Good Garden Question: How Should We Separate and Replant Our Beans and Cukes?

OK, dear readers. Many of you are more experienced gardeners than we are, and we're fine with that. In the spirit of learning, we have a question for you.

See that pot? Right before I went on a weeklong trip I slammed three bush bean plants and two cucumber seedlings into this one small pot. They had outstripped their starter pellets and they needed to be planted. Now I have potentially five robust plants in one rather small pot and I know I need to separate them.

Here's the question for any of you more experienced gardeners. What kind of containers should the cucumbers go in, and how do I extricated them and replant? Or should each bean plant get its own pot too?

Fire away with advice - I'm all ears here.

(Image: Faith Hopler for The Kitchn)

Comments (5)

If your beans are bush variety, then you should put them each in their own medium-to-large pot. If they are climbing variety, you can plant them closer together (3-6" between plants) and let them climb up a panel of chicken/hog wire set into or next to the container(s). Here's a guide for spacing, based on the square-foot planting guide: http://journeytoforever.org/garden_space.html

Your beans can come out now for repotting, but leave the cukes in until their second set of leaves is well developed (1-2" in length). Dig down as far as you can on all sides to remove the seedlings, to avoid breaking the roots.

posted by DianneS on June 3rd 2008 at 7:22am
view DianneS's profile

I think for cucumbers it's not the pot itself that's important but where you put it. They need to be able to climb and can get very big. They like sunny spots too. Compared to the aboveground portion of the plant their roots are small, so the pot(s) don't have to be gigantic.
Beans are not very fussy and imo you can leave them in that pot, if you move them around after removing the cukes, to give the bean plants some breathing room.

posted by bubble on June 3rd 2008 at 7:25am
view bubble's profile

Hi Faith,

I think the safest thing would be to leave those beans right where they are. When I direct seed bush beans in the ground I only space them about 2 inches apart (and don't go back and thin them), so yours should be fine all in the one container. Plus I don't think beans take very well to transplanting.

As for the cucumbers, what they really need is space to trail above ground. I would very carefully dig them up (leaving lots of soil around the root system if you can so as not to disturb it too much) and put them each in their own pot.

In the future, you might want to keep some empty plastic containers (sour cream, yogurt, cottage cheese, etc.) on hand so if you run in into the same situation, you can just plunk each seedling into its own little pot.

I've been enjoying reading about your gardening adventures this spring - your excitement and enthusiasm is wonderful! : )

posted by Farmgirl Susan on June 3rd 2008 at 7:31am
view Farmgirl Susan's profile

The cukes don't need to go in anything bigger than a coffee can. But you need to keep them well watered. Not enough water will make them bitter. Yuck.

posted by cara_mia on June 3rd 2008 at 12:25pm
view cara_mia's profile

I agree with the above commenters to leave the beans, but gently remove the cucumber seedlings into their own pots atleast 12"-14" in diameter. What is important is to stick a lattice in the pot in such a way so that the vine can climb up and trail above the dirt. I think a "tent" like trellis would be good. It must be sturdy.

posted by PinkThumb on June 3rd 2008 at 12:33pm
view PinkThumb's profile