Saving space with a sprawling summer crop

by Johanna Silver, Sunset test garden coordinator

Training cucumbers to climb a trellis is a great way to save space in the garden as well as ensure more uniformly shaped fruits. I’m growing the Diva cucumbers (a long, delicious slicing variety) against rusty steel grates that I picked up at Alan Steel & Supply Co. in Redwood City. I had them cut to size (increasing the cost by a bit) but the actual rusty metal cost next to nothing and we walked out of there spending less that $15. I encouraged the climbing with reusable garden Velcro ties, and now the tiny tendrils are doing the work on their own.