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Gardening in Canada

squash & ornamental gourds

greylady_gardener

16 years ago

Has anyone grown these together in the same area? I thought I remembered reading years ago that they shouldn't be grown within a certain distance of each other. I never thought about it at the time as I wasn't growing either one, but now I want to grow the birdhouse gourds for my grandchildren, and also would like to grow some small spaghetti squash for my daughter and me.

Would like to know for sure before planting them. I don't have a large area for growing veggies, so maybe will have to plant the gourds elswhere, but I want to know how far apart they need to be.

thanks

gg

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Comments (2)

wyndyacre
16 years ago
If planted close together, your squash could end up tasting a little like bird house gourds. I don't think it would really affect the gourds that much since you don't eat them anyway.

It would be a good idea to plant your bird house gourds some distance from the rest of your vegetables anyway, as the vines on these REALLY take up a lot of space. I am not kidding!!! :)
Once it gets hot out, they really take off and once I see them set a number of gourds, I have just hacked them back with abandon.
If you don't have a lot of space, the gourds can easily be trained up a trellis. I have used an old, wire farm gate as a trellis in the past for gourds, supported by two metal fence posts hammered into the ground.
They require a long, hot growing season...best to start early indoors and plant out with protection around them, like a large nursery pot with the bottom cut out, to give them some extra warmth until temperatures go up for summer.
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greylady_gardener
Original Author
16 years ago
Thanks for your input. I was a little reluctant to plant these as I don't have much space for veggies, but I wanted to do something different this year so I will probably go for it. I really don't want squash that tastes like birdhouse gourds so how far apart do you think they should be planted?
gg
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