Learn how to plant cucumber starts with this beginning gardening tutorial.
Organic gardening and planting cucumbers with kids is simple. Kids learn by imitation and naturally want to do what the adults around them are doing. Get to work, and they will, too. There is no need to teach, only to guide. Allow them to help when they are ready as my daughter demonstrates below.
My daughter has been around us gardening here and there since she was an infant. Last season, she did her own thing while we worked. She didn’t help much, but she was watching everything we did. This season, she is only 2 1/2, but she helps from start to finish, constantly asserting herself, saying, “I want to do it!” We step out of the way, allow her to do it, and offer gentle guidance and assistance when needed.
How to Plant Cucumbers
Today, we will learn how to organically plant the cucumber we started into the ground. This is a sequel to an article I recently posted titled “Organic Gardening with Kids: Starting Cucumbers & Melons.” We use raised beds, but you can also plant them right into the ground.
Cucumbers don’t transplant well, so many people plant seeds in their gardens instead of transplanting them. If you want to extend your growing season and maximize your yield, you can successfully transplant 3 -4 week-old starts. You can start them yourself or purchase them from your local nursery.
Prepare the Soil:
1. Add Soil Amendments:
- Bone Meal
- Sulfur pellets [We need to add these to make our soil more acidic but you may not — ask your local nursery for assistance.]
- Compost or fresh organic soil [We just turned our compost so we used compost]
First sprinkle bone meal and sulfur pellets. Then add a layer of compost or organic soil. [Cation: do not just use dirt from your yard.]
We added the compost while my daughter was putting compost into her wheelbarrow at the compost bin. We had already finished adding the compost, but allowing your child to contribute is essential if they want to. We didn’t even know she was getting compost. She just copied what she saw her grandma do.
When she came around the corner with her wheelbarrow full of compost, we acted like we really needed her to help us finish putting compost in. This is how amazingly confident and helpful workers are created. Just be a good model, and they will follow—even when you least expect it.
I have provided an Amazon affiliate link to this awesome kids’ Wheelbarrow
. I earn a very small commission at no extra cost to you. My daughter loves this wheelbarrow and uses it for many things, including gardening.
2. Cultivate the Soil:
- Use cultivators, garden forks, or a broadfork to turn the soil and mix in the amendments.
3. Use Garden Rake to Even Soil:
The picture on the bottom left shows my mom demonstrating how to use a garden rake to even the soil before planting:
4. Place Plants in Pots About a Foot Apart to Determine Where You Will Plant Them:
The photo on the upper right demonstrates this step.
5. Plant cucumbers:
Remember: cucumbers do not like to be transplanted and will not survive if not handled very gently. Be very careful not to disturb the roots while planting.
6. Water cucumbers in and clean up:
This is awesome! I thought cucumbers had to be grown on hills for some reason, lol, so I’m really excited to know that we can grow them in our raised garden this summer!
Cucumbers can be grown on hills and many people grow them that way. They can also be trained to grow up a trellis or fence. We tried growing them up last year but didn’t like it so we went back to just putting them right into our raised beds.