How to Grow Cucumbers From Seed in Tennessee

Pull the weeds, and loosen the soil in an area open to full eastern sunlight to a depth of 8 to 12 inches about June 14 if you live in western Tennessee. Use a machine tiller or spade fork for the task. Prepare the soil around July 14 if you live in eastern or middle Tennessee.

Spread 2 to 3 inches of compost over the soil, and work it in 12 inches deep, using a spade fork or machine tiller for the job. Add 1 inch of compost every year in the fall when growing vegetables in Tennessee soil.

Rake the soil surface level, using a garden rake for the job. Water the soil enough to moisten the top 3 or 4 inches.

Insert 1 cucumber seed 1/2 to 1 inch deep in the soil, spacing each seed 1 inch apart. Don’t worry about crowding the seeds, as you’ll thin the plants to 3 to 4 inches apart after they develop their first set of true leaves. Make the rows as long as you want, but space each row 6 feet apart.

Cover the seeds with just enough soil to cover them, and place a spun-bonded polypropylene row cover over them after planting. You can tuck the edges of the row cover in the soil or secure the row cover to the ground with stones.

Water 3 or 4 inches deep after planting. Water once each week thereafter on the same day to a depth of 1 1/2 to 2 inches. Water 2 inches deep during weeks you receive less-than-average rainfall, and water 1 1/2 inches deep during weeks you receive normal rainfall. Insert a skewer or dowel in the soil after watering and remove it to check how deep the moisture reaches. Avoid wetting the foliage when you water, or use a drip-irrigation system or soaker hose.

Remove the row cover when the plants reach 3 or 4 inches tall and grow their first set of true leaves. Cull out the weakest plants, allowing only the healthiest to remain spaced 1 foot apart.

Spread 2 to 4 inches of organic mulch, such as bark chips, pine needles or shredded oak leaves, over the soil after the seedlings grow to about 3 or 4 inches tall. Keep the mulch about 2 or 3 inches from the stems on all sides where they emerge from the ground.

Install one 5- or 6-foot-tall, prefabricated trellis for each row on the east-facing side of the planting area. Place the trellis about 6 inches from where you planted the seeds. Trellises reduce instances of pests and disease in cucumbers, and because the vines naturally grow toward the eastern morning sun, help guide the plants.

Tie each emerging vine to the trellis loosely with twine after you thin them out. Remove the twine when you see the vines growing through the trellis on their own.

Sprinkle 1 tablespoon of ammonium nitrate around each plant after they reach 1 foot tall, keeping a distance of 6 inches from the stems on all sides. Water the fertilizer in with 1 inch of water if you don’t expect rainfall for a few days.

Scan the vines and growing area regularly for striped and spotted cucumber beetles, squash bugs, spider mites and aphids.

Aphids have green, yellow or grey bodies that measure only around 1/8 inch long but attack the undersides of leaves in large groups.

Spider mites are usually too tiny to see individually, but when you see fine webbing and moving, irregular-shaped green, red, orange or yellow masses on the vines and leaves, the cucumbers probably have spider mites.

Squash bugs have oval copper-colored bodies that measure about 5/8 inch long and feed on the foliage until the cucumber vines die.

Mix together 1 1/4 tablespoons of insect-killing soap containing 49.52 percent potassium salts of fatty acids with 1 quart of water in a spray bottle if you find aphids or spider mites. Spray the pests until covered. Repeat once every two weeks as needed, not to exceed three applications during a season.

Mix together 1 1/2 tablespoons of a pesticide containing 0.3 percent bifenthrin with 1/2 gallon of water in a spray bottle if your plants have cucumber beetles or squash bugs. Spray the foliage and vines until covered on all sides. Repeat application in seven days if needed.