Re: Cucumbers in hills?
Nan wrote
I was reading about planting cucurbits
> (cucumbers, melons, squash, etc.) in hills, which I know is the
traditional
Hi Nan
Its a VERY interesting question. In England, where we had plenty of summer
rain, we always planted our cucurbits on raised mounds - as you have tried -
and they used to flourish, because it kept them up out of the wet and we
could build the mound with compost etc. Indeed we often used to plant our
courgettes on the top of a two thirds rotted compost heap. WOW did they do
well.
BUT
Here in Crete - long hot DRY summers - we have experiemented and found
that(now this would be easier to draw than to explain) one way is to dig a
shallow watering trench and use that soil to make a slightly raised hill to
one side. we run the trench right across the bed. Then we sow chitted seed
just below the ridge of the hill. Following germination as far as possible
we keep all shoots running away from the trench, easy with trailers, but not
essential for bush plants. Then we water only into the dug channel. This
makes watering easy, and leaves the crown of the plants high and dry. Which
they demand even here. We adapted this method from one found in an Indian
gardening book and so far it has worked well. I think it possible that in a
really hot summer climate, individual mounds or 'hills' can just get too
dry. Local people here use seep hoses a lot, but because we grow only for
two of us, and like to rotate our crops it would be too time consuming to
keep moving and burying seep hose.
Nan do you grow cucurbits in the winter? We cannot.
I don't know how far OFF TOPIC this kind of exchange is, but I would really
welcome to opportunity to talk 'veg' regularly. Maybe we could have an
offshoot to the list, or start a new one. I have searched for an organic
vegetable list without success. However, I do not know how to go about
setting it up. Are enough people interested, could someone help?
regards Janet
Richard & Janet Blenkinship
Crete
Zone 10/11
janetble@otenet.gr
