Hope people don't mind me digging up threads... I had the same question and this thread was first on Google. I think I'll stick around too, this forum looks very interesting. So far looking up what squash will grow on a trellis, it seems any squash will. I intend to have some on the ground while others climb, so I'd rather the climbers do so on their own. I know Cucumber and Watermelon plants have tendrils from growing them on a trellis, but I don't know about others. If anyone grows squash this year, could you post which ones have tendrils? Funny space was mentioned. I don't have much space (4x8 cinder block raised bed) so I grew 5 plants in a 4x4 area of different types with 3 seeds per mound w/o thinning them as a test because I use to do it a little more spread out in Nevada. The watermelon grew up the trellis and grew a green golf ball, the cucumber also grew up a trellis but produced a lot of fruit, the straight-neck & zucchini turned into bushes turning out a lot of zucchini and a few straight-neck, and the pumpkin produced no fruit. Learned that watermelon and pumpkin need their space, but cucumbers need very little space with a trellis. Zucchini have a tendency to outgrow the competition and leaving multiple plants per hill let me leave one to grow a big zucchini while the other 2 grew small ones ( I shred big zucchini for bread and cake ). I had corn in among the squash and on the other side and in the cinder blocks I had sunflowers, peas, tons of lettuce & spinach & carrots, a huge tomato plant and a new artichoke. All except the corn grew well. It's amazing what can grow in such a little area. BTW sunflowers have huge roots and will take all the dirt out of a cinder block, but they make a great trellis for peas.

guavalane Thank You. I want all the info I can get. Does your friend buy seeds and if so what varieties and where does he buy the seeds. etc. why higher ? How big are these. You are in a great warm long grow region. I am zone 5 and must plan carefully. So I am interested in what comes quickly and what takes a long time. I can probably do with plants to about 105 days as some pumpkins are 105. not sure on the maximum but it probably depends on the temperature. Right now it is cold here. high of the day below or near 50. just to give an idea. But of course all information is eagerly sought. how is the eating quality difference between winter melon and fuzzy gourd. I had a oriental melon gourd that I liked. It was pretty good. it grew sort of like a square long melon. the melon had 4 creases running the length that caused it to have a sort of square cross section. the crease was indented along the length. the melon was nice in soup. It might have been a winter melon but no white on the melon skin and it was ready very early. The skin was tough so it was easy to cook. I could put it into a microwave and after it was cooked the skin would come off in one piece instead of falling apart. I just grab the skin and pull it off. well more or less. worked great. the "melon" was nice and firm. light color. sort of clear when cooked. moisture came out of it. the moisture with the seeds was a little more sweet. but this was for cooking not for raw eating. Does anyone have any idea what it might have been. what kind of oriental melon or gourd. I saved some seed but then the seeds might be crossed with all the other stuff grown there. Mostly I want to know what it is so I can buy some good seed that is properly correct and not some half wild cross.

