Run out of space for winter squash – Diary of a Rocket Gardener

Okay, I totally brought this on myself. I let one of my raised beds get overtaken by red campions and I can’t bring myself to cut them back or pull them out because they look so lovely and I think it’s really nice to have this big splash of pink in the garden. It does mean that I’ve run out of space for planting my winter squash though – uchiki kuri (my all time favourite) and sweet dumpling (just a really useful small-sized squash that usually produces a lot and stores well)

So, I don’t think I’m going to pull up the red campions, at least, not yet. I thought about planting them between the two rows of potatoes that are coming up, because there is a fair amount of space there, but I read somewhere that potatoes and squash do not grow well together. So I won’t be doing that either. Here are my other four options:

  1. Plant them in the chicken run – the chickens don’t eat the plants, but might peck at the fruits while they are young, so possibly not wise.
  2. Plant in large pots – this might be a good option, although I find it difficult to remember to water them when they are in pots. Still, then they could go anywhere, could spill along the pathways, and I wouldn’t need to worry about pulling up my red campions.
  3. Plant in small pots for now, then transplant a little later in the summer – this might be a good choice. If I can bring myself to cut back the red campions, then I could plant them in that raised bed a little later. Although, I’m still not sure I can do it. They’re just so pretty. It’s like rewilding! But I may have some space open up in the bed where I’m growing beetroot, salads  and peas
  4. Use a patch of really poor ground that has been a bit of a dumping ground for the past few years. It’s heavy soil, currently covered with weed membrane and littered with untidiness – piles of old bamboo, empty pots, mounds of weeds that I need to move to a compost pile. I’d need to clear up and dig some holes, then fill the holes with compost and plant into that. I’d leave the weed membrane down.

I think I’ll probably go with option 4 and use it as motivation to tidy up that part of the garden and get it back to being productive again. Hopefully some of the other ideas may inspire others who are in a similar position though, or at least give some ideas of how you can fit a few more things in!