Vegetable Jungle

This being my first try at square-foot gardening, I didn't know what to expect. I think I'm growing a vegetable jungle! These pictures were taken 2 weeks ago and everything has grown taller and bushier since then.

The tomatoes have reached the top of the trellis and are still growing up and out. They are beginning to come together between boxes. Even the marigolds pictured here have almost doubled in mass. One of the cucumber vines (back-right going up the trellis) died while we were on vacation.

These cages are actually supporting the pepper plants, which you can't see at all in this picture, due to the tomatoes crowding in.

Yellow crookneck squash going for broke. (Today the garden box, tomorrow the world!) Interesting: when we got back from vacation last week, 1 of the 3 yellow squash plants above had died completely. Perhaps it was not able to compete with the other two for nutrients.

What I would change next time:

1--Separate the tomatoes from the squash, or run the squash up the trellis and let the tomatoes have more room.

According to the square-foot method, tomatoes only need one square foot if they're the indeterminate type and you train them up the trellis. Otherwise they need 9 per plant and a good strong cage. Squash need either 2 squares next to the trellis if they are climbers, or 9 squares per plant.

I'm no good at tomato trellis training, as it turns out. So I think I would be better off with the tomatoes in their own 9-square space with a little breathing room. Which means I will need bigger boxes or more of them to grow all the tomatoes I would want.

These squash could fill up one whole 4x4 box all by themselves at the rate they're going. I would just as soon have them growing up a trellis. However, I didn't find any of the climbing varieties for sale, either seeds or plants at the my local garden centers. So I suppose I would need to order seeds from a catalog for that. I like both squash and zucchini so I want them in my garden, but wow are they space-hogs!