Increase your garden productivity and keep your plants healthy by trellising squash and cucumber plants. Trellised plants won't develop a yellow spot from setting on the ground and will be easier to prune, manage and harvest. A trellis system will work for any type of cucumber or squash (summer or winter), so long as you choose a trellising variety.
Choose a site for your squash plants and your trellis. The site should allow the plants full sun, but not cast shade on other garden plants once the squash begin to climb the trellis.
Prepare the ground for planting. Turn over the soil with a shovel to aerate it, and remove any weeds, stones and debris from the site so your plant's roots won't have to compete with them. Planting the cucumber and squash in a raised bed works well.
Dig two holes for your wooden or rebar posts, burying them at least 10 inches deep for stability. Space the posts on either end of your vegetable bed; North Carolina State University recommends going no more than 15 feet wide for your trellis.
String wire netting between the two posts, securing the netting to the posts using zip ties (wire ties). Once the trellis is constructed, you can plant your vegetables.
Plant your squash and cucumber plants in the garden bed. Space plants 8 to 10 inches apart within the row. Plant cucumber plants at one end of the trellis and squash plants at the other end. Make sure to choose trellising varieties of squash and cucumber.
Water the plants until the soil becomes saturated. Continue to water the plants when the soil dries out until the soil becomes saturated. During hot summer months this may mean watering daily or every other day.
Place growing plant tendrils on the trellis; cucumbers and squash won't climb the trellis on their own.
Prune tendrils that grow near the base of the plant so that the main shoot continues to grow up. Once the plants are successfully attached to the trellis, allow side shoots to grow and spread them out on the trellis.
Provide additional support for the trellis by placing another rebar or wooden stake in the ground behind the middle of the trellis in mid-summer when the vegetables begin to grow heavy.