It is used worldwide, either fresh, pickled or as an ingredient in many other dishes. Cucumber…
How to Grow Cucumber in Pallets?
Urban gardeners often face a major challenge of small planting spaces or less enriched soil conditions, which are essential for the better growth of plants. However, container gardening offers one solution for growers presses for growing room. But here in this article, I will tell you another creative, eco-friendly and cost-effective cucumber gardening technique by using wooden pallets. These pallet gardens also filled with good quality soil to compensate for the poor quality of natural soil. You can grow other different kinds of vegetables by using these pallets because they work well for multiple crops planted in succession for a great and high-quality yield.
Why grow on pallets?
Through pallet, you can make a great vertical garden and it also cost little, if you want to create with only some simple material. Like vertical pocket gardens, pallets are portable and looks very attractive and might grow delicious cucumber with hardly taking any room at all. These pallet gardens are susceptible to drying out quickly. When well cared for though, pallets can last for multiple seasons and are real conversation starters. When planted with showy plants or herbs they will be a stunning garden focal point.
Reason to grow cucumber on pallets:
Here are five basic reasons which encourage you to grow cucumber on pallets.
- The plants are easier to irrigate at the main stem.
- The cucumber is easy to harvest.
- The cucumber is clear and dirt free.
- The color of the fruit is uniform.
- The fruit is straighter with less misshapen one.
Wood Pallet
Benefits of growing cucumber on pallets:
Here are some benefits of growing cucumber on pallets.
Pest control:
By staying up from the ground level and removed their direct contact with the bottom, cucumber growing on pallet garden also avoids many common pests and diseases that thrive under leaf cover within the soil. The pests that do occur may be noticed and restricted more easily since there are not thick masses of growth to dam the gardener view. Additionally, plants grown in soil above the ground receive better airflow and reducing the prospect of problems like rotting and mildew.
My pallet cucumber trellis help with that the plants are off the bottom and have lots of air circulate around the leaves. It is south facing position implies that it gets sunshine all day. It adds a bonus in growth addition and for drying those leaves quicker. Employing a trellis can even help to control mildew, another fungus that affects cucumber.
Facilitate harvest:
By using a pallet, you are able to actually see all the ripe fruit that might normally be hidden under thick growth, you will also harvest them without the requirement to strain your back or knees by bending over it.
As the cucumber is ready for harvest, they face of your pallet. Their fruit hangs down which makes you able to find out them easily for harvest. Sometime the fruits would not drop but they grow on the top of the pallet slats, which also makes it easier to search out and harvest them. A pallet is a perfect size for a pair of cucumbers to scramble over and also the right size for harvesting. Squat at the open end and just reach inside for your cukes. If your plants were sprawling along the bottom, then you would be even more bent over trying to search out the fruit under masses of leaves.
Space efficient:
Pallet vertical gardens will be founded nearly anywhere and are ideal for tiny spaces. Balconies, patio, and narrow walkways are all great locations for a pallet vertical garden.
Vita Gardens 4×4 Garden Bed
Portable:
They are completely portable and easy to move anywhere. As you want to move into a brand new house, just fill up the pallet and take your garden with you.
Attractive:
Even on large, spacious properties, pallet gardens may be an excellent addition to the landscape. They will brighten a dull, boring wall, hide unsightly pipes or wires and also act as a living screen for more privacy.
Maximizing garden space:
Another benefit of growing your cucumber on an angled pallet is that you simply can have two crops within the same space. Since the cucumber grows off the bottom, that space underneath is ideal for growing greens. Lettuces, radishes, spinach, and oriental cucumber will appreciate the semi-shade and protection the trellis gives. On average you can able to grow the heads of lettuce growing under the cucumber pallets.
Cost-efficient:
Making your own vertical pallet garden could be a breeze and hardly costs a thing.
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How to make your own pallet cucumber garden?
Making a pallet garden for your very own could be a fun and easy project.
Material required:
To develop a cucumber pallet garden you required the following things like:
- Pallet in good condition
- Staples
- Landscape fabric
- Potting soil
- Cucumber plant
Selection of pallet:
You should also choose the proper pallet for the growth of cucumber. Many pallets are heat-treated against insects but some are sprayed with an insecticide called bromide. So avoid using such pallets because they had a negative impact on human health by passive absorption into the cucumber. They also kill the beneficial insects in our garden and not environment-friendly.
