I let mine lay on the ground with no issue. Never needed mulch, the leaves did a great job of covering the ground, not letting it totally dry out.

Just make sure you don't let them get to the point the cukes turn yellow - they will be bitter. It's better to pick them too early than the least bit late.

Thanks for the reply, one more question, I have a small trellis about 3.5 feet tall, but the cuke plants are already to the top of them, is my trellis too short? how high should I expect them to go? thanks

Blazepepper, I have 5 hills of pickling cukes and my wife picks them every day. So far she has pickled a batch of lime pickles and dills. Now she is saving for bread & butter pickles. Lots of water and daily picking... enjoy.

Shot

bp - you can expect them to just go and go and go and go... I don't grow mine up a trellis. I usually just let my ramble throughout the garden, weaving in & out of other things. It actually makes for a good ground cover for the plants is wanders through.

bp, i also tried vertical growing this year - my trellises are 6' tall and 8' tall, respectively, and both have outgrown one another. I dunno how I'm going to pick one of the trellises, because the green beans are basically growing up and down the cuke vines (LOL) it is such a mess. i only have one fruit so far, seems like we have zero honeybees this year, only pollinators i'm seeing are bumblebees, and they're preoccupied with the anise!!