkin. However, squash (such as an acorn and zucchini type) and pumpkins in the same species can cross-pollinate each other. (You can tell the species by looking at the second word in the plant's botanical name.) However, this cross-pollination won't affect your crop for this year. Your acorn squash will still look and taste like an acorn squash, even if it was pollinated by a pumpkin flower. However, if you save the squash seed and plant it the following year, you may get an interesting creation. But that's why gardening is fun!

Controlling pests and diseases

Dampening the success of a good vine crop is tough. Once established, vining crops don't have any more pest problems than other vegetables. Modern, disease-resistant varieties help ward off fungi, bacteria, and viruses. However, you still need to watch out for powdery and downy mildew, wilt, and viruses that affect all vegetables (see Chapter 17). Also, stay out of the vine crop patch when the leaves are wet because you can easily spread disease as you move. Finally, remember that common insect pests, such as aphids and cutworms, attack young plants.

Here are a few diseases and pests that particularly love vining crops:

Anthracnose: This fungus attacks many vegetables, but it especially loves cucumbers, muskmelons, and watermelons. During warm, humid conditions, the leaves develop yellow or black circular spots, and fruits develop sunken spots with dark borders. To slow this disease, space plants a few feet further apart than normal so the leaves can dry quickly in the morning. Also, destroy infected leaves and fruits. You also can avoid this disease by rotating crops yearly.

Bacterial wilt: This devastating bacterial disease is found mainly on cucumbers and muskmelons. Sure signs of the disease are well-watered plants that wilt during the day but recover at night. Eventually, the plants will wilt and die. If you cut open a wilting vine, the sap will be sticky and white. To control this disease, plant resistant varieties and control the cucumber beetle, which is the pest that spreads bacterial wilt in your garden.

Cucumber beetle: This 1/4-inch-long, yellow- and black-striped (or spotted) adult beetle feeds on all cucumber-family crops. The adults feed on the leaves, and the young larvae feed on the roots. Cucumber beetles are the chief culprits for spreading bacterial wilt and virus diseases; they're especially devastating to young plants.

To control cucumber beetles, cover young plants with a floating row cover (a cheesecloth-like material that keeps insects out but lets in air, light, and water; see Chapter 21 for details) as soon as they emerge. After the plants flower, remove the row cover so bees can pollinate the flowers. You also can apply a botanical spray such as pyrethrin on the adult beetles.

Squash bug: These 1/2-inch-long, brown or gray bugs love to attack squash and pumpkins, especially late in the growing season. The adults and smaller-sized young feed on leaves and stems, sucking out the plant juices. These insects move in packs, and their feeding can quickly stunt your plants. Squash bugs usually start laying eggs when the plants begin to vine. To control these pests, crush the masses of reddish-brown eggs on the underside of leaves. Also, rotate crops and clean up plant debris in fall where the squash bugs overwinter (live through the winter).

Squash vine borer: This pest mostly affects squash and pumpkin plants. In early summer, the adult moths lay their eggs on stems near the plants' bases. After the eggs hatch, white caterpillars with brown heads tunnel into the plants' stems to feed. They can cause well-watered vines to wilt during the day and eventually die. Look for entry holes and the sawdustlike droppings at the base of your plants to see if vine borers are present. Consider growing butternut squash, which is less susceptible to vine borers.

To control these pests, try one of the following methods:

• Slit your plant's stem lengthwise from the entry hole toward the tip of the vine with a sharp razor, and physically remove the caterpillar. Then cover the stem with soil; it will reroot itself.

• Cover the plants with a floating row cover until they begin to flower, which keeps the moths from laying their eggs.

• Inject Bt (Bacillus thurengiensis; a naturally occurring bacterium that attacks only caterpillar-family insects) into the stem with a syringe to kill any young caterpillars.

Harvesting your vining crop

One of the keys to a good cucumber-family crop is harvesting the fruits at the right time. Here are some guidelines for you to follow:

Cucumbers: The fruits are best when harvested small — slicers when they're 6 inches long and picklers when they're 4 inches long. If they grow too large and begin to turn yellow, the seeds inside the cucumber are maturing, and the plant will stop producing flowers and fruits. Pick off and compost any large fruits that you missed so you can keep the young ones coming.

Summer squash: Harvest summer squash as small as possible, even if the flower is still attached. Doing so helps you avoid the glut of zucchinis that always happens by midsummer.

Winter squash and pumpkins: Harvest winter squash and pumpkins after they change to the expected color of their variety and their skin is thick enough that your thumbnail can't puncture them. If you want to store winter squash and pumpkins through the fall and winter, don't let them get nipped by frost, or they'll rot. Leave 2 inches of the stem attached for best storing.

Deciding when to harvest muskmelons can be tricky. After their skin color turns from green to tan and the netting (the ribbing on the skin that's slightly raised) becomes more pronounced, gently lift the melons up. If they're ripe, the fruits will slip, or easily detach, from the vine. If you aren't sure, harvesting early rather than late is better because most melons continue to ripen off the vine.

Watermelon harvesting is even more complicated because it's often not obvious when the fruits are ready to harvest. Follow these tips:

Watch for changing colors: Two signs that it may be time to harvest watermelons are when the skin color turns from shiny to dull and when the color of the spot where the watermelon rests on the ground turns from white to yellow.

Thump the watermelons: I love watching the old-time gardeners thump watermelons with their fingers to figure out when they're ripe. Whether this test is consistently accurate is another story. Here's what to look for: Unripe watermelons have a sharp sound, and ripe ones have a muffled sound. The rest is experience!

Look for brown tendrils: The surest way to tell whether your watermelons are ripe is to look at their tendrils. Tendrils are the little curlicues coming off the stems that attach to whatever weeds and plants are around. When the tendril closest to the ripening watermelon turns brown, it's harvest time!