Fortunately, it is easy to find out how pallet wood is treated. Always the first search for a stamp on the side of the wood and discard any pallet that has the letters MB. Always prefer pallet which wood had a sign of HT which means heat-treated and ignore the letters DB which means the pallet wood has been debarked.
Formation:
Before planting, just check up on your pallet. Confirm all the boards are sturdy and secured tightly which there are not any loose nails. Sand down any sharp or rough edges.
Always lay the pallet face-down on the ground and punctiliously staple two layers of landscape cloth to the rear, sides, and bottom. You have to use plenty of staples in order that soil does not leach down.
Flip the pallet back over for planting purposes. Startup by planting cucumber at the highest of the pallet, ensuring there are not any empty spaces. Once the highest plants are secure, being filing the pallet with potting soil, pushing it all the way down to keep everything at a level.
You can build your trellis by digging two posts within the ground 18 inches deep. They are square posts about 3×3 inches and about three feet tall from the soil level. They are dug in so the pallet can sit level on the sides of both. I did not use an indicator to create sure that the posts were the identical height but you will if you wanted to.
Next, you can have propped the pallet against the posts and so lashed them on with baling twine. I chose baling twine because it would not degrade within the sun as a natural string will do. Over a summer, fiber string can break down in UV light and becomes easier to snap.
Twining is better than screwing it together because this can be not visiting but a permanent structure. At the top of the season, you can cut the twine and move the pallet someplace else. It is a quick, easy and effective garden solution.
Once the pallet is filled with soil, begin planting the remainder of the plants, starting at the very bottom, pushing soil tightly around the roots as you go, the concept is to stuff the plants tightly together, alternatively, the soil may fall out once the pallet is standing vertically.
Always leave the pallet flat on the ground per week or two, watering the plant consistently which allows the plant roots an opportunity to grow and hold the soil in situ. Once cucumber plants are established then carefully lift the pallet ad place it in its permanent place.
Greenland Gardener Raised Bed
Planting and training cucumber:
When you build your pallet cucumber trellis, always ensure to place it within the right place. South facing aspect is good and therefore the soil should be moist and fertile yet well-drained. Cucumber will reward you with more fruit than you will eat if you give them an honest helping of composted manure.
With your cucumber, pallet you can plant three money maker plants at the bottom of the pallet. Mostly the plant grows outside in open air would not get as large a plant grown in an exceeding greenhouse. If you are in a highly hotter warm climate, you would possibly go for only one or two plants.
Aftercare includes always prefer to keep the plant well irrigated which ultimately helps the vines to find their way on the pallet. The slats are a touch overlarge for them to seek out their way naturally but it is not difficult to indicate them their way.
The key point for growing cucumber on pallets:
There is a certain key point to take into account while growing cucumber in pallets.
Selection of variety:
When growing cucumber on pallet always choose the right variety. Bush varieties do not climb, so confirm that plants should belong to vining variety. Homemade pickles, Sumter, lemon and market more are a number of the simplest vining varieties.
Location:
Cucumber needs a minimum of six hours of direct sunlight a day after day, so select a sunny growing location that has 4-6 feet of overhead vertical space to accommodate pallet for growing cucumber.
Height of pallet:
Cucumber vines grow really long, so you have to consider the peak of the pallet. You should confirm that it should be tall enough therefore the vines have lots of space to grow but not so you cannot easily reach the highest to reap your cucumber. A height of 4-6 feet tall would be perfect.
Strength of pallet:
The structure you select for growing cucumber should be strong enough to support their weight. Cucumber vines are pretty lightweight, but they will quickly become heavy as cucumber gets mature.
Airflow:
Make sure the support pallet you choose is open enough so the vines do not grow in a tight cluster. Cucumbers plants need plenty of aeration to prevent the spread of disease and fungus problems, and an open pallet design will help you, to give them plenty of airflows. Plus, when the plants are crammed together, it is much more difficult to harvest.
Hopefully, through this article, you get a complete guide, how to grow cucumber by using pallets.
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