Out-of-control squash

Remember the potato towers? The area looked really bare when I first built them in April. We thought a little greenery in the understory might look nice around the reed screens, so we planted a planted two winter squash thinking they would fill in the space.

See them? They look like sweet little puffs of green on either side of the front towers.

Well, they grew….

And grew (and grew, and grew, and grew). Now I have this mess:

The potato towers have long been harvested, and now that entire area is just a mass of green. We’ve had to actually cut the plants back several times (something I’ve never done before) to prevent them from devouring that tiered planting bed you see on the right. The plants didn’t even care! They are the most vigorous squash plants I’ve ever seen!

Here you can see how they’ve climbed up the trellis filled with drying beans (leftover from the hummingbird garden) and are actually producing squash hanging on the trellis.

They’re unbelievable! Winter squash isn’t ready until the vine actually dies. These plants seem a far way off from that point — they are still flowering and producing new squash! When will it end? This is the test garden, and I’ve got new gardens in the works!