Boundary issues.

See that vine along the fence there? That's the birdhouse gourd vine. It's planted just to the right of the tomato plants...underneath it's highest point is the ladder it uses to climb up.

As you can see, it spreads. A lot. It goes about 8 feet to the left of the ladder and about 8 feet to the right. It has covered my mulch pile. It has grown along the support on the left that was intended for peas and cucumbers and beans. It has completely taken over the pole beans..and the poles!...that were planted nearby. I must admit...a birdhouse gourd probably isn't the best idea for a small backyard garden. I doubt that the square foot gardening guy would have included this baby in his plans. But if you remember, there was a point at the beginning of this whole crazy gardening thing that I decided to just have fun with it all. And to experiment. And learn. So that's what I did. And the birdhouse gourd was a part of that. And it was worth it...what a fun plant to grow!

Not only is the vine amazing. It also produces these silly shaped gourds!

This is our fourth gourd. And it's very possible that this is going to be our last gourd...of the year, anyway. The vine is slowly being taken over by that darn powdery mildew. I've kept it at bay but I'm thinking it's time to pull the vine, anyway, and make room for some fall plantings. I'm wanting to try some greens...another round of beans...maybe some peas...onions and garlic for next summer...maybe some beets and radishes, maybe I can squeeze some in before it gets too cold. I may even try some broccoli. I try to stick with foods we like to eat.

But...I have to say...it's good to grow new things because there's something about growing it yourself that makes it taste that much better. Plus, when you grow it, you want to eat it and not let it go to waste. Take our peppers, for instance. We grew banana peppers and Anaheim peppers this year. We were going to roast them and freeze them for paninis. Well...we ended up grilling some the other night and it turned out we liked them just lke that...grilled with a little olive oil and Kosher salt...as a side dish! You never know what you're going to like until you try it...right?

So...I'm thinking that I'll try a few fall plantings to broaden our food horizons. Parsnips? Turnips? Kale? Chard? Why not? And if we don't like it...then we just won't grow it next year. Pretty simple.