Growing cucumbers and melons in containers [Container Gardening ]

Growing cucumbers and melons in containers is a fantastic way to enjoy fresh, homegrown produce even if you have limited space. With the right approach, you can cultivate thriving plants on a balcony, patio, or small garden.

Choosing the Right Container
Both cucumbers and melons need large, deep containers with good drainage. Aim for at least 5 gallons per plant, though melons may need slightly bigger pots. Fabric grow bags or pots with ample drainage holes work well.

Selecting Varieties
Look for compact or bush varieties suited to containers. For cucumbers, options like ‘Bush Champion’ or ‘Spacemaster’ are ideal. Melons such as dwarf cantaloupes or ‘Sugar Baby’ watermelons grow well in confined spaces.

Soil & Planting
Use a rich, well-draining potting mix with plenty of compost. Plant seeds or seedlings after the risk of frost has passed. Cucumbers can be grown from seed easily, while melons might benefit from an early start indoors.

Watering & Feeding
Keep the soil consistently moist but not soggy—melons and cucumbers both need regular watering, especially during hot weather. Feed with a balanced liquid fertilizer every couple of weeks to support growth.

Support & Pollination
Most cucumbers and melons benefit from vertical support. Use trellises, stakes, or cages to keep vines off the ground, saving space and preventing disease. Since melons rely on pollination, you may need to hand-pollinate by transferring pollen between flowers.

Harvesting
Cucumbers are ready to pick when they reach the desired size, usually within 50–70 days. Melons take longer and should be harvested when the skin changes color, the tendril near the fruit dries, and they have a sweet aroma.

Growing cucumbers and melons in containers is easy and rewarding with the right care. You’ll enjoy delicious, homegrown fruit straight from your own patio!
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we’re just coming up to the end of May which means that in most areas you’ll have passed your last frost date So it’s time to get some of those more tender plants moved on into the final growing area And I’ve got two that I’m doing today One is this melon plant It’s called Sweetheart It’s in a very tiny pot But look how much it’s grown already And then we’ve got this cucumber plant And this plant has all female flowers on it And you can see it’s grown quite a bit as well We moved it into a 2 L container cuz we didn’t want it getting rootbound But once again it’s time to move it on And I’m going to put them in containers this size Not huge containers but what we’re going to do is we’re going to put these containers on that ver And then we can train these plants to grow around the ver So we don’t need any canes or an obelisk And we’ll see how it gets on with that Also because it’s a ver if we get any bad winds which we do sometimes we can just tie some string around this tie it to that ver so it’s got as much support as it needs I also better be quick cuz it’s just started raining We’ve lost that sun for now anyway but next week it’s coming back and with temperatures are 21° an ideal time to get these little jobs sorted out And we’ve drilled lots of holes in bottomless containers You don’t want them roots sat in water consistently So make sure you’ve got plenty of drainage And that goes for every plant Let’s fill this container and get these plants on the way just break up any large lumps that we’ve got I’ll add some feed afterwards And while that compost is loose we’ll take the same size tub and make an hole in it center A bit deeper we’ll just scoop some out And we don’t want to plant this any deeper than what it is in this container So let’s take a look And we can see we’ve got a nice amount of roots but it’s not rootbound which is why we potted it on to start with So central firm down That quick that plants moved on and we’ll get that label in What I’ll do to start with is I’ll pop a couple of stakes in just until it gets a bit of height to it And I’ll use this one which I just found in shed So I can just push that in straight and down to the bottom And that’s now really stable and we’ll tie this plant to it as it grows Then if we do get any bad winds as plants aren’t going to get snapped We don’t want that at this time of year So that’s one done We’ll do the same with that melon Same job again for this one Just going to have a quick look before I fill this pot up That’s why we potted that cucumber on If you keep them in these small pots they start to get rootbound So if that happens to you just loosen that off just a little bit to stop them spiraling on bottom of that pot And once again a big pot and lots of drain holes So that one again has been filled Same pot make an hole and then we can just drop that straight in And once again at the same depth as you took it out that pot We don’t want to bury these stems cuz they could rot And if you want to you can take these little leaves off at bottom The first leaves that came out they’ve done their job So a quick firm will not bother watering it since it’s going to rain all afternoon And that is his melon setup So once again labeling because they look very similar to cucumber plants And once again just pop in the short cane just to give it that little bit of extra support And now this one is also ready to go on that ver I’m also adding a bit of color to that ver because you can’t beat flowers and vegetables growing at the same place And of course the flowers attract pollinators which is exactly what we want So I bought some of these today Patuniius amazing looking flowers And I just got one of those It’s a dia It’s a really pretty one So what’s going to happen is we’re going to put some patunias in as a hanging basket on that welcome sign and then we’ll put the dia in the center We did that last year and it made a really nice display But we’ve also got some of these and these have a reservoir up bottom that just detaches needs a clean So if it gets like this and it’s throwing it down you can take that off and let it free drain But when it comes to the summer and your plants are drying out you can clip that reservoir back on and that will retain some water so your plants don’t dry out And what I’ll do with that is again I’ll use patunias and I’ll put them in two liter pots and they just drop straight in there like that So we can have two plants in this container And if you remember what happened last year is those plants really filled out and it looked amazing And we had an amazing display of color right through to end it season But I think that is a job for another day It’s not going to stop raining now all day and probably all night So there we go All set up in the final growing positions There is one other job that I need to do and that’s pot on these peppers And it looks like something has been having a bit of a chew And that’s as Mohawk yellow sweet bell pepper I think I’ve got around five of these to do So we best get cracked on because this one is starting to flower But that’s definitely not a job for today So even though it’s been windy and raining all day long we’ve still got a couple of jobs done And there another great addition to this caravan container garden So that’s me done for today But if you want to see what we’re going to be doing as we approach the end of May please hit that subscribe button and press that notifications bell And I’ll see you on the next one Take care