Tornadoman You will be happy to learn that what you were told about melon types crossing is erroneous. The old garden folklore that 'you should never plant cucumbers next to squash or melons because they will cross-pollinate and produce off-tasting fruit" has SOME basis in reality, but only for members of the squash family. And, even then, the effects of the cross-pollinated squash will not be seen in this year's fruit or plants. If, however, you save seed from one of this year's cross-pollinated squash and plant that seed next year, then it might produce odd fruit resulting from the cross-pollination. The myth that plants from the cucurbit family will cross with one another is an old one, and it probably continues to make the rounds because it seems logical and believable. Even though the cucurbits are related, they are from different branches of the same family and don't cross-pollinate. First, though, you need to understand how the cucurbits reproduce, as they are unique among vegetables. Cucurbits are 'monoecious' which means each plant has both male and female flowers. The female flowers have tiny immature fruits at the base of the flowers. The male flowers don't. For fruit set to occur, pollen must be transferred from the male flowers to the females. Pollen from the male species of a plant will only pollinate female flowers within that same species. However, cross pollination can occur between different varieties within a species. To explain further: 1. Cucumbers are cucumis sativas. You might have cross-pollination occur between different types of cucumbers, but NOT between cucumbers and other members of the cucumis family. 2. Summer squash (zucchini, yellow crookneck squash, pattypan squash, etc.) pumpkins, gourds and some varieties of winter squash are Cucumis pepo. All members of Cucumis pepo can cross with one another. So, a winter squash like acorn squash could cross-pollinate with a zucchini or a pumpkin or a miniature gourd, but NOT with a cucumber (Cucumis sativus) and NOT with muskmelon (which we call generally call canteloupe) which is Cucumis melo. 3. Muskmelons, which we in this country generally call canteloupe even though they are not true canteloupes, are Cucumis melo. Different kinds of muskmelons can cross with one another, but will not cross with cucumbers (Cucumis sativas) or squash family members (Cucumis pepo). If crosses occur within the three families, you still will not see any effect unless you save seed from those cross-pollinated offspring and later plant that seed. At that point you might have cross-pollinated fruit appear. That cross-pollinated fruit will likely have some characteristics of each of its parents and may not produce fruit worth eating. People who like to save seed have to plant in certain ways to get uncrossed seed. For example, they can plant the members of the same family a certain distance apart to prevent pollination, say, maybe a quarter-mile apart or so, but even that is no guarantee. They can build boxes or cages from wood and window screen-type mesh or cover the plants with fabric row cover to prevent cross pollination. Or, they can bag the blossoms with fabric bags. If you box your plants, cover your plants with row covers, or bag your blossoms, you have to manually pollinate the flowers yourself by transferring pollen from the male flowers to the female flowers and then replacing the cover that isolates them from natural pollinators like bees. If cross-pollination between species doesn't occur, why does this old garden myth persist? Probably because it is an easy and believable answer for common problems with these plants. For example, if cucumber plants are subjected to low soil moisture or to some other form of stress, like very high temperatures or low soil fertility, you may get cucumbers that are misshapen and have a somewhat gourdy appearance. But this strange appearance does not mean the cukes crossed with a gourd, just that the soil fertility is too low, or moisture levels are either extremely high or extremely low or the temperatures are too high. If muskmelon (aka canteloupe) fruits lack flavor, which is a common problem in home gardens, cross-pollination is often falsely blamed when the actual problem is usually due to overwatering and/or overfertilization. If squash family plants produce poor fruit that shrivels and falls off the plant without growing and enlarging, cross-pollination is often blamed, when the actual problem was a lack of pollination. Remember that the male flowers have no fruit at their base and the female flowers do. Well, if pollen from that male flower doesn't make it to the female flower, those little fruit remain unpollinated and fall off the plant after a few days. If squash family members produce fruit that is misshapen or multicolored (usually an oddly patterned green and yellow), and the plants have leaves that are also mottled in color and show distorted growth, the culprit is often believed to be cross-pollination, but it is just a cucurbit disease called squash mosaic virus. If the squash family member 'summer squash' produce fruit that is extremely tough and has hard instead of tender seed, you have left the fruits on the plant too long. Harvest often, every 2 to 3 days, so your summer squash will not be overmature. Leaving the fruit on the plant too long will give you very large fruit, but it will be lower in quality. Winter squash, however, is supposed to have a hard skin and mature seed, so you do leave them on the plant a long time. I grow about four dozen different varieties of summer squash, winter squash, pumpkins, gourds, cucumbers, watermelons, cantaloupes and muskmelons every year, so feel free to ask if you have more questions. And, I am going to post a separate thread on how to grow cucurbits successfully, so you can pick up a few tips there. After all the years I have spent learning this stuff, I'd like to pass on the knowledge. Happy growing! Dawn

Hi Meg, You can save seeds. It all depends on what you are actually growing. Cucumbers, Cucumis sativus, will only cross with other cucumbers. True gourds, Lagenaria siceraria, will only cross with other true gourds, but some gourds are actually squash, Cucurbita pepo. But those squash gourds will only cross with certain types of squash like zucchini and acorn squash which are also Cucurbita pepo. Squash, Cucurbita will not cross with Cucumbers, Cucumis. Are you confused yet? lol. It really would be best to see a list of all the things you plan on growing and figure it from there. Scarlet Runners and Kentucky Wonders will not cross. Though both called beans, they are not the same botanically. Scarlet Runners are Phaseolus coccineus. Kentucky Wonders are Phaseolus vulgaris. Their second name part, the species part are different and that means(in general, there are a few odd exceptions with plant crossing)that they are not able to cross with each other. So for all you grow, if the first and second in Latin match, you can get crossing. Brassicas cross freely, but some are biennials so saving seed is difficult to begin with since overwintering is need to procure seeds. You of course can grow broccoli or rappi and save seeds from them since they are first year bloomers. Oh, tomatoes in general can be planted pretty close and no crossing can occur. Hope this helps some, Remy