Didn't get back to this thread for awhile... Darthtrader, have you used the "3 sisters" method? It will produce a lot... but it is meant for field corn, not sweet corn (sweet corn won't support the beans), dry beans not snap beans (you might trample the squash while picking the snaps) and winter squash, not summer squash (ditto on trampling). Essentially, it was a "plant it & forget it" arrangement; the heavy growth did not enable frequent entry for the harvest of immature crops. I have used several variations of it with sweet corn, substituting cowpeas or soybeans for beans, and using indeterminate tomatoes as ground cover in place of squash. I heartily endorse the use of cowpeas within sweet corn, as they are mostly weak climbers, and won't overload the shorter, weaker stalks of the sweet corn. Regardless of the method & varieties used, the corn & squash require a lot of space... which is what I was referring to when I mentioned that it might not be cost effective for those with smaller urban lots. CynthiaH, I once lived & gardened in the Bay area, also on borrowed land. My garden was on a utility easement near the NASA/Ames facility, and was limited in size only by how much time I chose to invest in it. In exchange, I agreed to clean up trash left by a BMX organization (bike racing) on other parts of the property, and to keep the weeds down. Except in the inner cities, there is always empty land somewhere. I gave more detailed advice on OPP gardening (other people's property) here.

Hi, I can send Chadwick Cherry and Black Krim tomato seeds in exchange for pomegranate and columbines. For peppers, I've got Thai Long Sweet that I'd trade for Kale, if you're interested. All my seeds are heirloom varieties, open pollinated, so perfect for collecting every season. Thanks! Artemis Here is a link that might be useful: Artemis' Lists

There were small hard hairy leaves on the plant. It looks like a normal watermelon plant except for the fact that the fruits are tiny. Thank you & Merry Christmas to all.

Red Kuri grew and produced very well for me and stored simply forever. It is both highly ornamental and tasty. This was back in the day before squash vine borers discovered we had moved to Oklahoma and planted C. maxima squash. After they found us, I stopped growing it because they got it every year. Blue Hubbard 'Baby Blue' is a pretty quick-maturing hubbard and I grew it for two years, I think, but gave it up because the pests adore it. The cucumber beetles like it so much that it often is grown as a 'trap crop' on organic farms to draw the cucumber beetles away from the other crops. So, if you plant it, be prepared to do battle with those cucumber beetles or it won't have a chance. I haven't grown 'Autumn Glow' but if I was going to plant one of the three you listed now, I'd plant it because it is a butternut and they tend to tolerate the usual squash pests better than most others. When it comes to winter squash, I only grow C. moschata types with any consistency any more because, while they are not immune to pests, they seem to outlast them and survive and produce in spite of them. Everything else in the squash family gets demolished by pests about 9 years out of 10. Having said that, I haven't lost a single squash plant of any type to SVBs or squash bugs this year so it must be the 1 year in 10 the squash pests didn't visit us.....yet.