Tomatoes, cucumbers and melons.

can i let my cucumbers and melons grow around the base of my tomato plants, if i make sure to leave a 5 inch border around the tomato stems. I'm trying to use as much of my available space as possible.

 

Its not normally considered a good idea to grow cues with toms, they like different conditions.
Toms like good watering but lots of fresh air, cues like a more humid atmosphere, kind of steamy and even shady.
Melons are another different plant again, similar to cues, in liking it damp, but full sun and a dryer atmosphere, once the melons form.
As with most things, its a compromise, and hope for the best.

 

In my greenhouse down on the plot I grow my tom's in the ground not in pots or grow bags,each year I dig out the old soil and replace with new soil plus any home made compost that I have.My cucumbers I grow in large pots which are placed in washing up bowls,and I keep these 1/4 full of water all the time feeding only through the top of the pot ,never watering them through the pot top and have had no problem growing them like this.But must admit that I have never grown melons.

 

thank you, that's interesting then, it means that i could grow the watermelon either in the ground directly, or in a container at floor level, then grow the cucumbers on a shelf above them.
that would leave me to the next question, would cucumbers, being climbers, grow up them across a net, if they would, that would save me a lot of space.

 

Put my cucumbers in a pot and a container of water, put a net in above it, which is tied to the polytunnel wall and roof, still getting plenty of light underneath for the melon to go there.
If this works it'll save me a nice bit of space

 

Once the shelves are out of the way, ill be netting the back as well.

 

It's probably far too cold for cucumbers overnight in a poly tunnel at the moment. These are the temperatures I recorded a couple of days ago in my 3 x 6m tunnel, low enough to kill cucumbers. Have you put a max/min thermometer in there to check what it's been dropping to overnight?

 

Im growing them in a big pot, at night i can pick them up and drop them in the kitchen.