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Tuesday, June 21, 2022

My Front Yard Pumpkin Patch

Last winter, I mentioned the huge mound of compost we had delivered. I think it was 10 yards. We top-dressed our front lawn, mulched all of the areas that dry out in summer, and amended the soil in the backyard vegetable beds. 


With the very last couple of yards, we built a patch in the front yard (hidden from the street by some trees and shrubs) for my newest vegetable planting area.


In mid-May, I hurriedly got everything planted after we returned from our trip to Arizona. Above is what it looked like by the end of May. The white things near the back are milk jug protective coverings for the corn plants. At this point, I didn't have everything in the ground yet.


Here we are about 3 weeks later. My new area is neither a bed nor a row. I like to think of it as a patch. It's my warm season patch. In it, I've planted pumpkins, winter squash, summer squash, peppers, corn, pole beans, sunflowers, and the last 4 tomato plants that didn't have a home (others are in the back yard beds). I planted the whole patch rather densely, with the idea that weather, slugs, raccoons, squirrels, or rabbits might thin it for me. So far, not much has been thinned and I may need to thin some out myself.

The idea for the patch came from a neighbor who has grown pumpkins in a stretch alongside her front yard lawn for the past couple of summers. I loved the idea of a larger pumpkin patch and one with more sun than my backyard patch provides. We had this space in the center of our circular driveway that we've been planning to re-landscape in the next few years. So, why not put it to use to grow my much-wanted pumpkin patch this year and next? From there, I began planning to add more of the heat loving plants that sometimes struggle in my more cooler backyard. The front yard patch is bordered by our asphalt driveway and in full sun for most of the day. As I planted the backyard beds, I ended up with some extra plants. So in those went as well.

I'm excited at the prospect of more pumpkins and squash. We'll have to see how it all grows.

11 comments:

  1. I love this! We have two corner picket fences just the corners in our backyard that had a few plants and 2 hydrangeas. It wasn't full of flowers nor was it nice to look at. We moved the hydrangeas to a different but better spot and moved another plant to a new place. Then we cleaned the corner out on both and planted 9 tomato plants and 100 onion bulbs. The onions aren't doing much but the tomatoes are growing (after some animal lopped the top half off 5 of them). We let them grow and they are doing well. Yesteday my husband received 8 more tomato plants as a gift so I added them to the two corner fence patch.
    Alice

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Alice,
      Your tomato plants are a wonderful use of the space that wasn't working for you! Wishing you much success with the tomatoes and hoping the onions will do something for you.

      Delete
  2. A wise use of space. It reminds me of a volunteer pumpkin we had a couple of years ago in a bed near a sidewalk. It was growing great until it grew out of the bed and across the sidewalk. Then the heat of the sidewalk killed it. I hadn't thought about that possibility until it happened. So when the long vines try to escape the nice bed you've made for them, send them back home. However, it's not like you would let them grow over asphalt anyway-especially if you drive over it. :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Live and Learn,
      Thanks for the warning. I'll heed your advice. My plan is to circle the vines back into the center of the bed as they try to grow toward the driveway. I'm hoping they do well.

      Delete
  3. Oh, very nice! Squash and pumpkins are such space hogs that it's nice you grow them elsewhere and save your backyard space. We trellis them for the same reason. I hope your patch will be super productive for you!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Cat,
      What do you use for trellises for your squash and pumpkins? I've thought about this idea for a while. Trellising these plants would expand our usable space and allow me to grow even more in future years.

      Delete
    2. We use cattle panel trellises for most things that need a trellis, including squashes. My husband made some with electrical conduit frames (learned from Patrick of One Yard Revolution on youtube). We drive a piece of rebar into the ground and the electrical conduit slides down over that. Has stood up to some pretty crazy wind here in Oklahoma! People always mention needing to support larger squash, but last year I tried NOT supporting them, and grew 15 lb Sweet Meats just fine, as well as a bumper crop of spaghetti squash.

      Delete
    3. Just emailed you a pic of ours from last week at your creative savv email address.

      Delete
    4. Thank you for all of this info, Cat.

      Delete
  4. Are you growing pie pumpkins? Sounds like you planted food that will produce for several months.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Kris,
      I have a few sugar pie plants and a couple of Jack o lantern plants, plus acorn squash and delicata squash for winter squash and zucchini and patty pan for summer squash. Now I just have to be patient!

      Delete

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