Help with squash & melon patch

[CrealCritter]

Next year i'm wanting to put in a third garden for melons and squash. Which I would rotate other veggies in every other year or so - like sweet corn for example or maybe tomatoes and peppers.

So I was thinking about a 50' x 50' but I'm not sure that's enough space. Both melons and squash need a lot of room. I have my squash and melon rows in a 30 x 30 now with 4' inbetween rows and you can't walk in there now without stepping on vines.

I like to grow sugar baby watermelon, musk melon green flesh, cantaloupe. For squash, zucchini, yellow summer, winter acorn, butternut and every couple of years small sugar pumpkins.

I would really like to expand into some different squash but I always find myself running out of room in my 55' x 100' summer garden and my 25' x 50' spring / fall garden has spring veggies in it at the time melons & squash seeds need to be sown.

This year I didn't have enough room for potatoes either - I ran out of room in my summer garden I really need a third garden.

If you had your way... What would be a good size for a melon & squash patch for you and your family and would you do anything special like trellises or just let the vines run on the ground?

Thanks

 

[FarmerJamie]

For the squash and melon question, I always did hills of 3-5 plants 4-6 apart and literally move the vines into the yard. Less grass to mow. Lolol. Temporary garden expansion, leaving more growing room in the "real" garden space. You could also use planters out in the yard, and not plant in the garden at all

Something fun for the wee kiddos if you do pumpkins. Before they get too big and get ready to turn orange, have the kiddos pick out one or two, and then score their name into the outer layer. The scored area will turn tan and really stands out later. The kids get to watch "their" pumpkin mature.

 

[Mini Horses]

My squash started with my putting cardboard under vines....they went rampant! Grass made it hard to find them & they were all over the place....and I ONLY had 3 vines planted. I liked the cardboard & paper feedbag areas but, got lax when they expanded so much.

 

[CrealCritter]

It does sound like you can do with another garden, if you can manage it all, I'd go that route. I've only grown melons once and then only a few plants, so I can't advice you on space needed…

For potatoes, stack up old car tyres and fill it with a mix of compost and soil. Start with two, then when the potatoes take off, add another, fill with soil so only the tops of the plants stick out, wait for it to grow more, repeat… Keep it out of the sun as much as possible. You can stack them up to 5-6 tyres high and when they are ready to harvest, remove the tyres one by one, shake out the potatoes. Easy peasy and it saves a lot of garden space.

Love this site + I learn something new every time I visit. potatoes who would have thought this?

 

[NH Homesteader]

That's what we've done also. I will never do potatoes the "conventional" way!

 

[CrealCritter]

I wouldn't use tires, they are in the way the rest of the year. You can use the plastic feed bags that chicken feed comes in. One year, I raked up leaves, mixed with horse manure, sprinkled with lime, and let it set over the winter. Come spring, I planted potatoes and got the best crop ever from a leaf pile!

You mean 50 lb bags? If so I knew I was saving them for a reason...

 

[NH Homesteader]

My parents do that with the grandkids names. They love it.

 

[sumi]

Thanks to @Beekissed I am going to grow some pumpkins next year

 

[CrealCritter]

For the squash and melon question, I always did hills of 3-5 plants 4-6 apart and literally move the vines into the yard. Less grass to mow. Lolol. Temporary garden expansion, leaving more growing room in the "real" garden space. You could also use planters out in the yard, and not plant in the garden at all

Something fun for the wee kiddos if you do pumpkins. Before they get too big and get ready to turn orange, have the kiddos pick out one or two, and then score their name into the outer layer. The scored area will turn tan and really stands out later. The kids get to watch "their" pumpkin mature.

Did that once I had pumpkins all over the place... Seriously. My son and I picked in excess of a hundred pumpkins. I forgot how many pickup truck loads we had harvested and lined up and down both sides of the driveway. Wished I had a picture of the pumpkin harvest. But I still have frozen pumpkin mash in the deep freezer. It makes the best pumpkin pancakes and pie.

 

[sumi]

It does sound like you can do with another garden, if you can manage it all, I'd go that route. I've only grown melons once and then only a few plants, so I can't advice you on space needed…

For potatoes, stack up old car tyres and fill it with a mix of compost and soil. Start with two, then when the potatoes take off, add another, fill with soil so only the tops of the plants stick out, wait for it to grow more, repeat… Keep it out of the sun as much as possible. You can stack them up to 5-6 tyres high and when they are ready to harvest, remove the tyres one by one, shake out the potatoes. Easy peasy and it saves a lot of garden space.