Practically all of the vine crops can be trained to a wire fence or trellis or on wire netting. By this method they can be planted along a fence or beside a building where there is good sunlight and the vines can be trained up out of the way of other crops. In case cantaloupes or squashes are grown on a trellis, it will be necessary to support the fruits by means of bagging or cloth slings.
All of the vine crops require plenty of fertility in the soil. In addition to a shovelful of manure and a handful of fertilizer in each hill, a small quantity of commercial fertilizer may be worked into the soil around each hill after the vines begin to spread over the ground. The fertilizer should not be placed closer than a foot from the base of the plants and should be scattered over a considerable area. The results to be obtained in a small garden from growing any of the vine crops except summer squashes and cucumbers are extremely doubtful, and beginners are advised to devote the space to crops producing more food on a small area.
Cucumbers
One or two hills will produce enough cucumbers for the average family. Each hill should be given about 50 square feet of space, or 7 feet in each direction. The hills should be made several days before planting, with a shovelful of manure mixed thoroughly with the soil of each hill. About a dozen seeds should be scattered in each hill and covered to a depth of about an inch. Later, the plants should be thinned to three to five in a hill.
Cucumbers are very tender and should not be planted until all danger of frost is past. The plants may be started indoors by planting the seeds in pots, paper bands, or quart berry boxes filled with soil; then set in the garden when the weather is warm. The young cucumber plants are frequently destroyed by a small beetle. The easiest way to protect the plants is by covering each hill with a small wooden box the bottom of which has been removed and a piece of fine mosquito or fly netting tacked on. After the plants become toughened, the beetles are not likely to trouble them.
White Spine is the most common variety.
Cantaloupes
Cantaloupes, sometimes referred to as muskmelons, are grown exactly the same way as cucumbers.
The Rocky Ford, Tiptop, Hoodoo, and Ohio Sugar are among the leading varieties.