I'll put mine outside the potager next year but up against the wire fencing so they can hopefully grow up it. Or the deer will get them. Or the lawn mowing man. At this point, any way I can get them to slow down, is good.

Carol

You're funny, Carol. I think the death knell is beginning to sound for my squash. The dreaded powdery mildew has set in.

This year I did put my pumpkins and squash in a satellite garden bed and well...I frankly cannot get into it. I've been watering from the outside. But, now my poor canteloupe are drooping from, I think, powdery mildew and other fungal problems. The bed did not get as much sun as I thought. Plus, I used a lot of grass clippings in this lasagna style bed. I think I just set the stage for fungus problems.

Maybe next year, I should trellis them, mix in more compost, and cut a few branches if I keep them in this bed again.

Hopefully, I could get at least one pumpkin and one canteloupe so it's not a complete failure.

I plant bush cucumbers, and they stay put in their potager beds with just a bit of re-direction from time to time. The cucumbers are just as tasty and they make LOTS.

This year, I have put squash and cantaloupes in beds on the outside edges of the potager. I kept the vines inside the beds as long as I could and then let them wander out. So far, they have not made it impossible to get through the paths. Another reason I'm glad for my three foot wide paths.

ali-b, I re-planted my melons three times before I got them to grow. (This is year one for me.) The third time, I worked a couple inches of peat moss into the bed, since cantaloupes need up to 3 inches of water a week. I thought maybe the beds were drying out too quickly. Evidently, that was it. I counted 8 melons this morning on the four vines.

That is great, donnabaskets! There's a bunch of little melons on my vines but the vines look so sickly I'm not sure if anything will ripen in time. I also had 3 watermelon, but the one that was sticking out of the fence is now in some critter's belly.

I have Confection winter squash growing in a dedicated bed about 12 feet from the nearest bed. It's headed that way. What I don't understand is that the vines are growing to the south, east, and north but not headed to the west. The bed gets full sun all day.

The next bed has 4 hills of two different varieties. There is some vining to the west but most to the other 3 directions.

Has anyone else noticed this?

I have had the problem of squash plants overwhelming nearby cucumber plants so that the cukes almost died for lack of sun. This was my fault for having allowed too little space for these plants. I pulled these squash out (we have two more squash plants elsewhere in the garden). The cucumbers that almost died are doing great now that they are receiving so much sun.

We have been enjoying the remaining squash, but next year I would limit the number of plants to a couple (there are only five of us, how much squash do we really need) and plant them in an outside bed with room to trail outside that bed. Otherwise, if in the main garden, I would allow about 3' x 3' for two plants with a lot of room to trail outside the bed.

BTW - Does anyone know of bush-variety squash? I noted the mention of bush variety cucumbers and I have grown bush variety zucchini - it seems bush variety squash must be out there somewhere.

Donna

Just a follow-up on the post - I took a look at one seed company's offerings today and saw several bush varieties of both summer (yellow) and zucchini squash. I actually even ordered a combo that should mature in 40-50 days and am going to give it a try and see how it goes.

So...the varieties are out there, hope this helps.

I've had the best success with the [semi] bush variety of Winter Pink Banana. The seed packets say to allow 3 ft. of space per plant, but I left 4, and they still got about 6 ft. wide. So I'd call them a semi bush because they produced small "runners". Still, that's better than 20 ft., and honestly they outproduced the squash and pumpkins that I planted in a separate garden farther out, [in spite of a squash bug attack, which I conquered with hot pepper, soapy water, and hand picking.] I believe it's because they were up close where I could easily manage them. They grew very well, are delicious, good keepers, and seem to work best for me when they are with the other vegetables [in their own bed, of course] in the potager.

Here is a link that might be useful: Bush Pink Banana Squash

posyplanter- When do you know the pink bananas are ready to be used as a summer squash? Is there a change in skin color when they're more for winter squash picking? Thanks.