Companion planting in the vegetable garden allows gardeners with small landscapes to make the most from their limited quantity of space. This doubling-up planting process also benefits the plants by combining varieties that work well with each other. Planting cucumbers with corn provides the cucumbers with necessary colour and support while the corn receives pest protection and nutritional aid. With the right timing and spacing, then you can successfully create both of these warm-season vegetable plants together.
Pick a planting site that receives direct, full sunlight for at least six hours each day. Pull up any weeds growing on the site. Rake over the soil surface to remove debris such as twigs, dead and stone pant material.
Spread a 2-inch layer of compost over the site with a rake. Mix the compost to the top 6 to 10 inches of soil with a rototiller. Smooth the ground’s surface with a rake.
Draw vertical lines in the soil with a shovel or trowel to mark the corn rows. Space each line 30 to 36 inches apart. Dig 1-inch deep holes along each line, putting them 8 inches apart. Drop 1 corn seed into each hole. Cover each pie with 1 inch of dirt. Tamp the soil down firmly over the seed.
Water the region thoroughly using a garden hose, applying the water in a slow rate to prevent washing away the dirt covering the seeds. Keep the soil evenly moist, but not soggy, for the next seven to ten days. Watch for germinating sprouts in this time.
Plant the cucumber seeds seven to 14 days after putting the corn seeds. Mound up 4-inch tall and broad piles of dirt, spacing each mound 36 inches apart, along the eastern side of each row of corn. Space the mounds 12 inches apart from the corn rows. Pat the top of each soil mound to flatten it.
Push your hands to the soil in the surface of the mound to create a 1/2-inch deep melancholy in its middle. Put four cucumber seeds in the melancholy. Cover the seeds with a 1/2-inch layer of dirt. Tamp the soil down over the seeds.
Attach a sprinkler to the end of the garden hose. Put the sprinkler in the middle of the planting site, positioning it so that its spray of water will insure all of the hills. Run the sprinkler, moistening the soil to a depth of 6 to 8 inches.
Water the area once the top 1/2 inch of soil begins to dry. Keep the soil evenly moist, but never soggy. Apply the water in the daytime to enable the corn atom’ foliage time to dry before nightfall.
Watch for cucumber seedlings to germinate seven to ten days after planting. Thin the cucumber crops a week later germinating. Pull up one or two of the poorest seedlings, leaving two or three plants per hill.
Fertilize the plants using a 10-10-10 slow-release granular fertilizer once the corn seedlings are 8 to 10 inches tall and the cucumber seedlings begin to vine. Dig a 3-inch deep trench between a row of corn and cucumbers. Space the trench 6 inches from each harvest. Sprinkle 2 teaspoons of fertilizer each foot of trench. Cover the fertilizer with 3 inches of dirt. Water the region thoroughly. Repeat with each row.