Do These Plants Need Stakes?

Tomatoes - yes, Unless yours are specifically labeled "Bush" tomatoes with "No Staking Needed." ("Bush" here means "shrub," rather than "remote rural area." :) Black-eyed peas - yes. They need some sort of fence, trellis or pole to climb up & vine over. Kidney beans , Soy beans, Adzuki beans, and Mung beans - I don't know. If they grow as vines, then probably yes. Watermelon - nope. Pumpkin -nope. Both of these just sprawl their vines out over the ground. Plan to give them some space. :) Sweet corn - not usually. The important thing about sweet corn is to plant enough of it, and plant it in a square or circle instead of a single long row. Corn is wind-pollinated, and the plants have to be close enough to cross-pollinate each other. Four rows of four plants each is a bare, bare minimum - I'd want 4 rows of 5 at the very least. Cucumber - don't know, but I think it's like zucchini. Zucchini - nope. Zukes sprawl out over the ground, too, not quite as far as melons or pumpkins. The thing with zucchini is that it produces like mad. For just yourself, one plant will probably do you nicely. For a family, unless it's a large family of voracious zucchini-lovers, more then three plants are usually too many.

I know that most Tomato plants do need to be staked. You don't need the chicken wire though, Just a stake with some loosely attached twine to hold it generally vertical. It gives it a little extra support so it doesn't bend under the weight. I haven't ever staked my watermelon or pumpkin plants. They just vine out and grow where they like. I did plant them next to the garden fence once though. A few of the melons grew half on one side, half on the other. I had to cut it in half to remove it. That ended up being my seed melon for the next year. I let my cucumbers climb the garden fence and that always seemed to be enough support for those. I haven't grown any of the others.